Jonathan McFarland – författare

The Covid pandemic has led us into an upheaval that has made us question the certainties underlying what it means to be a human being in our age; the ability to control medical and social facts through evidence. For the first-time western and developed countries have had to confront what many populations from the developing world (Africa. Latin America, etc) face on a daily basis with HIV and Ebola, etc. The Interconnectedness of Globalization has been the real disseminating catalyst of COVID 19, and many scientists wonder if this virus is the result of the Anthropocene age, with its indisputable lack of respect for the natural ecosystems.  The virus has demonstrated that our frailty is only skin deep, and it has not only brought death, despair, but it has broken our interdependency as human beings, by imposing self- isolation as well as creating new ways of connections so that safety cannot imply loneliness. In this book, the coping strategies that originate from the multiplelanguages of care such as narrative, literature, science, philosophy, art, digital science are shown not only as reflective tools to promote health but also wellbeing amongst carers, patients, students, and citizens of our planet Earth. These strategies should be supported by the decision makers since they are low-cost investments necessary to make the health care system work. They however require a change of cultural paradigm. This book is a useful toolkit for patients, citizens and care services physicians who want to learn more on how to live better with this new world.

The Covid pandemic has led us into an upheaval that has made us question the certainties underlying what it means to be a human being in our age; the ability to control medical and social facts through evidence. For the first-time western and developed countries have had to confront what many populations from the developing world (Africa. Latin America, etc) face on a daily basis with HIV and Ebola, etc. The Interconnectedness of Globalization has been the real disseminating catalyst of COVID 19, and many scientists wonder if this virus is the result of the Anthropocene age, with its indisputable lack of respect for the natural ecosystems.  The virus has demonstrated that our frailty is only skin deep, and it has not only brought death, despair, but it has broken our interdependency as human beings, by imposing self- isolation as well as creating new ways of connections so that safety cannot imply loneliness. In this book, the coping strategies that originate from the multiplelanguages of care such as narrative, literature, science, philosophy, art, digital science are shown not only as reflective tools to promote health but also wellbeing amongst carers, patients, students, and citizens of our planet Earth. These strategies should be supported by the decision makers since they are low-cost investments necessary to make the health care system work. They however require a change of cultural paradigm. This book is a useful toolkit for patients, citizens and care services physicians who want to learn more on how to live better with this new world.

Medical Humanities and Narrative Medicine have been increasingly relevant in view of the challenges that new health technologies and the digital world pose to truly person-centered healthcare. By Narrative Medicine we understand the practice of healthcare with narrative skills that allow professionals to recognize the suffering of others and of themselves; be able to interpret verbal and non-verbal narratives of illness; and be motivated to act in a way that respects the Person of the Patient and of the Professional. Surgery, like other medical specialties, requires space for reflection and debate on the meaning of humanism and its impact on the quality of care. This requirement is more pressing in this area, because it has escaped inquiry by Medical Humanities and Narrative Medicine. We believe that this is due to the nature of the surgical activity, carried out in an enclosed place, characterized by the use of sophisticated technologies, including robotics and artificial intelligence, and inaccessible to patients' relatives. In addition, the patients' own expectations about surgery reinforce the technological and highly specialized nature of this area, often marked by the neglect of the relational context, with clear prejudice to the parties involved and the activity itself. Although this gap has been identified, there has been no space for reflection on the humanization of care in surgery.This book is, therefore, innovative, precisely because it responds to the previously mentioned shortcomings, offering its readers the opportunity to reflect on Humanism in Surgery.

Medical Humanities and Narrative Medicine have been increasingly relevant in view of the challenges that new health technologies and the digital world pose to truly person-centered healthcare. By Narrative Medicine we understand the practice of healthcare with narrative skills that allow professionals to recognize the suffering of others and of themselves; be able to interpret verbal and non-verbal narratives of illness; and be motivated to act in a way that respects the Person of the Patient and of the Professional. Surgery, like other medical specialties, requires space for reflection and debate on the meaning of humanism and its impact on the quality of care. This requirement is more pressing in this area, because it has escaped inquiry by Medical Humanities and Narrative Medicine. We believe that this is due to the nature of the surgical activity, carried out in an enclosed place, characterized by the use of sophisticated technologies, including robotics and artificial intelligence, and inaccessible to patients' relatives. In addition, the patients' own expectations about surgery reinforce the technological and highly specialized nature of this area, often marked by the neglect of the relational context, with clear prejudice to the parties involved and the activity itself. Although this gap has been identified, there has been no space for reflection on the humanization of care in surgery.This book is, therefore, innovative, precisely because it responds to the previously mentioned shortcomings, offering its readers the opportunity to reflect on Humanism in Surgery.