The time has come; Striking the Balance our first ever WICM meeting on 27 September 2019, on a rather wet Friday at the Royal College of Anaesthetists.
Who’s going to stop me!?
Freddie Mercury is singing “I’m going slightly mad….” in my ear! He’s been at it all morning. I keep saying “yes” when I know I shouldn’t.
August in medicine is a time for new beginnings: new medical school graduates, now fully fledged foundation doctors, are taking their first steps onto the wards, as are those embarking on specialty training, or even making the jump to starting consultant life.
This time my maternity leave was quite different…I was much less anxious about how to look after the tiny human and could enjoy the experience far more.
As I write this, the baby is finally sleeping upstairs and I have a small window before setting off for the school and nursery run. Ah, the peace and quiet.
On the 2nd of June I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural Woman In Surgery Scottish Meeting at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh. The programme was packed full of enthusiastic and informative speakers – and one of them, Mr Mark Hughes, an ST8 in neurosurgery who I have the privilege to work with at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh, also happened to be male!
Those of you familiar using social media may have seen #thisiswhatascientistlookslike, which aims to highlight the diversity of the people working in science, and break down the stereotypes many of us have regarding scientists.
I’ve written a blog on implicit gender bias for WICM, focusing on the problems female doctors can face as a result of the implicit bias that doctor = man...
Whilst revising for the Final FFICM viva, I found myself rather frustrated with the lack of suitable material to assist and direct my revision. I promised myself (perhaps rather foolishly) that, should I pass the FFICM on my first attempt, I would make it my mission to publish an SOE revision text book.