At the 2022 Australasian Doctors' Health Conference doctors were invited to write about events in their medical life which they reflected on and would love to share with your colleagues.  

The literary award prize pool was to the value of $2500 and asked doctors to write a 2500 word essay which addresses anything in the life of a doctor from any perspective – a personal event which impacts on their practice or any one of the many things which can happen in a medical life.  It could be a patient’s story with them as part of that story. 

16 entries were received and judged by an expert panel including an editor and experienced medical writers. The editor provided free editing advice on the winning entries, as well then generously assisted all the other entries so that we can share them here with everyone. 

The winning entry was read out by the author, Dr Claire Denness - you can view her live reading as a special presentation on Day 2 of the Conference here.

You can read below all the entries from doctors who were happy to share their stories.

The Fix Dr Claire Denness WINNING ENTRY ↓ pdf 162KB Listening for feathers Dr Kathryn Hutt FINALIST ↓ pdf 150KB The worst photo Dr Emer Ryan FINALIST ↓ pdf 136KB The sanctity of life Dr Sally Anne Parsons ↓ pdf 140KB Solicitude Dr Kate Ton ↓ pdf 129KB A memorable home visit Dr Julie Mencel ↓ pdf 144KB Out of control Dr Phillip Carson ↓ pdf 138KB Epiphany Dr Penelope Dargaville ↓ pdf 127KB Finding the positive in the pandemic Dr Jo Braid ↓ pdf 152KB Soaring hearts Dr Fiona Moir ↓ pdf 152KB Medical school An introduction to death Dr Britt Suan ↓ pdf 158KB