Tools of the Trade

Being a doctor is a privilege; it is also very demanding and can be stressful, and to be able to look after others, we need to look after ourselves. We offer you this little book of poetry, Tools of the Trade, as a friend to provide inspiration, comfort and support as you begin work.

Tools of the Trade includes poems by poet-doctors Iain Bamforth, Rafael Campo, Glenn Colquhoun, Martin MacIntryre and Gael Turnbull.



Professor John Gillies was a general practitioner in rural Scotland. He has been a GP trainer and undergraduate tutor and is currently an Honorary Professor in General Practice at Edinburgh University, senior advisor to the Global Health Academy, and Deputy Director of the Scottish School of Primary Care, a research collaboration. He helped found the Scottish Medical Humanities network and believes that literature and poetry augment our understanding of medicine and illness and indeed the world at large.

Samuel Tongue is Project Co-ordinator at the Scottish Poetry Library. His first pamphlet is Hauling-Out (Eyewear, 2016) and his second, stitch, is forthcoming with Tapsalteerie. He has published poems in numerous anthologies and magazines. He is currently co-editor of New Writing Scotland and poetry editor at the Glasgow Review of Books.

Lesley Morrison is a retired GP, now writing  and contributing to radio, with a longstanding belief that the humanities can and should be used to cast light on  medical education and practice. She works with medical students at the University of Edinburgh and uses this book as a tool for teaching.



'Profound, wise and bursting with humanity – this little book is pure inspiration for doctors old and new'



'Like a stethoscope, doctors should have this thoughtful, quietly revealing collection with them at all times. Their stethoscope helps them listen to the hearts of their patients. Tools of the Trade helps them listen to their own heart'



'Words, like drugs and scalpels, are the tools of medicine. But they reach more deeply; they arrive in the heart of a person. As doctors, we must use them with care; and poetry, as in these wonderful pages, is our songbook, our textbook. Here, open it – listen'



'A book of poetry intended to help them recharge and be mindful of the human aspect of their vocation'



'Hippcratic hymns,. All lucky doctors graduating in 2019, 2020, and 2021 will be given a volume. Alas, this initiative is north of the border only, but copies are available everywhere'



'A pocket-sized gem of a book'



'There are wonders in these pages – fifty or so reminders that for all the science in medicine, through all its challenges and rewards, to practise it well remains an art'