A Crowd of Medical Staff Standing Round a Woman Patient in Bed in a Hospital Ward

The ward round has been a source of medical learning since the time of Osler. But what is it like for the patient? Certainly, the patient in this photograph seems uncomfortable and worried. Murals of foliage and allegories painted on the walls provide little comfort. The image is reminiscent of Thomas Bernhard’s comment on the ward round: ‘every day they appeared in front of my bed a white wall of unconcern’ ( ² ). There are over 20 people in this wall.