Starting university or medical school can be a daunting experience for anyone, but when you’re the first person in your family to study medicine, it can feel even scarier. In today’s episode, we’re going to be talking all about what it’s like to be a first-generation medical student. We’ll start from the very beginning and talk about when we first realised we wanted to study medicine and what it was like to apply. We’ll then move on to discussing our time at medical school, and whether we experienced any kind of culture shock when we arrived. We’ll finish up by talking about positive changes w ..read more

When we think of being a ‘good enough’ medical student, our thoughts might go straight to exams. Have we passed them all? What about merits, or even distinctions? It’s easy to prioritise exam scores above all else as it is one of the only times we get clear, concrete feedback - or a number that tells us how ‘good’ we really are. But can exam results capture everything or is something missing here when we talk about being a ‘good enough’ medical student or doctor? Can written papers or practical exams like OSCEs ever really sum up whether we’ll be ‘good doctors’? And despite so much pressure to ..read more

Given the current working conditions in the UK, we’re hearing more and more stories of doctors moving abroad to practise medicine. However, this isn’t necessarily unusual. Doctors and other healthcare professionals from many different countries do often decide to get a taste for healthcare systems elsewhere either through short, temporary placements, or through a more permanent move! In today’s episode we’re going to be talking all about why students or junior doctors might be considering working abroad. We’ll also talk about the pros and cons of moving to a different country to work, and whet ..read more

From the lingering effects of the pandemic to ongoing industrial action, it is a turbulent time to be working in healthcare. As medical students about to start working in this profession, it can feel really overwhelming and daunting to think about our future careers in the NHS. Today we’re going to be talking about all the things we’re worried about when it comes to the current NHS crisis. Our expert guest, Elisabeth, will pull in evidence from interviews with junior doctors and healthcare leaders to get a broader sense of the current situation. We also reached out to the rest of the panel, an ..read more

Every consultation we have with a patient reveals something about us - sometimes we do that deliberately, sometimes it's just incidental - but we always bring something of ourselves to the consultation. In a recent episode, we talked all about self disclosure; when it is and isn’t appropriate to share things with your patients. In that episode, we focused on health and illness but today, we’re going to be talking about things that are outside of the sphere of medicine. For example, the way that we consider our identity and other aspects of our personal life. This might be through outright self ..read more

Maybe you’ve been following BMJ Student for a really long time, or maybe you’re new to following us. Perhaps you only know about Sharp Scratch, or you’ve written and worked with us before. However much you know about BMJ Student, we hope today’s episode will be a look behind the scenes at what it means to work at The BMJ. Today we’ve got four current/former Editorial Scholars ready to talk all about our experiences working at The BMJ, as well as how you can get involved via the Clegg Scholarship, the Editorial Scholarship, Sharp Scratch, and writing articles! We’ll dive into any worries we had ..read more

We’ve talked before about how one's own experience of illness can affect their practice, but does it also influence how much you share with your patients? In today’s episode we’re going to be talking all about physician self-disclosure - that is, all the things we, as future doctors, might share with our patients. We’ll be asking how appropriate it is to share your own stories with a patient and how you know when the timing is right to do this. This week, we’re going to be focusing on stories of illness and health, but we’ll come on to talking about other aspects of our identity in a future ep ..read more

Some supervisors say "call me Bob'' but others insist on "Doctor Jones". In this episode we're reflecting on what types of supervisors fall into each camp and why sometimes using professional titles feels like honouring someone's hard work, but other times it feels like a way of putting you in your place. In today’s episode, we’re thinking all about the title “doctor”. We’ll talk about when and how it should be used and discuss our own experiences with this. We’ll also discuss why some people get called ‘doctor’ far less than others, and how titles can sometimes create strange power dynamics a ..read more

From Casualty, Holby City, and Cardiac Arrest to Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs and House, medical TV dramas are part of the fabric of growing up interested in a career in medicine. So today we’re discussing all things medical TV dramas and talking about whether these shows prepared us for medical school and life as a doctor! Join us for this episode as we play some of our favourite clips from popular medical TV programmes and talk more about how our experiences as medical students and new doctors compare. We’ll be discussing the heartbreak, the friendships, the drama, and the romance, as well as unpi ..read more

Medicine is a career unlike almost any other. As medical students and junior doctors, we’ve had a lot of experience with strange, surreal moments. The first time you ask a super invasive question to someone you’ve known for all of five minutes, the first time you make an incision in surgery, the first time you do an intimate examination - all of these things can be really strange as they go against our social norms. Getting used to this is important but no one ever teaches us this in medical school. In everyday life, there are lots of rules that we follow that aren’t written down anywhere. But ..read more