Reflections on Salt Water

I was recently reminded of a time back in secondary school, many years ago doing cross country. For a while I had been in front of one of the sporty girls who then overtook me as we got to the end. For no reason at all she came to find me at the end, took the time to speak to me and explain how she had used me as a pacemaker giving me a few tips for running.  There was no need for her to do that and I don't know why she did. Hopefully I thanked her at the time though because those few words made a difference and changed the way I approached cross country. I went on over the next few years to do a lot of competitive running, visited some interesting places and really enjoyed it. The point of this story is that we rarely know how a tiny bit of advice or support will affect someone. What a difference it may make to someone's life. In healthcare we are interacting with people all the time, sometimes for only a very short time. I have had the privilege of hearing  Tommy Whitelaw ...

A selection of book reviews which show the power of books to bring us other peoples stories, show us history, give us new ideas and support with new skills. I have had a few submission deadlines over the last couple of months. After years of using the Harvard referencing system, I was required to use the Vancouver system for one assignment and needed to refer to Cite them right by Richard Graham to help me out. This book is easy to follow and contains so much information that it was straightforward to use an unfamiliar system. It covers many different systems and lists the different sources with clear guidance on referencing anything from an ancient text to a social media post. If you want a bit of guidance or confidence with referencing, this book is a valuable tool. It is also available online. Whilst textbooks are essential to provide an evidence base for practice there are many books which help us develop our understanding and compassion in other ways. The impact of illness does n...