Guest post by Claudia Thomas & Anne Schirrmeister A large body of evidence indicates that dealing with pediatric patients’ anxiety prior to surgical interventions is not optimal, and that this is true worldwide. Literature shows that preoperative anxiety results in increased pain after surgery, a higher incidence of postoperative delirium and longer hospital stays. In addition, behavioral disorders like enuresis nocturna and separation anxiety as well as sleep disorders and nightmares often occur. Developing easy-to-use and standardized tools for reducing preoperative anxiety in children could be an approach to address this problem. Using the ability of imagination and magic thinking… Read More
Comics & National Health Care Decisions Day
April 16 was National Health Care Decisions Day, an initiative of The Conversation Project, which works in collaboration with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. The intent of the day is to ” inspire, educate, and empower the public and providers about the importance of advance care planning.” In at least two events in the U.S., comics had an important role in getting people talking about their advanced care plans. In Chicago, Life Matters Media (wonderful backstory on their beginnings here) sponsored four projects asking participants and passers-by “What does living well mean to you?” In the first, Alex Thomas, Gary Ashwal, and… Read More
Cartooncology: An Interview with Will Sperduto
Author Will Sperduto is a graduate of Duke University, with a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology and global health and a master’s degree in biomedical sciences. He is planning a career in medicine. Cartooncology is his first book. He seeks to “strengthen the humanity in medicine by continuing to contribute to the advancement of medical education and patient care.” To celebrate the release of his book, MK asked him a few questions. What is this book? Cartooncology: Thoughtful Images of Cancer is a collection of illustrations that introduces individuals of all ages and backgrounds to different ways of thinking about the illness. These… Read More
Collaboration opportunity: helping offenders suffering with personality disorder.
Kirsty Locker writes: ‘Oxleas NHS are looking for an artist to work on a project in conjunction with Swaleside prison. At present, we are in the early stages of an idea aimed at helping the men there get a more meaningful sense of their psychological formulations. We’re aware that many of the men in our services are not terribly comfortable with the written word, and may often prefer material presented in visual formats, such as cartoon strips. We’re interested in commissioning an artist to work alongside some of our prisoners (some of whom are very good artists), to develop some materials that… Read More
Le Medicina en el Cómic
Charo Sabariegos professor at Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha got in touch to tell us that the the school of medicine in Albacete, Spain, has put together a collection of graphic pathographies. They intend to make known the usefulness of comics to both teachers and students by holding an exhibition, Le Medicina en el Cómic from December until the end of February. The exhibition is divided into six major themes: The interview with the doctor. Medical tests Feelings The great round of doctors (in honour of David B.) Waiting rooms. What is it? Extracts from comics are shown in each of the… Read More
New Podcast Episode: Interview with Tyler Page
Tyler Page is the creator of Raised on Ritalin: A Personal Story of ADHD, Medication, and Modern Psychiatry. In this new episode of the Graphic Medicine Podcast, MK talks with Tyler about creating and self-publishing this terrific book. You can subscribe to this podcast in iTunes. While you’re there, a review would be greatly appreciated! Support for this podcast comes from Penn State College of Medicine, Department of Humanities, the nation’s oldest Humanities Department within a medical school, pioneers of innovations in medical education since 1967. To learn more about Penn State College of Medicine Department of Humanities, go to www2.med.psu.edu/humanities.
HIV Disclosure Comics
The Pediatric HIV/AIDS Cohort Study (PHACS) is a longitudinal cohort study investigating the long-term effects of HIV infection and ARV (antiretroviral) medications in children and young adults who were born with HIV or born exposed to HIV. The study follows newborns, young children, adolescents, and young adults. One part of the study, the use of a comic for maternal disclosure of HIV status, is discussed in this podcast. Researcher Claire Berman presented this study, and the comics related to it, at our 2015 conference in Riverside, California and on a Health Comics panel at San Diego ComicCon. Click below to play… Read More
Graphic Medicine Manifesto Nominated for Eisner Award.
The Graphic Medicine Manifesto has been nominated for an Eisner Award in the catagory Best Academic/Scholarly Work. One of the most prestigious awards in the industry, the Eisners – officially called the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards – are referred to as the ‘Oscars of comics’. A five-strong panel of judges compile the list of nominations which are then voted on by industry professionals, with the winners announced at the annual Comic-Con in San Diego in July. The Manifesto, published by Penn State University Press, has been very well received by specialist and non specialist readers alike. Written by MK Czerwiec, Ian Williams, Susan Squier, Michael… Read More
New Podcast: Elizabeth Hewitt & Ann Fox
In this week’s podcast, Elizabeth Hewitt from the Ohio State University presents “Incurable Time: The Graphic Temporalities of Autoimmune Disease.” Her talk was recorded at our 2015 Riverside Comics & Medicine conference. Also, I talk with Ann Fox of Davidson College about what she’s reading, as well as her new Graphic Medicine course. Keep your eyes on your screens as images will accompany the episode. This podcast is also available via iTunes. Support for this podcast comes from Penn State College of Medicine, Department of Humanities, the nation’s oldest Humanities Department within a medical school, pioneers of innovations in medical education… Read More
Leah Eisenberg and Visualizing Biobanking
This week on the graphic medicine podcast, Leah Eisenberg talks about her work as a lawyer and bioethicist using comics to help make biobanking more comprehensible, and consent to bio banking more meaningful. In the “What Are You Reading?!” segment, Leah updates us on her comics & medicine work and recommends a few books she’s enjoyed recently. Leah recommends the March series about John Lewis, Neurocomic, and the work of Tyler Page, and S/Z, about communicating ideas with storytelling. Support for this podcast comes from Penn State College of Medicine, Department of Humanities, the nation’s oldest Humanities Department… Read More