2023-12-01 19:45:41
Dr. Monica Lalanda
Drawing has been a fundamental part of the life of Mónica Lalanda, a Spanish doctor and surgeon, with a master’s degree in Medical Ethics, Bioethics and Biolaw, since since school her notes and books were full of doodles and she loved making caricatures of the teachers. “When you are a child it is always lucky to be able to draw, it makes you very popular and gives a friendly window to criticism,” commented Dr. Lalanda.
Origins of your passion
Mónica Lalanda worked for many years as a healthcare doctor in England and Spain, but since 2014 drawing has been her way of life and her way of being a doctor. Studying the master’s degree in Bioethics and looking for how to learn and teach concepts on the subject, which turn out to be complex and whose study material is tedious and unbearable, she met Graphic Medicine, a website run by Dr. Ian William, an English doctor who is now a friend of his and who coined the term to explain the relationship between the comic and the story of the disease.
“Ian was collecting material on the website and working with a team of healthcare workers and academics, so from that moment on it was non-stop for me, I use my talent to draw comics, cartoons, infographics and illustrations as communication tools in the healthcare environment,” mentioned Dr. Lalanda.
As a freelance vignette artist, she addresses different themes with her drawings with the aim of making medicine through illustration: “I have changed tools and now I use color instead of phonendo. I draw to translate complex material with medical jargon into a friendly, simple, easy for patients to understand and remember. I make vignettes and infographics from complex documents for healthcare professionals. I created material that seeks to improve communication and empathy among professionals and also used graphic medicine as a means to demand job improvements for mistreated professionals. sanitary”. Its allies are communication, dissemination and advocacy in health.
Dr. Mónica Lalanda, a freelance vignette artist, during the COVID-19 pandemic created materials to improve health communication and dissemination.
Favorite drawings
It is difficult for every artist to choose a favorite from the thousands of drawings created, however, Dr. Lalanda mentions one in particular because of the challenge it involved: the series of drawings that showed a family member behind a patient who looked extremely ill. , the patient asking to be told the truth and behind him the family member signaling to the doctor not to do it. “That very Hispanic conspiracy of silence,” added Dr. Lalanda.
This series of drawings is one of Dr. Lalanda’s favorites. The conspiracy of silence is an agreement, implicit or explicit, that health professionals, caregivers or family members make without the patient’s consent to hide the patient’s diagnosis.
On the other hand, due to the tremendous dissemination they achieved, there are two examples that Dr. Lalanda cited: the figure of a patient in a hospital gown showing her butt and the double vignette with a patient in a terminal situation suffering therapeutic cruelty or dying at home surrounded by his family with palliative care.
“May the dignity of your patients be a priority” is another of Dr. Lalanda’s favorite drawings.
Achievements as a graphic doctor
Dr. Lalanda commented that she has had achievements at the creative level and at the organizational level. From a creative point of view: “The publication of my two favorite projects. Medical Awareness (LID editorial, 2016) a comic book in which I translated the ethical code of Spanish doctors, article by article, into the language of comics. Through irony I described what medicine would be like without ethics. It remains a successful book and is used in some medical schools today. AND Being a Doctor, a deck of 54 cards with the advice that I would have liked to receive when I started studying medicine. Collect small ideas (with their vignettes) in the areas of communication, self-care and professionalism. Initially it was a crowdfunding and now it is translated into English and German.
She added that, on the organizational side, she is proud that in 2017 she founded the Spanish Graphic Medicine movement, now the Spanish Society of Graphic Medicine, of which she is the president and is also the director of the Master’s Degree in Graphic Medicine at the University. International of Andalusia, Spain.
“Now I have two very important tasks, that of making graphic medicine created by others visible and creating my own graphic medicine. During these years I have known how to bring together and lead a magnificent group of health professionals with similar interests and work together to value the graphic medicine. It is not easy, without means, with many prejudices against it, but with great enthusiasm, today many doors have been opened for us and there are many minds open to accept our proposal. We have reviewed more than 200 comics in Graphic Medicine, We have great visibility on social networks such as @graficamedicina“We are going to the fourth edition of the National Congress of Graphic Medicine and we are starting the third edition of the master’s degree. Furthermore, the degree of generosity and creativity of the group is epic.”
Challenges when mixing medicine and illustration
Dr. Lalanda considers that people’s prejudices are one of the most difficult challenges to overcome: “Drawing, and even more so comics, is considered by the majority to be an unserious, childish or underground. Once you overcome that barrier, the surprise of many at the possibilities of this medium is very satisfying. In the meantime, I don’t mind being the dolls’ doctor.”
The second challenge is not to forget science. “My mission is still to be a doctor, there is a danger of giving more importance to the packaging than to the content. Any drawing designed as graphic medicine must have a powerful component of science behind it. One can transmit simple messages, but that does not mean they lack strength scientific. I like to use links (through QR codes) that allow more complete information to be transmitted,” explained Dr. Lalanda.
cartoonist inspiration
“I have two absolute references! One is the great Quino. I consider, like so many people, that his Mafalda is not just a character but a philosophy of life. The deep social analysis wrapped in children’s drawings is genius. And the other is Forges (Spanish cartoonist who understood the world of doctors like no one else) whose cartoons are fun, always acidic and loaded with a critical but empathetic message. The drawing style of both, simple, without shadows, without background, with clean lines, which clearly communicates spectacularly, they have been my model. In fact, I think that my little doctors are Mafalda and her friends who have grown older. I was fortunate that the great Forges gave me a cartoon and this makes the back cover of my book,” said Dr. Lalanda
At the same time, Dr. Lalanda highlighted that since “we all love drawing as children and we are able to express ourselves with fluidity and great fun”, making use of this medium goes beyond technique as long as the drawing “is capable of communicate something. And the more you draw, the better you do it.” Likewise, it is important to become professional and at the moment the only regulated training at present is provided by the Graphic Medicine team, in the Graphic Medicine master’s degree at the International University of Andalusia (UNIA). Finally, Dr. Lalanda’s objective is that “each scientific society, each institution and each health professional has internalized the immense value of the tool and uses it normally.”
Dr. Mónica Lalanda is a doctor and vignette artist, president of the Spanish Society of Graphic Medicine and invites everyone to investigate the medium, explore the immense possibilities and read a graphic novel, also to explore social networks, Instagram, X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook and the blog. You can also contact her at X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram and in Medical paintings.
Dr. Lalanda has declared no relevant financial relationships.
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