Wellbeing

How can reflection become useful learning rather than a compulsory portfolio exercise? Natalie May explores planned and spontaneous reflection, patient follow-up, feedback and the biases that shape our accounts. Her article and accompanying podcast consider how educators can create safer, more meaningful opportunities to learn from practice.

Natalie May introduces the e-book collecting her reflections from Sydney HEMS, with 104 lessons drawn from the original blog series. This 2017 announcement explains the collection’s additional photographs, foreword and chapter on entering prehospital and retrieval medicine, and links back to the seven source posts.

The Virchester ‘ED Spa’ offers staff a non-clinical space to pause, recover and connect. This account explains how the room developed and how the five ways to wellbeing shaped its activities, from a gratitude tree and shared library to supporting colleagues through difficult shifts.

When emergency-department pressures affect morale, how can colleagues make the working day more supportive? Janos Baombe shares experience-based ideas about gratitude, helping others, explaining plans and choosing words carefully. He also reflects on emotional responses to difficult cases and the value of acknowledging them within the team.

A year with Sydney HEMS offers lessons beyond clinical practice. The final instalment explores facing fears, recognising fatigue, responding to frustration and making time for the people who matter, alongside the value of humility and reflection.

The October 2017 podcast round-up revisits major incidents, thromboprophylaxis, oxygen in acute coronary syndromes and emerging cardiac biomarkers. It also reflects on the physical demands of EM training and the specialty’s annual scientific conference.