Sharp Scratch

Working hard or hardly working

Do you have a healthy work-life balance? Find out what actually counts as work, and whether medicine means sacrificing your social life...
This week the team are joined by Sharp Scratch’s old friend Greta McLachlan, Higher General Surgical Trainee and Leadership Fellow at Cleveland Clinic London, to talk about their social lives, maintaining a work life balance, and training less than full time.
You can follow Greta on twitter at @GeeMcLachlan

The F word

Why is academic failure surrounded by shame and guilt? Find out what support is available for students, and why failing may make you a better doctor in the long term.
This week the panel are joined by Rakesh Patel, Clinical Associate Professor in Medical Education, to talk about failing - and why medical students are so embarrassed to fail.

Tackling the hospital tech

This week the team talk about all the tech you might face working in the NHS - from bleeps and fax machines to slow computers. Find out if you’re allowed to use WhatsApp, what the alternatives are, and why the IT can be so frustrating in the first place...
Interviews:
Stephen Armstrong, freelance journalist
Sarah El-Sheikha and Sarah Blackstock are Clinical Fellows at FMLM. Opinions mentioned in the episode are their own and not that of their employing organisation(s). There are other apps available (for free). You can contact them via twitter: @sarah_sheikha and @sarahblackst0ck

Naps & night shifts

This week the team are joined by Mike Farquhar, Consultant in sleep medicine at Evelina London Children’s Hospital, to talk about sleep and fatigue in medical school and beyond.
Morning lark, or night owl, you'll probably need more sleep, or at least a coffee nap. Find out about the science of staying awake.
Paper mentioned by Mike in the ep: https://ep.bmj.com/content/102/3/127

Being at a birth

This week the team are joined by Lucy Chappell, Professor in Obstetrics at King’s College London and Honorary Consultant Obstetrician at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust. The panel reflected on their experiences seeing someone give birth, and how to process the emotions that come with experiencing new life.

Festive ’Agony Aunt’ (part 2)

The team gathered to respond to our listeners' medical school dilemmas. Some of the med students wanted to be anonymous so some of the dilemmas are voiced by actors and friends!
On this episode, Nikki, Kayode, Lily, and Andrew talk about dating at medical school, how to handle a medical emergency if you’ve had a few drinks, and discuss Med Twitter’s stethoscope-gate.
For advice on dealing with an emergency as a Good Samaritan, visit https://www.medicalprotection.org/uk/articles/dealing-with-a-public-emergency-as-a-good-samaritan

Festive ’Agony Aunt’ (part 1)

The team gathered to respond to our listeners' medical school dilemmas. Some of the med students wanted to be anonymous so some of the dilemmas are voiced by actors and friends!
On this episode, Nikki, Anna, Laura and Ryhan talk about swearing, clinical partners who are always running late, and competition with your peers.

Too girly to be a doctor

This week the team explore ideas of professionalism, and whether our concept of this as a society is more ‘masculine’. With our guest Dr Kate Lovett, the panel discussed their own experiences and reflected on the language used when giving feedback.
If you want to contact the Sharp Scratch team with your dilemma, please email Nikki at nnabavi@bmj.com

”Apparently one of the students has already fainted..”

Vasovagal syncope might be a diagnosis on your list of differentials that seems relatively benign, as there are many more sinister causes for a sudden loss of consciousness. But no one wants a sudden loss of consciousness to happen in front of the whole staff of an operating theatre, or in front of all your peers in the dissection lab.
In this episode of Sharp Scratch, we broke down some of the reasons why we might feel faint, strategies we can use to prevent faints, and why there’s no shame in being a frequent fainter - all with the help of expert guest Boon Lim, award winning consultant cardiologist based at Hammersmith Hospital, where he runs one of the busiest syncope service in London.

Specialty Stereotypes

You may be familiar with some common medical speciality stereotypes – the ‘tall, strong orthopaedic surgeon from the medics rugby team’, the psychiatrist who is ‘as mad as their patients’ or the ‘bike-obsessed-coffee-drinking’ anaesthetist, but why and how do these stereotypes exist?
The Sharp Scratch team debunk some of the myths and ask some interesting questions about their own character traits. Are these stereotypes just good fun or are they preventing us from creating diversity within our specialities by labouring under these historic, often inaccurate, pretences?
Link to article Nikki mentioned in the pod: https://blogs.bmj.com/pmj/2016/02/24/did-you-choose-them-or-did-they-choose-you/