James talks to Claire Hooker about Grace Under Pressure, a play weaving together the experiences of health professionals.  Medicine and nursing are often referred to as “caring” professions, yet bullying, harassment and “teaching by humiliation” are a common experience in hospitals, particularly for students and interns. Grace Under Pressure is based on hours of interviews with doctors and nurses about their experiences training and working in hospitals.

Interviewee:  Claire Hooker

About Dr Claire Hooker

Dr Claire Hooker is Coordinator of the Health and Medical Humanities program at the University of Sydney, located in Sydney Health Ethics, School of Public Health. Over the past few years, Claire has been quietly building capacity in theory and evidence for arts and health. She teaches a course on Arts and Health every year.

Claire and her research students and colleagues focus their own research and practice in a few key domains.

These include: the qualities and nuances of quotidian clinical communication; changing healthcare workplace cultures; ethical and theoretical frameworks for arts and health; the experiences, qualities, integrity and behaviour of doctors (including an innovative project using acting skills workshops to prevent bullying and harassment in healthcare workplaces); and the qualities of illness experience. Claire’s research also extends into other areas – risk communication, critical evaluations of health policy – useful for making connections across different health fields.

Claire’s research and open access publications can be found at Dr Claire Hooker.