Fame At Last

Today I was involved in assessing a student doctors' exam in Communication Skills.

The lucky candidates had to watch a video and write about it. (I think that's not giving too much away).

All the assessors gathered in a room to get our instructions for how the afternoon should run. We were shown a bit of the video.

I didn't know the doctor in the film, but there was something terribly familiar about the patient.

"Ooh!" I squeaked, "Er - - that's me!"

Everyone muttered admiringly at my ability to identify myself. "Oh yes, so it is."

Apparently I filmed it three years ago, though I have no memory of doing so - - but then I've played a lot of patients before then, and a lot of patients since. And apparently this little film has made an annual appearance in the video assessment, though I haven't been an assessor before. So every medical student in the university - - and there are hundreds - - has seen me in this role.

Unfortunately the patient I was playing was thoroughly miserable, and I had dressed accordingly. I was wearing a rather old jacket, and was a stone heavier then, and had my old glasses on, and I looked about a hundred and thirty-three - - so all in all, I felt that the glamour element was rather minimal.

However, it was interesting to see what I was doing, three years later, and I had to admit to myself that I did a pretty good job in the role.

When the Communist was ill and I frequented the various hospitals in the area as he was moved about, I did notice that a lot of the younger doctors peered at me with slight confusion. A few even asked it outright: "Excuse me, do I know you from somewhere?" And then I had to explain that I work in Communication Skills for the university, and that they will undoubtedly have met me before, though I would have been someone else, with a different complaint.

If I ever do have an accident or serious illness, I can tell you now what's going to happen. I'll be lying on a stretcher in an ambulance somewhere and I will look up with gratitude at the young doctor looming over me, hanging on their every word, seeking comfort and reassurance.

And they'll say, "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?"