Given the current working conditions in the UK, we’re hearing more and more stories of doctors moving abroad to practise medicine. However, this isn’t necessarily unusual. Doctors and other healthcare professionals from many different countries do often decide to get a taste for healthcare systems elsewhere either through short, temporary placements, or through a more permanent move! In today’s episode we’re going to be talking all about why students or junior doctors might be considering...

From the moment you start medical school, you’re asked the same question - ‘what kind of doctor are you going to be?’. Whilst some know from the very beginning that they’re going to be a surgeon or a paediatrician or a GP, others have no idea. The reality of choosing a specialty can be really difficult. In this episode, we talk about the common worries that medical students or junior doctors might have when it comes to choosing a specialty. We’ll also discuss some steps we can take to make...

From the lingering effects of the pandemic to ongoing industrial action, it is a turbulent time to be working in healthcare. As medical students about to start working in this profession, it can feel really overwhelming and daunting to think about our future careers in the NHS. Today we’re going to be talking about all the things we’re worried about when it comes to the current NHS crisis. Our expert guest, Elisabeth, will pull in evidence from interviews with junior doctors and healthcare...

Every consultation we have with a patient reveals something about us - sometimes we do that deliberately, sometimes it's just incidental - but we always bring something of ourselves to the consultation. In a recent episode, we talked all about self disclosure; when it is and isn’t appropriate to share things with your patients. In that episode, we focused on health and illness but today, we’re going to be talking about things that are outside of the sphere of medicine. For example, the way...

Maybe you’ve been following BMJ Student for a really long time, or maybe you’re new to following us. Perhaps you only know about Sharp Scratch, or you’ve written and worked with us before. However much you know about BMJ Student, we hope today’s episode will be a look behind the scenes at what it means to work at The BMJ. Today we’ve got four current/former Editorial Scholars ready to talk all about our experiences working at The BMJ, as well as how you can get involved via the Clegg...

We’ve talked before about how one's own experience of illness can affect their practice, but does it also influence how much you share with your patients? In today’s episode we’re going to be talking all about physician self-disclosure - that is, all the things we, as future doctors, might share with our patients. We’ll be asking how appropriate it is to share your own stories with a patient and how you know when the timing is right to do this. This week, we’re going to be focusing on...

Some supervisors say "call me Bob'' but others insist on "Doctor Jones". In this episode we're reflecting on what types of supervisors fall into each camp and why sometimes using professional titles feels like honouring someone's hard work, but other times it feels like a way of putting you in your place. In today’s episode, we’re thinking all about the title “doctor”. We’ll talk about when and how it should be used and discuss our own experiences with this. We’ll also discuss why some...

From Casualty, Holby City, and Cardiac Arrest to Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs and House, medical TV dramas are part of the fabric of growing up interested in a career in medicine. So today we’re discussing all things medical TV dramas and talking about whether these shows prepared us for medical school and life as a doctor! Join us for this episode as we play some of our favourite clips from popular medical TV programmes and talk more about how our experiences as medical students and new doctors...

Medicine is a career unlike almost any other. As medical students and junior doctors, we’ve had a lot of experience with strange, surreal moments. The first time you ask a super invasive question to someone you’ve known for all of five minutes, the first time you make an incision in surgery, the first time you do an intimate examination - all of these things can be really strange as they go against our social norms. Getting used to this is important but no one ever teaches us this in...

Medicine is occasionally like the reality TV show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in that some of the things we have to do are just unpleasant, whereas other parts may be phobia-inducing. But how might having a phobia as a medical student affect the ways you are able to work on placement? In today’s episode, we’re going to be talking all about phobias. We’ll discuss what happens when you have a phobic response to something, the ways that this can impact you whilst studying medicine, and...

Accents and dialects are influenced by so many different things including race, gender, and class. They change frequently depending on where we are, who we are with, and even what we are trying to get out of any given interaction. But why does this happen? Do we gravitate towards a certain accent in order to fit in? In this episode, we'll find out what an accent actually is, we'll discuss how our accents have changed whilst we've been at university, and we'll also examine the judgement that...

Any medical student knows that medical school can be tough. The hours are long, the work is hard, and stress can build quickly. Throughout all of this, we’re taught about compassion - how to be a compassionate medical student, and eventually a compassionate doctor. But do our own medical schools show compassion towards us? In this episode, the Sharp Scratch team talks about compassionate organisations and the impact that compassion (or a lack of it) can have on students. We also talk more...

The relationship between our personal and professional identity has always been an important part of the conversations we have here on Sharp Scratch. What doctors and medical students do in their own personal lives is often brought into debates on professionalism. The Student Sex Work Project (2015) reported that around 5% of students have, at some point, been involved in the sex industry. In this episode, the panel talk to Dr Jessica Simpson about the attitudes towards student sex workers,...

A career in medicine can sometimes mean stepping outside of your comfort zone. No matter what stage of your career you are in, it is likely that you will have to manage uncertainty, and will occasionally feel out of your depth. In this episode, the Sharp Scratch panel talks about the reality of never being able to know everything in medicine, and the benefits of acknowledging your strengths and limitations. We also talk about how to recognise that something is beyond the limit of your...

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...

Medicine is a team sport. We work with multi-disciplinary teams to deliver patient care. However, there may be times when you will work with a colleague who worries you professionally. You may find it difficult to address this unprofessional behaviour, especially as a junior member of the team. In this episode, we’ll be talking about when this becomes enough to act and what you can do about it. Expert guests: Prof Charlotte Rees (@charlreessidhu on Twitter) is the Head of School of Health...

Have you ever felt like you had to dial up an aspect of your personality in order to fit in on placement? When going on placement, there may be times when you feel like ‘the odd one out’. But do you have to fit in? Are there benefits in being different? Does medical training shape us into doctors with identical tone and manner and does this bode well with patients? In this episode, the Sharp Scratch team recounts experiences of displaying different sides of their personality at work, the...

This is a special segment from the Sharp Scratch episode - what med school didn’t teach you about money. Have you received your first payslip and not sure whether you have been paid correctly? Listen to this short clip where the doctors behind Medics Money will guide you through the key things to check on your payslip and decipher tax codes in under 10 minutes. If you would like to hear more about how to claim tax rebate, information about income protection and relocation costs, head over...

At med school, we are trained to interpret blood tests but not much (if at all) on how to interpret your payslip. Financial literacy doesn’t feature much in our medical curriculum but it’s an important life skill to have: from interpreting your payslip to claiming tax rebate on your postgrad exams fees. In this episode, the doctors behind Medics Money share their experiences regarding costs that newly qualified doctors will have to consider after med school, some money saving tips for...

At medical school, we learn about the importance of healthy health behaviours and promote them to patients at consultations. But do you always do what you preach? In this episode, we chatted about the importance of self-care, admitting to the inability to be infallible, and whether your health habits would affect the way you counsel your patients. Expert guest: Professor Erica Frank ([email protected]) is a Professor at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia; she...

“Do no harm” is a mantra that is drummed into medical students from day 1 of medical school. Most of us have gone into medicine as we believe medicine to be a force of good. However, too much medicine is capable of causing harm to patients and generating unnecessary waste. In this episode, we spoke about overdiagnosis, communicating risks and benefits with patients, and why you shouldn't take that free lunch sponsored by drug companies. Recommended reading: •Preventing overdiagnosis: how...

Along with the general public, medical students are feeling the cost-of-living crunch. How are medical students faring with the increasing cost of living? In this episode, medical students from outside of the studio send in their perspectives on how they are making ends meet, balancing medical school and part-time work and navigating the student funding system. Thank you to Michaela Vernon, Elle Gordon, Alex Twist, Trisha Suji, Ruth Carter and Eilidh Garrett who contributed to this...

If you see something that doesn’t look right when going on placement, do you feel comfortable raising a concern? In this episode, we discuss the topic of raising concerns and the considerations that med students and junior doctors may have when it comes to speaking up. Expert guest: Dr Natasha Malik (@1natasha_malik on Twitter) is a portfolio GP who works with Health Education England, UCL medical school and Imperial medical school. Top tip: “In moments of uncertainty, the first thing to...

As medical students progress through medical school, some students are becoming dissatisfied by the lack of attention to socially relevant healthcare issues in the conventional curriculum, and begin to understand that some of the frustrations we encounter at work arise from political decisions. These issues have prompted medical students to voice their concerns and advocate for change. In this episode, we will be talking about activism, how to get involved and what you can do to push for...

As healthcare professionals, we meet people from all walks of life and collect stories along the way — stories of illness and convalescence. When we hear interesting stories, there can be an urge to share them. When something bad happens, you may want to talk and offload it onto your friends and family. As we know, patient confidentiality is a core value in medicine. So what is permissible to share? Is there a way to share these stories while respecting the ethical boundaries? In this...