This striking image by Amanda Hage, a physiotherapist in Essex United Kingdom that appeared in the Spring 2022 Intima, speaks to me of the importance of caring for caregivers. It is a challenging time to practice medicine in the UK. We are emerging from a global pandemic that is casting a long shadow. This has mingled with austerity for public service funding and a cost-of-living crisis. Members of many healthcare professions have been on strike.

Elizabeth Osmond is a UK-based consultant neonatologist and a poet. In 2021, she won third prize in the Hippocrates competition for poetry and medicine and her work has been published in medical and literary journals. She writes poetry as a form of reflective practice.

My poem “Newbie” is a humorous discussion of imposter syndrome. Although the character in the poem is paranoid about making daft mistakes, there is a deeper message of the role shame holds for many healthcare professionals. The perception of a doctor as a hero, as we often saw depicted during the pandemic, can be an unhelpful fan to the flames of imposter syndrome.

As a profession, we need to be open about mistakes and evolve a learning culture. We must care for our carers and foster a culture of collective empathy, including from our employers. Bullying and discrimination must not be tolerated in any form. It is normal to have periods of “feeling blue” in our professional careers. With empathy and compassion, we can move in and out of our blue periods.

Elizabeth Osmond is a UK-based consultant neonatologist and a poet. In 2021, she won third prize in the Hippocrates competition for poetry and medicine and her work has been published in medical and literary journals. She writes poetry as a form of reflective practice.