Doctors at Work

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Our work seems to consist of one crisis after another. In this episode, Matt tells me about the importance of identifying what's urgent and what's important. This can be learnt, and asking others can be a useful way to develop this prioritisation skill. Checklists have a place too, as long as we don't forget the importance of human interaction. Regular stress and pressure also means that looking after ourselves is important, and we need to dedicate time to strategic and long term thinking as well as to today's emergency.

Matt Morgan is a Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine, adjunct Clinical Professor and regular BMJ columnist. He has contributed to >50 scientific articles following his PhD in artificial intelligence including the NEJM, Lancet and JAMA. After appearing on television and radio, he gave the 2023 Woodridge Lecture and was nominated for the Royal Society’s David Attenborough prize for public engagement. His first book CRITICAL tells remarkable stories of patients in the intensive care unit. His second book, ONE MEDICINE, explores how understanding animals can help treat human disease. His third book will look at the lives of patients after surviving a cardiac arrest. His is a member of the BMJ Commission on the Future of the NHS and is the medical advisor for The National Theatre’ in London’s production of "Nye", the story of Aneurin Bevan. He lives in Cardiff with his family. You can find him on LinkedIn and Twitter @dr_mattmorgan and Instagram @dr_mattmorgan.

You can also watch at www.youtube.com/@dr-coach/videos
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What is emotional intelligence and how do you develop it? Tracy tells me that emotional intelligence is about how you relate to yourself and to others. We all have a tendency for events to lead to emotions without us pausing and considering what is going on, so the key is to actually slow down the move from event to emotion and examine the thoughts that are determining how we feel. Once we recognise the thoughts as well as emotions at play, we can then make choices based on how we really want to be, instead of doing things that we later regret. Better emotional intelligence makes us happier in the long term, and it also improves workplace interactions with colleagues.

Tracy L Davis, MD PhD is mid-career dermatopathologist and anatomic pathologist in the southwest U.S., currently working in companion diagnostics in the pharmaceutical industry at Roche. Her career has also spanned hospital practice, academic medicine, and private practice. Outside of medicine, she is also a speaker and certified life coach who is passionate about Happiness Studies. She is the author of the weekly newsletter, The Happy Physician: A Practical Guide. She helps physicians who want more out of life, despite seeming to “have-it-all”, to create the life they dream of, so that they can achieve greater happiness and live their best life.

You can find her at  thehappyphysician.com, www.linkedin.com/in/tracydavismd, and www.facebook.com/davist07

You can also watch at www.youtube.com/@dr-coach/videos.
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Ranj tells me that General Practice in an exciting specialty with wide variety of conditions and interactions. Good communication skills and teamwork are important, as is an ability to manage uncertainty. We discuss the many different ways that GPs can work, including portfolio careers. I love the way his Practice has created structures that enable staff to connect and get support from each other.

Dr Ranj Sagoo is a UK trained and GMC licenced doctor of over 15 years’ experience. He gained his medical degree (MBCHB) at Leicester University in 2006 after which he trained in Orthopaedics and Surgery before becoming a GP in 2013 obtaining Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP).

Early in his GP career he developed an interest in Dermatology and completed the Cardiff Diploma of Practical Dermatology, followed by the Cardiff Certificate in Dermoscopy. Combining this with his surgical skills Dr Ranj developed an expertise in diagnosing and managing chronic skin conditions, diagnosing skin lesions and performing skin surgery.

As he progressed in his career Dr Ranj felt that there was so much more that we can do to help people not only manage their health problems but prevent them from occurring. Dr Ranj has a firm belief that we are in control of our health and those people that struggle with their health have the power within them to regain that control. We are not destined to develop certain conditions because they are in the family, nor should people feel restricted by their health problems as they are very reversible.

 Dr Ranj began to look at health as a complex interaction of multiple contexts of life. Core to his belief is seeing the person as a whole and not the illness that they present with. Developing a deeper understanding of the person, their values, purpose and their circumstances, holds the key to helping them with their health problems.

He began to explore the psychology of health behaviour and the drivers of motivation to change. Dr Ranj developed an awareness of the need for a more holistic approach to health and wellbeing. He developed a fascination with lifestyle and nutritional approaches to health and wellbeing. He has since become certified in counselling, a Professional Coach and NLP Practitioner accredited by the Association of Professional Coaches (APC) and European Association of Neurolinguistic Programming (EANLP). Dr Ranj has also achieved the Level 3 Award for Nutritional Intervention in Exercise, Wellbeing and Weight Management with the Association for Nutrition (AfN) and completed the Diploma of Lifestyle Medicine with the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine (BSLM) and is a Certified Lifestyle Medicine Physician.  

With his Health & Wellbeing programs, Dr Ranj helps clients achieve their health goals by bringing together his wealth of knowledge in conventional, nutritional and lifestyle medicine. Using his skills in counselling, coaching and NLP he helps clients make deep discovery, find alignment with their values and make sustainable life-long change. A true journey to creating a healthier and happier life, not only for the client but their family and loved ones through transferable learning.

Outside of medicine, Dr Ranj is an Award-winning Fine Art wildlife artist, having won the 2022 BritishContemporary.Art ‘Artist of the Year’ award. He is also keen on sports and fitness and enjoys playing football, tennis, and kickboxing. As well as this Dr Ranj enjoys travelling and exploring different cultures and cuisines with his family.

You can find him at www.drranjsagoo.com, Instagram @drranj_healthcoach; Youtube @drranj_healthcoach; www.linkedin.com/in/dr-ranjit-sagoo; and https://www.facebook

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This episode is a recording of my appearance on Funke's Thriving in the NHS huddle, where we discussed career tips for IMGs.

Ibifunke Pegba-Otemolu is a Higher Surgical Trainee in the East of Scotland deanery. She runs Thriving in the NHS an organisation that provides resources to support International Medical Graduates in the UK to thrive in their lives and careers.  You can find her work at www.thrivinginthenhs.co.uk .

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Starting work as a doctor is a challenging time. Wen has researched this period, and in this episode she tells me that many of the challenges revolve around uncertainty. Senior doctors can help new doctors successfully enter the world of work, and new doctors  can themselves create change for themselves and for others. New doctors are the senior leaders of the future, and can start influencing culture right from today onwards.

Dr Wen Wang is an Associate Professor in Human Resource Managment (HRM) at the University of Leicester. I am a researcher who explores inclusive and fair people management at workplace by utilising innovative dataset. My mission is to disseminate good HRM practices of our time to bring the best out of employees to achieve goals of the organisation and individuals. My work on the employment experience of NHS staff was included in two UK Parliament policy documents in 2022.  The trainee doctors' retention project in the talk has produced numerous free  materials and digital resources to support doctors' career progression. 

You can connect with her on LinkedIn and X @DrWenWang.

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Mick Connors and I discuss the importance of interpersonal connections at work. Our careers are busier than ever, but somewhere along the line we have lost the deep personal connections that we used to have with colleagues and patients too. Instead of focusing on the person in front of us, we are focused on processes, electronic systems, and targets. Technological advances are certainly useful, we just need to remember that human relationships matter too. The structures that fostered connections 20 years may not exist, and it is up to us to make sure that we continue to build these connections in the modern technological world. Approaching interaction with humility, respect, and patient focus helps, as does an open mindset focused on growth.

J Michael Connors is an experienced physician leader with a steadfast passion for elevating healthcare through the strategic execution of best practices, especially those rooted in relationship building. He has a proven track record of excelling in clinical, leadership, and financial realms of healthcare. He has specialized expertise in innovation, digital health, organizational structuring, and business acumen, all geared towards steering organizations towards a harmonious blend of financial growth and mission-driven success. You can connect with him on LinkedIn, and read about his ideas here and here.

You can also watch on www.youtube.com/@dr-coach/videos. Production: Shot by Polachek.

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Sarwar tells me that occupational medicine is a very varied specialty, which draws on a range of skills particularly problem solving, negotiation, and report writing. Much practice occurs outside the NHS, and the routes into the specialty include both NHS and training outside the NHS. It's one of the few areas of medicine where doctors get to spend 45 minutes or longer talking to a patient, and his career allows him to practice medicine whilst at the same time working with many different non-NHS contexts.

Sarwar Chowdhury has several years experience as an Occupational Health Physician (OHP) and is Medical Director for Medigold Health. He operates as a Senior Lead Occupational Health Physician for a Tertiary NHS trust as part of a wider MDT of Occupational clinicians. He has extensive experience with undertaking complex medical management referrals, pre-placement medicals, health surveillance, blood bourne virus (BBV) monitoring, treating clinician referrals, clinical governance and policy writing.

He has expertise in private Occupational Health for SME/businesses conducting high quality assessments including Management Case Conferences, Complex Management Referrals, Driver Medicals (Group 1 & 2 licences), Rail, Firefighter, Local Authorities, White Collar businesses, Biological Monitoring, Health Surveillance and Ill Health Retirement (range of industries including NHS). He acts as the Medical Review Officer (MRO) for verifying Drug and Alcohol Test and Screening results is involved with clinical governance and auditing of Rail Work as the Duty Rail Doctor covering a wide range of Train Operating companies and supervision/support of dozens of clinicians across the UK.

He practises as an AFOM - Associate of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine and is certified as an Office of Rail and Road Doctor (ORRDOC), FOM Tier 4 HAVS approved, HSE appointed in Asbestos & Ionising Radiation.

He is close to completing a prospective CESR route training (4th Year) for Accredited Specialist status in Occupational Medicine as a Consultant Occupational Health Physician. This involves also completing his MSc in Occupational Medicine at Manchester University and currently holds AdvDipOccMed status after 2 years of the course.

He co-founded and runs the Occupational Health Academy demonstrating entrepreneurship to create a brand and website, leadership in co-running the course, teaching skills with delivering courses in medical education in Occupational Medicine for the Diploma of Occupational Medicine (DOccMed) exam & MFOM Part 1.

Aside from his work, he volunteers as the CESR 'training' Representative for the Society of Occupational Medicine (SOM), guiding and liaising with Occupational Health Physicians seeking to gain MFOM (ad eundem) outside of the traditional CCT route.

You can connect with Sarwar on LinkedIn.

You can find out more about Occupational Medicine on the following resources.
https://occupationalhealthacademy.co.uk/resources; https://www.fom.ac.uk/careers; https://www.som.org.uk/careers; https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/doctors/roles-doctors/occupational-medicine; https://medicfootprints.org/occupational-medicine-career-guide/; https://rcpconferences.co.uk/rcp-medicine-careers-week; https://youtu.

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All of us change over time, and the choices we made and how we worked in our twenties may no longer suit. In this episode, Denise tells me that it's not unusual to look for alterations in our working lives, and this may be small moves or radical ones.  Having a really clear understanding of what matters to you is important, and sometimes really good hints come from exploring childhood experiences. Change requires networking, but the ideal job might not exist, you might have to create it yourself. Making a decision about how much money you and your family need is important too, and radical moves are best done from a position of strength.

Denise Taylor is a chartered psychologist, with an MBA, and her doctorate (gained at 64) investigated retirement transitions. It’s not just about the qualifications, Denise is noted as being creative, visionary, and fun to work with. She loves to gather new information and resources to best serve her clients. She is a coach specialising in senior-level career transitions, mid-career reinvention, and retirement transitions. She loves the outdoors, wild camping, and bushcraft. You can find he at  https://www.amazingpeople.co.uk/ and on LinkedIn.

You can also watch on www.youtube.com/@dr-coach/videos.
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Most women doctors have experienced sexism at work, and face adversity ranging from micro aggression to sexual assault. What can we do about it? Chelcie Jewitt from Surviving in Scrubs tells me that changing the whole medical culture won't happen overnight, but there are small steps that each one of us can take. When witnessing discrimination, the least that bystanders can do is to acknowledge the event to the person on the receiving end, but it is important to let the person affected decide what should happen next. Speaking up and listening to what other's say is a key step, as is having an open mind and seeing things from the other's point of view.

Dr Chelcie Jewitt is an Emergency Medicine registrar, and co-founder of Surviving in Scrubs. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, and learn more about her work at https://www.survivinginscrubs.co.uk/.

You can also watch at www.youtube.com/@dr-coach/videos.
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Many doctors assume that career decisions are a one-off event, but the reality is that many of us make one decision after another. Over time, our environments change, and we also change. Career management means paying attention to what is going in in our careers and in ourselves, and repeatedly adjusting to create the success and meaning that gives career satisfaction.

Spanning three decades, Will Mangar has worked as a family physician in general practice within the UK National Health Service. He has spent many of these years leading organisations within primary care. He has a special interest in men’s psychological health and wellbeing, and specifically with principles of meaningful purpose and its relationship with personal fulfilment and happiness in life. He devotes his professional time to his practice and raising awareness of men's mental health with the perspective of meaningful purpose through speaking, writing and broadcasting. You can find him on LinkedIn.

You can also watch at www.youtube.com/@dr-coach/videos.
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