Tomorrow, the first Wednesday in August, will be the first day of being a doctor for all foundation year one doctors in the UK. It will also be the first day that many doctors start specialty training or become a more senior specialty trainee.

Understandably, lots of doctors in this situation will be feeling a mixture of excitement and pure terror!

We thought it would be helpful to hear from our junior doctors of MWF to get their advice on the transition from student to doctor and at different stages of medical training. We also asked our social media followers who helpfully shared lots of their top tips with us!

Our junior doctor members also share what they have gained from being a member of MWF and why they would encourage others to join.

GOOD LUCK to all of you starting new jobs, especially our new FY1 colleagues. You've got this!!

Mention of previous episodes:

Episode 7: Managing our money with Dr Nikki Ramskill

Episode 8: Being a mother to ourselves with Zoe Blaskey

Episode 15: Permission to thrive with Dr Rachel Morris and Dr Caroline Walker

MWF Junior Doctor Prize

MWF Conference - we would love to see you all on Friday 18th November 

Follow the Medical Women’s Federation on social media:

Website: Click here to join the Medical Women’s Federation or sign up to our free newsletter

Twitter: @medicalwomenuk

Instagram: @medicalwomenuk

Facebook: MedWomen

For any enquires about the Medical Women's Federation, email [email protected]

To get in touch about the podcast, email [email protected]

This podcast is produced on behalf of the Medical Women's Federation by Dr Nuthana Bhayankaram & Ms Jenna MacKenzie. Our music is composed and played by Dr Kethaki Bhayankaram. Our cover art and social media posters are designed by Ms Danielle Nwadinobi.

It’s the season 1 finale so we needed a very special guest, and who better than MWF President Elect Professor Scarlett McNally! Scarlett is an orthopaedic surgeon, exercise advocate, mother of four and all round inspiring medical woman.

Scarlett joins us to speak about her career, and she shares what she has learnt over the last few years of being both a doctor and a patient, and exciting things she is working on for the future.

We’ll be back in September for Season 2. In the meantime, look out for two very special compilation episodes featuring junior doctors and medical students. Why not take some time over the summer to catch up on our previous episodes you might have missed or relisten to your favourites.

We hope you get some time to rest, replenish and enjoy the sunshine!

To find out more about Scarlett:

https://www.scarlettmcnally.co.uk/

@scarlettmcnally

movingmedicine.co.uk

Scarlett’s book recommendation:

Confessions of a Knife: Meditations on the Art of Surgery by Richard Selzer

Follow the Medical Women’s Federation on social media:

Website: Click here to join the Medical Women’s Federation or sign up to our free newsletter

Twitter: @medicalwomenuk

Instagram: @medicalwomenuk

Facebook: MedWomen

Back by popular request, you can find the reflective worksheet for this episode here.

For any enquires about the Medical Women's Federation, email [email protected]

To get in touch about the podcast, email [email protected]

This podcast is produced on behalf of the Medical Women's Federation by Dr Nuthana Bhayankaram & Ms Jenna MacKenzie. Our music is composed and played by Dr Kethaki Bhayankaram. Our cover art and social media posters are designed by Ms Danielle Nwadinobi.

Have you ever wished you could do something about the negative voices in your head? Perhaps you have the courage to apply for something, and then your inner critic tells you that you are not good enough. Or you want to get on with some important work but your perfectionist stops you from submitting it until it’s perfect. If this sounds familiar, you are in good company. We all have a whole host of voices in our heads that try to protect us but can often get in our way. Most of the time we keep these voices to ourselves, but what I want us to be able to do on this podcast is to discuss the things that we usually don’t discuss. We spend our whole lives with one person – ourselves, and the way we speak to ourselves really matters. Most of the time, we speak to ourselves in a way we wouldn’t imagine speaking to our family, friends and colleagues.

Our guest today is speaker and coach Harriet Waley-Cohen, who specialises in helping women improve their self-worth, tame their perfectionist and turn their inner critic into an inner cheerleader. She joins us to share her tips on how we can turn these negative voices into our supporters. I hope you find this episode really helpful.

Harriet also very kindly shared a free gift for our listeners which you can access here: bit.ly/InnerCriticTips

Follow Harriet on social media:

https://www.harrietwaleycohen.com/

https://twitter.com/harriet_wc

https://www.facebook.com/groups/hwcTSS

Harriet’s Book recommendations:

Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado-Perez

Sexy But Psycho: How the Patriarchy Uses Women’s Trauma Against Them by Jessica Taylor

Follow the Medical Women’s Federation on social media:

Website: Click here to join the Medical Women’s Federation or sign up to our free newsletter

Twitter: @medicalwomenuk

Instagram: @medicalwomenuk

Facebook: MedWomen

Back by popular request, you can find the reflective worksheet for this episode here.

For any enquires about the Medical Women's Federation, email [email protected]

To get in touch about the podcast, email [email protected]

This podcast is produced on behalf of the Medical Women's Federation by Dr Nuthana Bhayankaram & Ms Jenna MacKenzie. Our music is composed and played by Dr Kethaki Bhayankaram. Our cover art and social media posters are designed by Ms Danielle Nwadinobi.

This warm weather has made me think of the Mary Oliver poem the Summer Day, which ends with the question, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

So often when we are going through medical school or the training treadmill, or whatever stage of our career we are in, it’s so easy to stay focused on how busy things are and everything that we need to do, that we can forget to step back and think about what we want to do with our one wild and precious life. and meanwhile, the time in that one wild and precious life is ticking away. This week our guest is Dr Lucy Henshall, GP, member of the RCGP Council and a founder of welcome back to work, an organisation supporting doctors returning to work. Lucy spoke at the MWF autumn conference 2021 and she spoke to us about doing ‘what works for you’. Most of the time we don’t stop to think about making small changes to make our work better for us. It was a very popular talk, so I invited Lucy to come and share her wisdom with you, our lovely podcast listeners. I hope you enjoy the episode, and I encourage you to spend some time thinking about what you would like to do with your one wild and precious life.

Lucy’s book recommendations:

Ikigai: Discover Your Reason For Being by Justyn Barnes

Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts by Brené Brown

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing by Bessel van der Kolk

The Wild Remedy: How Nature Mends Us - A Diary by Emma Mitchell

The Shepherd's Life by James Rebanks

The Poetry Pharmacy: Tried-and-True Prescriptions for the Heart, Mind and Soul by William Sieghart

Follow Lucy on social media:

welcomebacktowork.co.uk

Twitter: @DrLucyHenshall

Follow the Medical Women’s Federation on social media:

Website: Click here to join the Medical Women’s Federation or sign up to our free newsletter

Twitter: @medicalwomenuk

Instagram: @medicalwomenuk

Facebook: MedWomen

Back by popular request, you can find the reflective worksheet for this episode here.

For any enquires about the Medical Women's Federation, email [email protected]

To get in touch about the podcast, email [email protected]

This podcast is produced on behalf of the Medical Women's Federation by Dr Nuthana Bhayankaram & Ms Jenna MacKenzie. Our music is composed and played by Dr Kethaki Bhayankaram. Our cover art and social media posters are designed by Ms Danielle Nwadinobi.

Do you wonder how you’ll balance your career ambitions with having a family? Whether you’re already a parent or hoping to be a parent in the future, it’s likely that you’ve thought about how to juggle work with other aspects of your life. Research examining women in leadership shows that because the time at which we start progressing to leadership roles coincides with the biological time window for having children if we want to have children, this can be one of the barrier’s to women’s progression to senior leadership roles. If we want to live in a society that supports men and women to be parents and to be leaders, then we need to change culture and support parents. This week’s guest is Verena Hefti, CEO and founder of Leaders Plus, a social enterprise working with individuals during maternity leave, shared parental leave, and beyond to progress in their careers whilst enjoying their young families. Verena also hosts the podcast Big Careers, Small children and she was recently awarded an MBE for her work in supporting parents. Verena discusses what she has learnt about balancing parenthood and leadership through LeadersPlus and Big Careers Small Children.

Verena’s book recommendations:

The Authority Gap: Why Women are Still Taken Less Seriously Than Men, and what We Can Do about it by Mary Ann Sieghart

Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman

Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Kristin Neff

To find out more about LeadersPlus:

https://www.leadersplus.org.uk/

@leaders_plus

Follow the Medical Women’s Federation on social media:

Website: Click here to join the Medical Women’s Federation or sign up to our free newsletter

Twitter: @medicalwomenuk

Instagram: @medicalwomenuk

Facebook: MedWomen

Back by popular request, you can find the reflective worksheet for this episode here.

For any enquires about the Medical Women's Federation, email [email protected]

To get in touch about the podcast, email [email protected]

This podcast is produced on behalf of the Medical Women's Federation by Dr Nuthana Bhayankaram & Ms Jenna MacKenzie. Our music is composed and played by Miss Kethaki Bhayankaram. Our cover art and social media posters are designed by Ms Danielle Nwadinobi.

The Medical Women’s Federation was founded in February 1917, so sadly we can’t speak to the founders on our podcast about their experience. 100 years later, inspired by the centenary of the Medical Women’s Federation, Dr Sarah Fitzgibbon set up WIMIN – women in medicine in Ireland network.

Sarah joins us on the podcast to share how she set up the organisation. She also speaks about other things going on in her life at that time, in a very brave and vulnerable way. We are so grateful to Sarah for sharing this with us.

Sarah’s book recommendation:

Letter to a Young Female Physician: Notes from a Medical Life by Suzanne Koven

Follow the Medical Women’s Federation on social media:

Website: Click here to join the Medical Women’s Federation or sign up to our free newsletter

Twitter: @medicalwomenuk

Instagram: @medicalwomenuk

Facebook: MedWomen

Back by popular request, you can find the reflective worksheet for this episode here.

For any enquires about the Medical Women's Federation, email [email protected]

To get in touch about the podcast, email [email protected]

This podcast is produced on behalf of the Medical Women's Federation by Dr Nuthana Bhayankaram & Ms Jenna MacKenzie. Our music is composed and played by Miss Kethaki Bhayankaram. Our cover art and social media posters are designed by Ms Danielle Nwadinobi.

During this week, the 9th of June marks Dr Elizabeth Garrett Anderson’s 186th Birthday. Dr Garrett Anderson became the first woman in the UK to gain a license to practice medicine in in 1865.

Our guest this week is Briony Hudson who is a museum curator and pharmacy and medical historian. Briony shares stories of medical women throughout history, how it can be difficult to uncover their stories as women are not always correctly acknowledged, and why it is important we examine their stories.

Briony’s book recommendation:

Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars by Francesca Wade

Links to exhibitions mentioned in episode:

Women at the heart of general practice (rcgp.org.uk)

This vexed question: 500 years of women in medicine | RCP Museum (rcplondon.ac.uk)

Link to article on Elizabeth Garrett Anderson:

What would Elizabeth Garrett Anderson do?

Follow the Medical Women’s Federation on social media:

Website: Click here to join the Medical Women’s Federation or sign up to our free newsletter

Twitter: @medicalwomenuk

Instagram: @medicalwomenuk

Facebook: MedWomen

Back by popular request, you can find the reflective worksheet for this episode here.

For any enquires about the Medical Women's Federation, email [email protected]

To get in touch about the podcast, email [email protected]

This podcast is produced on behalf of the Medical Women's Federation by Dr Nuthana Bhayankaram & Ms Jenna MacKenzie. Our music is composed and played by Miss Kethaki Bhayankaram. Our cover art and social media posters are designed by Ms Danielle Nwadinobi.

Most of us are taught in medical school that male and female bodies are the same except the reproductive systems. Most medical research and practice is male-centric, but we are now starting to learn that there are more differences than just the reproductive systems.

Dr Jeannette Wolfe is a Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Chan School of Medicine-Baystate. She is also host of the ‘SeX and whY’ podcast which explores how biological sex and gender influence our brain, body and behaviour.

In this episode, she shares what she has learnt through her podcast and research.

Jeannette’s book recommendation:

Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well

by Douglas Stone, Sheila Heen

Follow the Medical Women’s Federation on social media:

Website: Click here to join the Medical Women’s Federation or sign up to our free newsletter

Twitter: @medicalwomenuk

Instagram: @medicalwomenuk

Facebook: MedWomen

Back by popular request, you can find the reflective worksheet for this episode here.

For any enquires about the Medical Women's Federation, email [email protected]

To get in touch about the podcast, email [email protected]

This podcast is produced on behalf of the Medical Women's Federation by Dr Nuthana Bhayankaram & Ms Jenna MacKenzie. Our music is composed and played by Miss Kethaki Bhayankaram. Our cover art and social media posters are designed by Ms Danielle Nwadinobi.

This week’s episode is packed full of wisdom as we are joined by the wonderful Dame Clare Gerada and Professor Sir Simon Wessley. Clare is a GP and the current President of the Royal College of General Practitioners. She’s also a past Honorary Secretary of the Medical Women’s Federation. Simon is a psychiatrist and Past President of the Royal Society of Medicine and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He was the first man to become an honorary member of the Medical Women’s Federation for being a great ally. Between them they have held a lot of leadership roles we can learn from. Oh and they happen to be married to each other!

Books mentioned on the podcast:

Beneath the white coat: doctors, their minds and mental health edited by Clare Gerada

A New International History of the Spanish Civil War by Michael Alpert

Survivors: True Stories of Children in the Holocaust by Allan Zullo

Follow the Medical Women’s Federation on social media:

Website: Click here to join the Medical Women’s Federation or sign up to our free newsletter

Twitter: @medicalwomenuk

Instagram: @medicalwomenuk

Facebook: MedWomen

Back by popular request, you can find the reflective worksheet for this episode here.

For any enquires about the Medical Women's Federation, email [email protected]

To get in touch about the podcast, email [email protected]

This podcast is produced on behalf of the Medical Women's Federation by Dr Nuthana Bhayankaram & Ms Jenna MacKenzie. Our music is composed and played by Miss Kethaki Bhayankaram. Our cover art and social media posters are designed by Ms Danielle Nwadinobi.

Has the pandemic made you consider the importance of public engagement in science? Well, this week’s guest is just the person to speak to us about this. Professor Alice Roberts is an anatomist and anthropologist, well-known for her documentaries and books on health and our ancestors, and she is Professor of Public Engagement in Science.

Alice shares her experience of public engagement in science and ways we can apply this to our everyday work in medicine.

Alice’s book recommendations:

What is Life by Paul Nurse

The Complete Guide to Absolutely Everything *Abridged by Adam Rutherford and Hannah Fry

The Maths of Life and Death by Kit Yates

To find out more about Alice:

https://www.alice-roberts.co.uk/

Follow the Medical Women’s Federation on social media:

Website: Click here to join the Medical Women’s Federation or sign up to our free newsletter

Twitter: @medicalwomenuk

Instagram: @medicalwomenuk

Facebook: MedWomen

Back by popular request, you can find the reflective worksheet for this episode here.

For any enquires about the Medical Women's Federation, email [email protected]

To get in touch about the podcast, email [email protected]

This podcast is produced on behalf of the Medical Women's Federation by Dr Nuthana Bhayankaram & Ms Jenna MacKenzie. Our music is composed and played by Miss Kethaki Bhayankaram. Our cover art and social media posters are designed by Ms Danielle Nwadinobi.