Sharp Scratch BMJ Podcasts

Studying medicine can make us feel like we’re being shaped to become anonymous cogs in a health-delivering machine. To be effective, it can seem that we need to fit ourselves into a universal mold, unable to make decisions or express individuality. Many students have expressed outrage towards the recent changes made in the UKFPO allocation programme that removes the ability of graduating students to determine where they end up. Loss of agency has been closely linked to burnout, making it important for us to manage as we progress through our careers. 
 
In this episode, we could talk about our ability to exert our agency while studying medicine. How does studying medicine and working as a doctor affect our agency, and what impact does that have on us? What can we do to overcome constraints on our ability to make decisions? 
 
The panel are joined by Rakesh Patel, professor of medical education and head of MBBS at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry. 
 
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Éabha is a guest judge for the Immerse Education essay competition. If you are an aspiring medical student aged 13-18 years, enter now for a chance to win a fully funded place at one of their award winning summer schools. Get more information here.
 
 

The concept of ‘psychological safety’ has emerged to describe an environment where there is a shared belief amongst individuals that it is safe to engage in interpersonal risk-taking in the workplace. In a psychologically safe environment, we feel as though our colleagues will not reject people for being themselves or for saying what they think, we respect each others competence, are interested in each other as people, and have positive intentions for one another.
In this episode, we talk all about all about this idea of psychological safety as applied to medical students. What environments have made our panel feel psychologically safe? How hard is it to learn when you don’t feel safe? How can we help to cultivate a psychologically safe environment at medical school?
 
In this episode, the panel are joined by Gabrielle Mathews, an academic foundation doctor and multi-award winning children and young people's health advocate based in London. 
We also hear from Amy Edmondson, professor of leadership and management at Harvard Business School, and from Don Berwick, physician and founder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. This audio is used with permission from BMJ and IHI, and was recorded at the BMJ IHI International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, at the ExCeL in London, April 12th 2024.
 
Éabha is a guest judge at this year's Immerse Education Essay Competition. For more information, and the chance to win a fully funded place at one of their summer schools, check out this link: https://www.immerse.education/essay-competition/
 
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Often, we think of medicine as a science. We think of doctors as scientists and scholars. We pride ourselves in being ‘in STEM,’ supporting evidence based medicine and learning the so-called ‘medical model.’ Our view of medicine, it’s teaching and its assessment is framed by medical science, and we may not think of ourselves as creatives.
In this episode, the panel discuss whether there is room for creativity in medicine,  hear from some creatives in medicine, about how their art has contributed to their practice of medicine and their careers, and think a little about the creativity hidden within medicine
 
With thanks to Roshni Beeharry, Megan Brown, Antonia Peilober-Richardson, Raymond Matthews and John Launer
 
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Medics, throughout our careers and lives, are surrounded by grief. We grieve in our own lives, we grieve for our patients, we grieve with our patients. In this week's episode, we talk a little about grief in all of its forms.
 
While an early episode of sharp scratch explored coping with death, I think it is fair to say that since the pandemic, the experiences of medical students with regards to loss and grief and death have changed quite a lot. This episode unpacks what it means to grieve, how we can grieve, and how we can support others through their grief too. 
 
The panel are joined by expert guest, Hilary Williams. Hilary is a consultant in medical oncology in south Wales and is Vice President for Wales at the Royal College of Physicians.
 
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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 this episode from our archives will be a look behind the scenes at what it means to work at The BMJ. 
 
This episode from 2023 brings together four former editorial scholars, ready to talk all about their experiences of working at The BMJ, as well as how you can get involved via the Editorial Scholarship, the Clegg Scholarship, Sharp Scratch, and writing articles. They delve into any worries they had before joining, and unpick their experiences to hopefully get a better insight into the inner workings of a medical journal. 
 
We have extended the deadline for the 2024/25 Editorial Scholarship until next Friday 26th February, so if you're interested in applying please do check out https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj.q685 for all relevant information on the job and application!

With the rapid unfolding of recent events in medicine, from low pay to staffing crisis’ to the rapid changes to the face of our postgraduate training, it can be easy to lose all hope for the future - but is this really the case? A recent BMJ research paper found that cancer survival has doubled in the last fifty years, and that's one reason to be hopeful.
 
In this episode, the panel talk all about hope. What does 'hope' really mean? Is there any hope for a better future?
 
This week, the panel are joined by Anna Baverstock, a consultant paediatrician and wellbeing lead based in Somerset. 
 
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