The neuro-ICU was a frigid, stark place. The silence was punctuated by the relentless beeping of machines. The antiseptic scent was a constant reminder of the fortress-like walls that encased the patient’s stillness. Beep. Beep. Beep. As I entered I felt like an intruder stepping into a fortress, guarded
Keep reading →
Jane Tan wears many hats — SingHealth staff, devoted mother, cancer warrior, and now a volunteer who gives back with her hands and heart. After her own cancer journey, Jane found healing not just in treatment, but in connection. Using simple crafts as a bridge, she reaches out to patients undergoing
Keep reading →
This song has been seven years in the making. Back in 2018, I wrote a poem for aspiring medical students about what it truly means to be a doctor. No holds barred. No sugar coating. But also an explanation of why, despite everything, I remained one. I titled it “Don’
Keep reading →
What happens when we start to question the stories we carry about our worth
Keep reading →
Film review
Keep reading →
Reconsidering Patient Centred Care: Between Autonomy and Abandonment By Alison Pilnick Emerald Publishing, 2022 I almost didn't pick up this book. The title felt like academic jargon, and honestly, I was expecting another dry critique of healthcare that would leave me feeling guilty about not being "patient-centered&
Keep reading →
Teacher or villain-elle? Here comes another eager-eyed learner, She stutters as her glasses begin to mist, Wisdom or trauma: which will it be, Teacher? Now with beaded sweat and shy demeanour, She asks to examine the pulse at the wrist, Here comes another eager-eyed learner. With eyes now squinted, she
Keep reading →
A heartfelt confession and sharing about finding connection, meaning and purpose in the ED
Keep reading →
There's a story we're used to hearing about aging. A slow, inevitable decline. A journey of loss — of health, independence, identity. This story plays out in quiet corners of hospitals and in loud headlines celebrating the "oldest person to survive" some illness. In clinics,
Keep reading →
There's a particular kind of silence that falls in a consultation room just before a difficult conversation begins. It's the silence that comes when the scan results are not what we hoped. Or when a patient says, "Just tell me what the scan shows,"
Keep reading →Personal essays from clinicians, nurses, allied health. The on-call you remember. The patient who stayed with you.
The view from the bed, the bedside, the waiting room. We especially want these — they matter the most.
Lyric, narrative, speculative, silly, mournful. Written on the back of a rounds sheet.
A teddy bear. A box of unopened tea. Write about one object and the story it holds.
Anything you want to look at carefully and tell us about.
A paragraph. A sketch. A single sentence on a post-it. The easiest place to start.
HEART started because medical humanities can sound like a closed club. We don't want to run that room. We want to run the pantry next door, where people come in, make a kopi, and tell you something they haven't been able to say all week.
New pieces arrive roughly twice a month — one featured essay, one shorter piece. No algorithm. No paywall. Unsubscribe in one click.
We read everything. We reply to everything. Any length, any form — a polished essay, a rough draft, a single line on a napkin, a voice memo you don't know what to do with.
Anonymous submissions are welcome — and often the most powerful.
→ send something in