Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Nurse reading

This Turkish postcard shows a nurse reading a letter to a wounded man. The nurse appears to smile, even as her patient remains seemingly indifferent to whatever news she has brought him. The postcard conjures a number of questions. How was he injured? Is he far from home? Who has written him? Where is his family? Is the letter good news? Engaging others with curiosity and kindness, as the nurse in this postcard portrays, can break down barriers and allows a more human connection to emerge in healthcare.


A nurse is sitting at the bedside of a wounded man with a bandage over his eyes; she is reading him a letter.
Photographic postcard, ca. 1930. Credit: Wellcome Collection. CC BY 4.0

Fall 2019 

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