The Surgery & Emotion project has secured a £19,650 Research Enrichment award from the Wellcome Trust to fund public engagement, following the project’s initial successes.
We’ve already held a number of professional and public engagement events and activities, ranging from our ‘Operating with Feeling’ workshop at the Royal College of Surgeons to interactive and hands-on sessions at the Wellcome Collection and Science Museum.
This additional funding will help boost our work to break down stereotypes of the aloof and arrogant surgeon, a popular perception we believe is harmful to both practitioners and patients.
Our new engagement programme – led by Engagement Fellow Dr Alison Moulds – will put surgeons and members of the public in dialogue with each other in order to humanise surgeons and de-mystify surgery.
There will be a series of surgical ‘speed-meets’, run across the UK. Inspired by the format of speed-dating, these events will see the public and surgeons chat 1:1 in informal settings. Attendees will be able to ask the surgeons about their work, including its rewards and challenges, and how they feel about practice. By promoting an open dialogue, we seek to improve relationships between healthcare professionals and patients.
We will also be organising a Lates event in conjunction with the Royal College of Nursing, as part of its upcoming exhibition and events programme on emotions and nursing. Themed around medical romance and relationships, the event will explore subjects including the dynamics of surgical team-working and the tropes found in popular culture, including medical Mills & Boon fiction.
The public engagement programme will build on, and feed into, the research being conducted by the project. Watch this space for more details about how you can take part in our events.
Image: Associate Professor in Thoracic Surgery and Specialist Registrar Performing a Pectus Excavatum, Adrian Wressell, Heart of England NHS FT (Wellcome)
