ABSTRACT

Life and reality television meld; professions are performances. But while we are uncertain of what lies ahead, we live in the most informed of times. Every patient who walks through the doors of a hospital will experience wired-in similarities in their journeys thanks to the standard, scripted procedures of medicine. The walls of a clinic room or ward become those of a theatre, where all the actors involved have their own scripted roles to play. For the doctor or medical student-in-training, the projected medical persona acts as a mask signifying to the audience who they are and their involvement in the scene: status, role, general management of impressions, maybe confidently orchestrating a ward round, or meeting the patient’s eyes in acknowledgement of human affection. The doctor’s mask may be old and weathered, but smooth with overuse, drawing on well-rehearsed scenes in order to adapt and improvise to the new protagonist.