Episodes
Friday Dec 22, 2023
Christmas on the wards
Friday Dec 22, 2023
Friday Dec 22, 2023
The festive season is officially here! This time of year is all about spreading peace and goodwill, and if you’re looking for good will, one place you’re almost certain to find it is the NHS.
While working throughout the Christmas period is often an intimidating prospect for new doctors, and often we would rather *not* spend our holidays at the hospital. Yet, the wards are a pretty unique place to spend the holidays, or at least some of them, so in this Christmas special episode we could talk to some of our panellists who have already been doctors for a Christmas (or more) about their experiences of being on the wards during the holidays and about any advice they might have for those of us about to have our first holiday season in the hospital.
This week, Éabha is joined by Laura, an internal medicine trainee in Cambridge, and Kayode, a foundation year 2 doctor in London.
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Monday Dec 11, 2023
Fake it ’til you make it
Monday Dec 11, 2023
Monday Dec 11, 2023
In medical school, it can all too often feel like everyone knows what they’re doing except you. Some people always seem to have this err of confidence to them. But does anyone really know what they’re doing?
In this episode, we talk all about times when we have felt like everyone has ‘got it’ except us, how and why we might fake it until we make it, and some tips on building this confidence in our clinical and academic lives, with some guidance from expert guest, Órla McGovern.
Órla McGovern is a storyteller and actor living in Galway, Ireland. An award-winning storyteller who has told at the Cape Clear Festival, Yarn Festival at Mermaid Arts World Storytelling Café, Electric Picnic, Artists House Cobh, and numerous others, Órla has worked extensively with medical students as both a simulated patient and as a 'clown doctor,' entertaining patients in hospital.
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Monday Nov 27, 2023
How to study for medical school exams
Monday Nov 27, 2023
Monday Nov 27, 2023
Starting medical school can be a shock to the system. From day 1, there is so much to learn, there’s exams to pass and all these new practical skills to get your head around. This podcast is all about how you can learn best and boss those exams without letting them take over your whole life.
In this episode, we talk all about how to do the best you can do in exams, about learning and the study tips and tricks that have and have not worked for us. Sarah, our expert guest, is an educational psychologist who works in the South West of England.
Find us on social media:
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/BMJStudent
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmj_student/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BMJStudent/
This podcast is produced and edited by Geoff Marsh and Duncan Jarvies
Monday Nov 13, 2023
The social life of medics (with Christina Aaliyah)
Monday Nov 13, 2023
Monday Nov 13, 2023
They say nobody parties harder than medical students, but is that really true? What do our panellists think? Long-time listeners of sharp scratch may remember the fresher’s firsts: socialising episode recorded in the middle of the pandemic, so we are happy to be revisiting this topic now that medical school, and University, feels a little more normal.
In this episode, the panel talk all about socialising at medical school; from freshers' weeks, to sports and societies, to all the friends they made along the way.
Expert guest Christina Aaliyah is a final year medical student at Newcastle University and a content-creator who’s content about studying medicine and university life has amassed a following of over 140,000 on TikTok.
You can find Christina’s social media here:
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@christina.aaliyah?lang=en
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrstinna/
Check us out on social media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BMJStudent
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmj_student/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BMJStudent/
This podcast is produced and edited by Geoff Marsh and Duncan Jarvies.
Monday Oct 30, 2023
The medical school scaries
Monday Oct 30, 2023
Monday Oct 30, 2023
Spooky season is here, and sometimes there is nothing scarier than a medical degree. From broken bones, to early morning buses, we medics are fond of a horror story.
This episode, to celebrate halloween, we are sharing some of our spookiest medical school scaries - the good, the bad and the funny. We talk about some of the things we find scary about medical school, and why we find these things so scary.
In this episode the panel are joined by Dr Megan Brown, a ‘doctor-turned-academic’. With a background in clinical medicine, she now works full time in academia, and is a senior research associate in medical education at Newcastle University.
Check us out on social media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BMJStudent
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmj_student/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BMJStudent/
This podcast is produced and edited by Geoff Marsh, Dom Byrne and Duncan Jarvies.
Friday Oct 27, 2023
Replay: How not to bomb your OSCEs
Friday Oct 27, 2023
Friday Oct 27, 2023
Here at sharp scratch, we are taking a short break, so in the meantime we'd like to highlight some of our favourite episodes from the archive. I thought these episodes might be particularly helpful for those of us starting out at medical school, and I hope you enjoy them.
In this episode, the panel were joined by medical school expert David Brill, as they discuss how to approach practical exams and manage nerves, as well as their OSCE disaster stories.
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
Replay: The first generation medical students
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
Thursday Oct 19, 2023
Here at Sharp Scratch, we’re taking a short summer break, so in the meantime we’d like to highlight some of our favourite episodes from our archive. I thought these episodes might be particularly helpful for those of us starting out at medical school, and I hope you enjoy them.
Starting university or medical school can be a daunting experience for anyone, but when you're the first person in your family to study medicine, it can feel even scarier. In this episode, the panel talk all about what it is like to be a first generation medical student, starting from the very beginning and talking about when they realised they first wanted to study medicine and what it was like to apply. They also talk about their time at medical school, and the culture shock when they arrived. To finish up, they talk about positive changes they'd like to see in medicine and how their feelings have changed over time.
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Friday Oct 06, 2023
Replay: Academic first times
Friday Oct 06, 2023
Friday Oct 06, 2023
We are taking a short summer break from Sharp Scratch, so in the meantime we’d like to highlight some of our favourite episodes from our archive. I thought these episodes might be particularly helpful for those of us starting out at medical school, and I hope you enjoy them.
In this episode, the panel were joined by Richie Oparka, consultant pathologist and head of first year at Dundee medical school. They discussed and reminisce on their own first years, including their first dissections, lectures and exams.
Friday Sep 29, 2023
Replay: Starting University
Friday Sep 29, 2023
Friday Sep 29, 2023
Here at Sharp Scratch, we’re taking a short summer break, so in the meantime we’d like to highlight some of our favourite episodes from our archive. I thought these episodes might be particularly helpful for those of us starting out at medical school, and I hope you enjoy them.
Starting university can be a really exciting and really nerve-wracking time. There are so many questions you might have before you start. How do you know what to pack? How do you make friends? How do you study? Is it really going to be the best time of your life?!
You might be just about to start university in the next week or two, or simply feel like indulging in the nostalgia of those first few weeks. Either way, join Sharp Scratch panel members new and old as we come together to discuss the sorts of things we were worried about or looking forward to before we started university.
Check us out on social media:
Twitter: twitter.com/BMJStudent
Instagram: www.instagram.com/bmj_student/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BMJStudent/
This podcast is produced and edited by Dom Byrne and Duncan Jarvies.
Monday Aug 07, 2023
The 100th episode
Monday Aug 07, 2023
Monday Aug 07, 2023
Join all of the previous hosts as we celebrate 100 episodes of Sharp Scratch!
Check us out on social media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BMJStudent
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bmj_student/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BMJStudent/
This podcast is produced and edited by Dom Byrne and Duncan Jarvies.