Welcome to Part 1 of our "Motherhood & Medicine" series! In this series, we interview 5 super moms about how they navigated pregnancy and motherhood while balancing a demanding career in medicine. Learn how they decided to time their pregnancies, how they coped with registrar time while pregnant, dealing with the anguish of leaving your baby to return to work after maternity leave, coping with calls and the demands of parenting before and after calls, and much more.

Thank you to our long-term sponsors:

1. IndemnMed - https://www.indemnimed.co.za/

2. V Professional Services - https://vprofservices.com/

It’s been a while since we last had a “Coffee with Consultants” episode, where I get the privilege and honour of interviewing a consultant in a specialty to ask them about the perks, pitfalls and perils of their specialty, the decision algorithm that led them to choose it, and what advice they’d pass on to junior doctors who’d like to pursue this path in future.

Coming up in today’s episode, I sat down in studio with Dr Bongi Rubushe-Ngwenya, a specialist gynaecologist and obstetrician, to ask her about the path to specialising in these two related and yet distinct disciplines. Dr Bongi completed her undergraduate medical training at WITS and undertook her Obstetrics and Gynaecology training at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital where she now works as a consultant with a special interest in reproductive medicine. In her time there, she’s established an infertility and endocrine clinic to assist women combatting infertility and wishing to have a child. Recently she also established an office hysteroscopy clinic that has been instrumental in reducing theatre load and decongesting the backlog of patients in the Obs and Gynae department. Dr Rubushe-Ngwenya has a special interest in endoscopic surgery and is currently the president of the WITS Gynae Endoscopy Training Unit. This unit has been pivotal in improving the laparoscopic skills of Gynaecologists by hosting skills workshops and developing an associated curriculum. Finally, she thoroughly enjoys reading and is immensely passionate about teaching and passing on her knowledge to others.

Thank you to our sponsors on today's episode:

Let us know what you thought about this episode in the comments on instagram or via email - the podcasts email address is [email protected]. You can also email us with questions for our guests, suggestions of topics or podcast guests to interview, or anything else on your mind, we’d love to hear from you

This episode we reach a significant milestone - our 50th Full-length episode of the podcast. Thank you for your incredible support so far. Coming up in today’s episode, I sat down in studio with a fellow medical podcaster who is quickly becoming a good friend: Danroe Oosthuizen, a 3rd year medical student at the University of Pretoria, and host of the Medically Inclined Podcast, to discuss some of the myths and misconceptions medical students and members of the public have about studying a medical degree and becoming a doctor.

Thank you to our podcast sponsors!

1. IndemniMed - https://www.indemnimed.co.za/

2. V Professional Services - https://vprofservices.com/

Important Links mentioned in this episode:

Coming up in today’s episode, we have a really thought-provoking interview with a social architect for positive change in South Africa, who launched an incredible NGO and mobile clinic initiative [Rhiza Babuyile] to drive better access to quality healthcare in South Africa and to reduce systemic inequality. We also have a dive into the annals of medical history to get you thinking laterally about the cost of innovation and discovery in medicine and invite you to share your thoughts on the parallels to today’s clinical spaces. As always it’s a privilege to equip and inspire you to be the best healthcare professional you can be.

Diabetes and Insulin:

Alef Meulenberg was born and raised in the Netherlands, but has lived the majority of his adult life in South Africa. He’s passionate about contributing to solutions for socio-economic challenges like poverty, youth unemployment and socio-economic inequality through holistic developmental models. He does this out of neighbourly love and compassion for people who have historically been disenfranchised and disadvantaged. As an entrepreneur, it is his belief that market-creating innovation is truly able to move the needle when it comes to sustainable transformation. Alef is currently actively involved in developmental work through various board and executive positions he holds in organisations that are at the front-line of implementing social change in African communities. He has direct developmental experience in countries like South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Mozambique, India and Brazil. His background is in business administration, education, non-profit management, leadership, philosophy and theology. Alef has over 16 years of practical experience in the for impact/non-profit sector.

Links to our guest, Alef Meulenberg's projects:

Thank you to our sponsors!

In today’s episode, I sat down with Stefan Bothma and Werner Hattingh, the founders of Money & Medicine, financial advisors who specialise in assisting final year medical students and young health professionals to plan their financial future and lay a foundation early on to achieve their financial goals. We’re discussing common mistakes that newly-qualified interns, and even other ranks of doctors, can make in their finances and other areas of their lives.

This is a topical episode, and also a timely one, as we are entering the final quarter of the year, which is typically when each year’s fresh crop of interns are finalising their end of medical school exams, or preparing to move on to Community Service from internship, or preparing for new Medical Officer posts and so on. 

Remember, we’re all on a journey and we’re never the finished product, so if you’d like to share some wisdom with those coming after you, or let us know about learning your own lessons through mistakes you’ve made, be sure to email us [[email protected]] or post in the comments for this episode on Youtube, where you can find the entire interview in up to 4k quality.

Ultrasound imaging has the potential to change the landscape of access to care in South Africa. It's relatively cheap, non-irradiating, offers imaging in real-time, and can be used in a variety of settings, including the emergency department. Having spent the past month in the ED at my base hospital, I asked one of the EM registrars who is also an instructor in point-of-care ultrasound with the Emergency Medicine Society of South Africa (EMSSA), Dr Marcus Kruger, to sit across from me and share why and how junior doctors should get training in using ultrasound. I hope you enjoy the episode!

Too find out more about the EMSSA ePOCUS course, click on this link:

https://emssa.org.za/special-interest-groups/ultrasound/

What is it about the competitive nature of medical school, academic research, and vying for ever-dwindling numbers of posts that make junior doctors so unkind to one another? We're all on a journey of personal and professional development, and in this Espresso Shots episode we're talking about respecting our colleagues qualifications, intelligence and humanity - in other words: Just be 'LEKKER'!

This episode is not directed at any one person, incident or specialty in particular, so if you feel 'triggered' by the conversation, best 'check yourself before you wreck yourself'! And if you'd like to let us know what you think on the topic, send an email to [email protected], or comment on the post for this episode on our instagram.

In this episode, we welcome two incredible guests: Dr Nokukhanya Khanyile-Lenake & Mr Romulen Pillay, to discuss the priorities and perspectives of South African healthcare leaders and healthcare professionals, as revealed in the Future Health Index.

About our guests:

About the conversation:

https://linktr.ee/drcoffeeza

This week we lift the lid on practising medicine and specialising in another country, specifically, the United States of America. Our guest this week shares from her journey of getting a job in residency in the US, how their healthcare system and medical training works, and what YOU need to know if you're considering practicing medicine in the USA.

About our guest:

Dr Kim Scott completed her undergraduate medical degree at UCT, and went on to do internship at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town and community service at Swartland Hospital in Malmesbury. After working in private hospital ED's, she decided to travel and became a cruise ship doctor. This is where she met her American husband which ultimately lead to her decision to emigrate to the US. Dr Scott is currently in her final year of internal medicine residency - the equivalent of registrar time - at Jefferson Einstein Hospital in Philadelphia and once she's finished she has hopes of working as an attending (consultant) in a rural area of the US.  Although permanently based in America, coming from SA, she's still passionate about HIV medicine and has just been awarded a funded research grant looking to deliver pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to disadvantaged communities. Her other passion is promoting overall wellness and mental health within medicine for which she is on her resident wellness committee.

It's a privilege to have Dr Kim Scott on the podcast this week, and I'm sure you'll learn a lot from our conversation. This episode was recorded over Zoom, and is available as a video episode on Youtube.

Thank you to our sponsors on this episode: