The Shame Space | Advancing Awareness of Shame in Medicine through Storytelling & Research

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The Room

STORYTELLER

Virginija Vilkelyte,

Medical Student

ARTIST

Zara Slattery

THIS ART IS INTERACTIVE!

Hover over these icons to view reflective questions for contemplation & discussion.

"The Room" is another collaborative graphic narrative produced by The Shame Space consortium through the "ShameLess Story Sharing" event and published in the Journal of Medical Humanities. For this piece, we worked with Virginjia Vilkelyte, a medical student at the University of Exeter, and Zara Slattery, a graphic illustrator, to bring her poem to the graphic narrative form.

Vilkelyte, V., Dolezal, L., Navarro-Páez, J. et al. The Room. J Med Humanit (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10912-024-09899-1

QUESTION
ONE

Reflect on the imagery and perspective used by the artist. How are you feeling as you read this story? Which artistic elements facilitate this feeling?

QUESTION
TWO

In health professions training, it's easy to feel like a spectator to patient suffering, especially if you don't have a meaningful role on a team. This can compound what is otherwise a complex emotional experience.

Have you experienced this before? How did it make you feel? How did you navigate it?

QUESTION
THREE

Virginija chooses to emphasize her shadow in this story/poem. What does this mean to you? What is the significance of her shadow?

QUESTION
FOUR

Reflect on the perspective and framing of this image. What comes to mind?

QUESTION
FIVE

What do you think about the artist's use of the ultrasound imagery and metaphor here?

QUESTION
SIX

Developing comfort with causing patients pain--no matter the level--is a difficult threshold to cross in health professions training. How have you experienced and/or dealt with this?

QUESTION
SEVEN

The words we use matter. How might a seemingly innocuous comment like this have made you feel? How might it have made you feel about yourself?

QUESTION
EIGHT

Shame can be an incredibly physical emotion. What physical elements are at play in this scene? How have you physically experienced shame?

QUESTION
NINE

Reflect on the artist's use of color. What does it mean to you?

Have you ever experienced a situation like this? What happened next? Who or what helped you navigate it?

QUESTION
TEN

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Funding and support for “The Room" provided by:

Wellcome Centre for Cultures and Environments of Health

Duke—Exeter Collaboration Fund

Duke Department of Family Medicine & Community Health

QUESTION ONE

Reflect on the imagery and perspective used by the artist. How are you feeling as you read this story? Which artistic elements facilitate this feeling?

QUESTION TWO

In health professions training, it's easy to feel like a spectator to patient suffering, especially if you don't have a meaningful role on a team. This can compound what is otherwise a complex emotional experience. Have you experienced this before? How did it make you feel? How did you navigate it?

QUESTION THREE