Research and Humanities in Medical Education (May 2020)
‘The Doctor’ revisited during the coronavirus disease pandemic
Abstract
‘The Doctor’ is a painting by Sir Luke Fildes. Created in 1891, it depicts a doctor keeping watch over a young child at the bedside in a home environment. Commissioned by Sir Henry Tate, the purpose of the painting was to portray the status of the doctor in those days. It has been used extensively by the author in health humanities courses over more than a decade; this paper shows how the painting is relevant in the teaching-learning process even today, when the world is in the grip of a pandemic and the provider-patient relationship is strained as a result of the unprecedented healthcare burden caused by the COVID-19 virus.
