In this cross over chat between Medical Mums and Coda, Dr Chris Bowles & A/Prof Nada Hamad discuss Gender Equity in Medicine – What is it & Why Does it Matter?
Chris and Nada take a deep dive into gender equity in medicine. Including the impact of the pandemic and the possible solutions.
First, they discuss the difference between gender equity and equality. Equality is the act of treating everyone the same. Whereas equity, focuses on levelling the playing field so that there is more representation and participation. This includes asking questions such as why inequity exists? And why aren’t women progressing?
Evidently, women experience gender inequity at different times of their career. It may be after they’ve had children, or it may be when they want to step up and take on leadership roles.
What is most obvious however, is that the impact of gender inequity in medicine extends far past the individual. Gender inequity impacts how we look after female patients, what kind of questions we ask in research and how we perform and apply that research in the context of women’s healthcare.
Chris and Nada discuss what needs to happen to make the system more accommodating.
This includes implicit bias training, intersectionality training and leadership training. Investment in leadership skills and training is crucial. We can have all of the right policies in place, however, if leadership doesn’t set the standard to encourage uptake, inequity will always exist.
Join Emergency & Trauma physician, Dr Chris Bowles and Haematologist, A/Prof Nada Hamad, as they discuss gender inequity in medicine. They inspire us to identify and challenge the inequity that exists today.
Dr Emily Amos is a GP and Board Certified Lactation Consultant who has walked a meandering path through medicine.
Always intrigued by the role of mind/body complex in health she had already begun to pursue qualifications in yoga and meditation when she herself burnt out in clinical medicine in 2019.
Using the outlet of blogging during her recovery she reflected on the path that lead her to burning out and how she could see many of her colleagues in similar states of distress.
Now a qualified yoga and meditation teacher, she runs courses specifically for doctors to help them to understand how mastering skills such as mindfulness and self compassion can in fact make us not only happier, calmer people but also help us to better deal with the demands of this often challenging profession.
You can find out more about Emily’s courses or read her blogs via her website www.dremilyamos.com
We encourage anyone who recognises their own burnout while listening to seek some support and here is a list of places you might start. http://www.dhaswa.com.au/
https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/the-essential-network/
https://theburnoutproject.com.au/
https://drolivialeeong.com/
https://wholeheartedmedicine.com.au/
Lifeline 131114
Please send through any resources you recommend and I will update this list in an ongoing manner. mmamtbpods@gmail.com
In this episode Bek Ledingham talks to to Professor Gordon Parker about Burnout.
Professor Gordon Parker AO is Scientia Professor of Psychiatry, UNSW, was Founder of the Black Dog Institute and its initial Executive Director, Head of the School of Psychiatry at UNSW and Director of the Division of Psychiatry at Prince of Wales Hospital.
His positions with the Royal Australian & New Zealand College of Psychiatrists include being Editor of its Journal. Positions with legal organisations include the NSW Guardianship Board and the NSW Administrative Appeals Tribunal. In 2004 he received a Citation Laureate as the Australian Scientist most highly cited in Psychiatry/Psychology’. In 2018 he received the prestigious James Cook Medal from the Royal Society of New South Wales and was afinalist for the NSW Senior Australian of the Year. He . recipient of the 2020 Australian Mental Health Prize. His research has focussed on the mood disorders. He has published 23 books and over 1,000 scientific reports.
His first of fiction was published in 1966 and his latest novel (“In Two Minds”) in 2017. In the 60’s, he wrote for The Mavis Bramston Show and OZ Magazine, was an ABC Science broadcaster, a book reviewer for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian, and in 2004 had a play (“Personality Games”) produced by La Mama in Melbourne. His autobiography “A Piece of My Mind: A Psychiatrist on the Couch” was published in 2012. His co-authored book on Burnout (Burnout: A Guide to Identifying Burnout and Patterns to Recovery) was published in July 2021.