Tools of the Trade: Poems for New Doctors by Various Poets

The current edition of Tools of the Trade is now sold out. Look out for the new edition, due to be published in 2022. 

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Being a doctor is a privilege; it is also very demanding and can be stressful, and to be able to look after others, we need to look after ourselves. We offer you this little book of poetry, Tools of the Trade, as a friend to provide inspiration, comfort and support as you begin work.

Tools of the Trade includes poems by poet-doctors Iain Bamforth, Rafael Campo, Glenn Colquhoun, Martin MacIntryre and Gael Turnbull.

Edited by Dr Lesley Morrison, Dr John Gillies, Revd Ali Newell and Samuel Tongue.

Professor John Gillies was a general practitioner in rural Scotland. He has been a GP trainer and undergraduate tutor and is currently an Honorary Professor in General Practice at Edinburgh University, senior advisor to the Global Health Academy, and Deputy Director of the Scottish School of Primary Care, a research collaboration. He helped found the Scottish Medical Humanities network and believes that literature and poetry augment our understanding of medicine and illness and indeed the world at large.

Samuel Tongue is Project Co-ordinator at the Scottish Poetry Library. He has published two pamphlets: Stitch (Tapsalteerie, 2018) and Hauling-Out (Eyewear, 2016) and his debut collection Sacrifice Zones, is forthcoming with Red Squirrel (2020). He has published poems in numerous anthologies and magazines. He is currently co-editor of New Writing Scotland and poetry editor at the Glasgow Review of Books.

Lesley Morrison is a retired GP, now writing and contributing to radio, with a longstanding belief that the humanities can and should be used to cast light on medical education and practice. She works with medical students at the University of Edinburgh and uses this book as a tool for teaching.