I’m 10,591 miles from home with my six-month-old baby; washed, dressed, fed, make up on and on time for the first session of
#ICSSOA19
.
Remarkable when I remember it’ll be 22wks tomorrow since I was admitted to NSW’s only mother and baby mental health unit with postnatal anxiety.
I’m an EM doc. This time last year I was a psych inpatient. Not somewhere I thought I‘d be, but one of the most useful experiences of my life.
Let’s talk about postnatal anxiety and depression - and all things mental health. Getting help isn’t weakness, it’s a sign of strength.
I’m an ER doctor. I’ve seen a therapist and have been on antidepressants. Our system considers this a red flag, instead of a positive signal that I’m taking the best care of myself possible. This needs to change.
1. Pay (properly, correctly, fairly, on time)
2. Rostering (well in advance, flexibly)
3. Annual leave (at times we request, without necessitating a million swaps)
Why are we even talking about wellness in healthcare professionals when we can’t get the basics right?
Something that comes up
@resuscitology
regularly is paediatric airway management, particularly in major trauma - so here's a short thread 🧵 with the way I think about it. This is for you particularly if you *aren’t* a paediatric anaesthetist…!
Every healthcare professional should read
#DoctorsAreDickheads
tweets. Vital learning from patients.
•LISTEN TO PATIENTS
•Don’t be dismissive!
•Check your privilege
•LISTEN TO PATIENTS
•If the tweets make you defensive, get help
•LISTEN TO PATIENTS
I find it almost unfathomable that I need to say this, but apparently I do:
There is no part of the healthcare I deliver, in Emergency Medicine or in Prehospital and Retrieval Medicine, that I deliver alone. Healthcare is teamwork.
#NursesDontPlayCards
*Consider this fair warning, conference organisers*
I have a baby, he is exclusively breastfed and if I register for your event there’s an excellent chance he’s coming too (and feeding while there).
Thanks
@Lanafeld
for your wisdom:
@feminemtweets
Very much considering whether I should give my talk on Tuesday at
@acemonline
ASC. I don’t think I’d be giving the talk at all if not for the help of
@Turtle1doc
in the depths of my postnatal anxiety. To disrespect her like this is to disrespect and censor all of us.
Transferable lessons from Kathleen Myers:
1. Find a mentor
2. Start small, get good at what you do
3. Keep moving forwards
4. Don’t let fear of failure stop you
5. Step beyond your comfort zone daily
6. Watch for opportunity
7. Bring on people who know what you don’t know
#FIX18
I’m taking a moment to feel incredibly proud of myself and grateful to all those who helped me get here; sertraline (and a bit of quetiapine), my family, my friends from literally all around the world (you know who you are!), my amazing psychiatrist, my wonderful GP, Dr Ho...
Amazing talk by
@catherine_shari
•Find your passion, follow it
•Role models: find them, be one
•Organisation: make a plan and follow it
•Consistency: habits make changes
•Persistence: be strong
•Mentorship: choose wisely
•Cherish yourself and those who matter to you
#FIX18
The wonderful
@MADforpeace
mixes humour with heartbreaking honesty, using her story to invite us to reflect on wonderful, personal accounts of how the little things we (first responders, paramedics, doctors, nurses, physios) do as people make a huge difference.
#smacc
If you are in the Oxford area, I’ll be talking about my experiences of PNAD with
@OxfordEmergeMed
next week - you’re welcome to join us... 5pm on 20th December
#Aeromed23
When we undertake a HALO procedure for real, what are we going to do for the bystanders?
Some organisations have pre-prepared cards to hand out [like this one from
@NWAirAmbulance
]
Chairperson comment after my presentation on feedback: “I don’t think many surgeons have impostor syndrome.” What say you, Twitter surgeons?
#TraumaANZ2022
Prehospital workflow and the zero-point survey demo
@SydneyHEMS
#induction
: delegated tasks with good communications, sharing the findings and agreeing priorities are key
After a beautiful and emotional tribute to the memory of
@DocJohnHinds
by
@HawkmoonHEMS
,
@MADforpeace
captures his essence:
“I didn’t know John personally, I knew him through every hand that touched my hand.”
#smacc
A powerful opportunity to reflect on what we do, and why.
Four questions to ask yourself before giving
#feedback
:
- is this necessary?
- is it the right time?
- is this the right place?
- am I in the right frame of mind?
More:
#FOAMed
#MedEd
Heading home from NYC and
#FIX18
feeling empowered and proud - to be part of a community of incredible, hard-working, passionate and committed
#FemInEM
, and to call
@jbeckesmay
&
@darakass
friends. What they have put together is incredible. Love you, my fellow sea otters!
@EMS_Junkie
@cliffreid
At our night handover, I make a point of telling the team that I’ll come in if they ask; and I’ll come really fast if a nurse calls. Calls from nurses tell me the need for help is truly urgent (there may be many reasons for this; can find out why later).
...and of course my fantastic husband
@oliverbmay
. I’m incredibly blessed and fortunate to have this support and access to excellent mental health services. I must have brought some Sydney smoke with me, my eyes are leaking...
Important reminder from
@tingles005
- in the disaster zone, more than honourable intentions are needed. Turning up with a desire to help is not enough; if you can’t be self-sufficient, you simply add to the workload and divert resources from those in need
#smaccFORCE
The wonderful
@First10EM
channels something I learned from
@Inject_Orange
- a better approach to the “social history” is to ask “tell me about your life when you’re not here in hospital.” Recognises the humanity of the people who are our patients
#smacc
@TessaRDavis
Emotional self-regulation.
Plus CBT in general. I can’t believe we go into this career totally ill-equipped to understand ourselves, our feelings and our behaviour.
Ran 5K and now on my way to speak to
@NoWEmergMed
about my postnatal anxiety and my psychiatric admission.
It’s always hard to read the words I wrote in December 2019 when I first put this talk together, but talking about
#MentalHealth
really matters. We should do it more.
Great day at
#ICEM22
. You might have heard me describe myself as “crap at ultrasound”, so as soon as registration was open I signed up for a day of US workshops. Turns out I’m not crap, just not confident - but my patients deserve better. Glad I leaned into my inadequacy!
Hey
@GuiltFemPod
@DeborahFW
, did you know that the
#CovidVaccine
exposes sexism inherent in medical research?
People who were pregnant or breastfeeding were excluded from trials for the COVID19 immunisation.
Vaginal shame,
@DrJenGunter
points out, has existed for centuries and remains a significant barrier between women and good healthcare. We have a duty to challenge pseudoscience, for our patients’ sake
#FIX18
A day for reflection:
#SMACC
consolidated a community, but the community was there first - and it will remain, stronger for the bonds forged here face-to-face. As wonderful, fragile, imperfect people, we are stronger together. Gratitude to my
#smaccfamily
for the ways I’ve grown.
Today
@SydneyHEMS
I told the pilot and aircrewman from a previous shift that our patient had done really well.
It wasn’t how we though the case might go from the initial tasking.
We see so much death and tragedy; it’s important to share the positives - with our whole team.
Powerful reflections on clinical error from the amazing
@KirstyChallen
. Read, ponder, reflect, and remember this could happen to any one of us
#FOAMed
I’m not even sure what to tweet from the disaster session at
#ICEM22
- I’ve spent the first three talks mouth agape, intermittently muttering “oh my God."
I’m an emergency medicine doctor. When you come to my ED, I will take care of you even if your beliefs are different than mine. My job is to take care of patients.
If you would deny a patient care because they have different beliefs than you, then you should not be in medicine.
I’m an emergency medicine doctor. When you come to my ER, I will take care of you even if your beliefs are different than mine. My job is to take care of patients.
If you would deny a patient care because they have different beliefs than you, then you should not be in medicine
Please don’t refer to
@SydneyHEMS
as “adult retrieval”.
We attend patients of all ages in the prehospital environment (not just for trauma).
We undertake interhospital transfers for adult patients and increasingly for paediatric patients, to support our
@NETSNSW
colleagues.
Honestly,
#ATACC
course would be a whole lot harder if not for these tremendous humans. Great leadership/followership makes all the difference
@ATACCFaculty
#RedTeam
This was in my phone’s featured photos today - from Chicago in June 2015. So many familiar faces... a lovely (if sweaty) memory. I do miss my
#FOAMed
friends.
The three Rs of sexual assault in the ED -
@KariSampsel
#smacc
Recognition - that this is what this is
Recording - the important things, assuming from the outset that this may go to court
Referral - to specialised services
These interventions make a crucial difference.
This is really important. Partners, children, parents, fur babies, chosen family - whomever you care for, our work needs to allow us to be whole people and to flex when our responsibilities and our lives change.
“Women without children are not women without Families”
Timely reminder from Carole
@RCEMmembersVP
that all women have full lives outside the ED doors.
Language matters.
Family is a broad term, not just parenting & childcare
#WEMSIG
If having children at conferences is disruptive to learning, then it is the conferences that need to adapt, not the attendees and certainly not their children.
Babies at conferences are entirely the norm in Sweden. Childcare programmes/parent rooms can be provided.
Four years ago…! Thank you to the amazing women I work alongside, in all my jobs. Daily, you inspire me to be better and I learn so much from you all
#InternationalWomensDay
@DrLindaDykes
Pt who made me stop in my tracks and walk back to her cubicle: 20+ yr old, “flu”, being helped onto the trolley by two people - “there’s something wrong with this picture.” Turned out sister concerned enough to drive 200 miles to see her.
Diagnosis: meningococcal meningitis.
I want to say so much… just in case I don’t get the chance, I want you to know that Twitter has absolutely changed my life - and that’s because of you. I’m so grateful for all of it.
Interesting stuff: I often hear the default airway plan for paeds in ED is “call anaesthetics” and have to politely remind juniors that as a PEM and PHARM specialist, I may be more current, confident and competent at paeds airways and as the ED consultant they can call me…!
Only 2/3rds of anaesthetists had training in paediatric resuscitation, but there is an expectation that these anaesthetists should be able to manage these low frequency events should they occur.
@NAPs_RCoA
@RCoANews
@jas_soar
@emirakur
@doctimcook