The Theatre: Surgical Learning & Innovation Podcast Royal College of Surgeons of England

In this episode, colorectal surgeon and Clinical Lead for the College's Excellence in Surgical Supervision (ESS) course, Dan Beral, leads a panel discussion on trainee wellbeing, how trainers can facilitate conversations with their trainees on mental health, as well as some of the barriers to having these important discussions.



Dan is joined for this episode by Zaid al-Najjar, Medical Director for NHS Practitioner Health, colorectal consultant Shirley Chan, and orthopaedic trainee Robyn Brown.



There are many resources online for wellbeing and mental health, but here are some that might be particularly relevant for surgeons, as selected by Robyn Brown:


NHS Practitioner Health
Starting the conversation tips
Having a conversation around mental health
NHS How to have a wellbeing conversation
Resources for having a wellbeing conversation
Mental health language and stigma
Time to Talk day posters for workplace
Looking after employees’ wellbeing
Parents in Surgery RCS
BOA resources for parents

October is Black History Month in the UK, and this month's theme is 'Celebrating Our Sisters.' For this month's episode, RCS England's Diversity & Inclusion Manager, Corriene Bailey-Bearfield sits down with orthopaedic consultant, Samantha Tross for a candid conversation about personal journeys, social responsibility, and Black History Month itself.

This is the third episode in our ongoing series on the theme of Ethical Leadership, presented by Salman Ahmed and Aya Musbahi. This time around, they are joined by Professor Joyce Liddle of Northumbria University for a conversation on public value in the healthcare service. The discussion covers what value looks like for a public body like the NHS in terms of service delivery, who creates this value, and what this means for surgeons and other healthcare professionals. We hope listeners will be able to take away what they hear today and consider what value creation looks like in their own workplaces.

As always, we are looking to hear from you, so please do reach out to us on social media, or email us at podcasts@rcseng.ac.uk

When a parent, grandparent, caregiver or any significant adult in a child's life is going through a stressful time, children can sense it. Children often try to rationalise the stress they feel from others and draw their own conclusions about what is happening to those around them.

 

As surgeons, we often overlook the importance of suggesting to the patient that they should discuss the impact of a diagnosis or treatment plan with
family, particularly the children in their lives, which will have a positive impact on those around them. In this episode, Professor Arunthathi Mahendran,
Institute Director for the Institute of Heath Science Education, leads the conversation with Louise Dalton, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Dr.
Elizabeth Rapa, Senior Post Doctoral Researcher on how to communicate with children when a family member is expected to undergo medical treatment.

 

Our guests share insights and advice on how to have these conversations with children following a diagnosis and provide prompts that
healthcare professionals can use to ensure families have the awareness and tools to approach the topic themselves. Below we have also provided links to
resources that offer a step-by-step guide for talking about illness, tailored to both healthcare professionals and families.

 

For healthcare professionals: https://www.psych.ox.ac.uk/files/research/guide-for-hcps.pdf

 For families: https://www.psych.ox.ac.uk/files/research/guide-for-families.pdf

 

Don't miss out on this crucial conversation; tune in now to hear from experts in this field.

February is LGBTQ+ History Month, and for us that means returning to a topic that we’ve touched on a few times over the life of this podcast, and that is issues facing queer surgeons in the workplace. Up to this point, we’ve focused exclusively on the experiences of LGBTQ+ surgeons in the UK, but for this episode, we are featuring members of our own Pride in Surgery Forum (aka Prism) in conversation with members of Pride in Medicine, a multispecialty group of doctors in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Through this podcast, we wanted to highlight common issues facing LGBTQ+ clinicians in another country, explain different approaches being taken to gaining LGBTQ+ inclusion and visibility, and discuss how perceptions of the impacts of homophobia and transphobia differ between LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ people.

This episode features Pride in Surgery Forum (PRiSM) chair and consultant vascular surgeon Ginny Bowbrick with PRiSM vice-chair and orthopaedic registrar Karen Chui, in conversation with members of Pride in Medicine: general surgeon Richard Turner and general surgery follow Matt Marino. 

As a note on terminology, this podcast uses the term "Mardi Gras," which, for listners outside Australia refers to the Pride Festival in Sydney.

This episode centres around the perspectives of Muslim women in surgery, and in particular the challenges faced by hijab-wearing Muslim women in both theatre environments and in their trusts. Featuring a panel led by core surgical trainee Azra Khatun, along with colorectal consultant and RCS Council Member Nuha Yassin, vascular registrar Nina Al-Saadi and paediatric registrar Farah Roslan, this podcast aims to show a range of experiences that hijab-wearing women face in the surgical world, while offering guidance and encouragement to those coming through medical school and aspiring to a career in surgery.

As Azra says in a recent RCS Bulletin article on her work on the Surgical Scarf initiative:

'Research demonstrates that the lack of consideration for religious dress codes in the operating theatre has compromised access to training and surgical career pathways for a growing number of Muslim women surgeons and medical students. Many women were left feeling anxious and bullied, subsequently opting for alternative specialties. During a recent meeting of the British Islamic Medical Association’s dress code group, it became clear that each of us from different UK hospitals shared similar experiences of not being able to wear our headscarf in theatre. Many of us were being told to leave the theatre and to wear a theatre cap while some reported that surgery could not be a career option because of this.'

For the recent Bulletin articles by the featured panellists, please see the links below.

The Surgical Scarf Project by Azra Khatun

Cut from the Same Cloth? by Nina Al-Saadi et al