Dr Hena Syed-Sabir is a clinical psychologist at Paediatric Intensive Care at Birmingham Children's Hospital.  In this conversation we discuss the growing recognition of the need for psychological support for healthcare staff and the concept of debriefing and its various applications in healthcare staff who have experienced trauma.  Hena explains the practicalities of debriefing, including the use of vitual debriefs, and the role of silence and spaces for listening.  We discuss the use of "naming" emotional experiences in debrief and in everyday professional conversations, and how this may help with processing emotions.  We reflect on the range of responses to trauma in our own practice, how this can manifest in changes in our own behaviours, the growing prevalence of moral distress, and secondary trauma associated with adverse safety events.

Hena's choice of theme tune: https://youtu.be/aENX1Sf3fgQ

Dr Will Flanary is an ophthalmologist and a comedian.  Over the last few years, Will's alter ego, "Dr Glaucomflecken" has taken social media by storm with a wealth of comedy sketches making light of a wide variety of situations in which we work in healthcare.  In this conversation, we discuss the origins of Dr Glaucomflecken; the impact of positive feedback on how we feel and how we perform; the role of laughter and comedy in healthcare; and what makes for appropriate humour in our work.

Below is a list of some of the references from the conversation:

Lady G's takeover for father's day:  https://twitter.com/DGlaucomflecken/status/1406689639566479360

Dr G's first descents fundraiser page: https://support.firstdescents.org/fundraiser/3183636

Dr G's comedy page: https://www.drgcomedy.com/

In this episode, we are joined in conversation by Dr Alex Gillespie.  Alex is a social psychologist at the London School of Economics.  We came across Alex's work when we read the paper he co-authored with Dr Tom Reader describing an analysis of compliment letters received by Hospitals in the NHS.  The concept of looking for insights from positive feedback is entirely on message with the LfE mission, and we were delighted when Alex agreed to talk with us about his work.  In this conversation we discuss the motivation behind the paper, the findings and implications of the study, the concept of gratitude, the interdependent nature of human society and much more.  An abridged recording of this conversation was played at the #LfE4 conference in October 2021.

This episode is a recording of our conversation with Dr Barney Scholefield.  Barney is a paediatric intensivist in Birmingham, and an academic at the university of Birmingham.  During the first COVID waves, Barney hosted a daily Zoom meeting for all staff in the department.  There was no explicit agenda - the meeting was a voluntary coming together of colleagues from across the whole department.  We shared information, worries, laughter, music and even photography.  It was informal peer support, and also a portal for timely news and important announcements.  It was the best meeting of every day, and one of the best things to come out of the pandemic.  In this interview, Barney explains how the meeting originated and how he implemented it.  Barney also wrote a blog post about the initiative on the LfE website.

(Recorded Sept 2021)

Dr Camilla Kingdon is a consultant neonatologist, and the current president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH).  In this interview we discuss Camilla's plans as RCPCH president; how to handle unprofessional behaviours and incivility; the concept of intelligent kindness; the negativity bias; Desmond Tutu and the concept of Ubuntu; compassionate leadership; wellbeing; and the importance of rediscovering and reconnecting with our original motivations to do the work we do.  An abridged recording of this conversation was played at the #LfE4 conference in October 2021.