Whether you are working in suburban Melbourne or a refugee camp in Bangladesh, bacterial meningitis is a diagnosis that sends shivers up doctor’s spines and makes lumbar puncture needles suddenly impossible to find. Join us as we demystify that most red-flag of infections, covering everything from what to order on the LP to impress the ID team, how to treat it, and how to differentiate it from encephalitis and other infections.

Tired of getting yellow cards from the infectious diseases team for prescribing meropenem for 3 months?

Sick of Scott appearing behind you with a cat o’ nine tails to administer the requisite antibiotic punishment?

Well this episode has it all – what is antimicrobial stewardship? why do so many people care about it? what can you do to avoid being on the pharmacy’s wanted list? Most importantly, we expertly blend in some music and cold openings for the first time. Jump in, the water is warm!

2023 got you feeling out of rhythm? Finding yourself a bit behind the beat when it comes to pacemakers? Pour yourself a frosty, frothy, fibre-filled glass of your favourite plum juice and strap on your electric earmuffs. We’re going charging on an audio adventure from cathode to anode with Scott and Rahul which will help you nail pacemakers with aplomb!

You know that feeling when you find a surprise $100 note in a coat pocket you haven’t worn for a while? Yeah, we don’t either. But we can imagine it feels kind of like discovering we have a MedConversations episode we forgot to publish! Open this 2022 time capsule with us and treat your tympanic membranes to Bec and Scott talking all* things hypothyroidism. We open up a can of worms talking history of the thyroid, and introduce you to our case Nala the poet with enough heavy-handed use of metaphors to make your Grade 6 teacher proud. If you last till the end, please tell us what you think of the surprise concluding performance.

*Some exclusions may apply

Intimidated about caring for immunosuppressed patients full of mibs, mabs or stem cell jabs? Here is the infection protection guide to investigate and manage your patient’s neutropenic slump – without resorting to well-evidenced super foods like goji berries or sheep placenta extract

Psychiatry registrar Dr Dean Whitty is back on the MedConversational airwaves again to talk with Bec about taming the black dog in our final ep of the three-part depression series. Dean’s soothing voice takes us on a nice guided tour through lifestyle, psychotherapy, antidepressants and ECT. The content is great med school exam fodder but also broadly useful for anyone out there with Doctor on your name badge no matter what your field.

Dean is the only guest we’ve had so far on the show so please shoot us an email or a Facebook message to let us know what you think of the format!

The MedConversations crew may not fly the surgical flag very much but we love flying into the melee of perioperative management. So get peri with Bec and Scott as we dance around and about* the drug chart of the pre-op patient and allay your surgery rotation pager fears.

*We take the scenic route through salmon sperm, bridge championships, dead rats and Romanesco broccoli.

Weary traveller, let Rahul, Bec and Jupiter’s 79 moons be your guides as we haul you up the third and final segment of the hypertension series. At the summit we take you on a high pressure hike through the assessment and secondary causes of the old HTN under the auspices of a curiously one dimensional character called Mountain.

This episode is for everyone who is sick of COVID-19 but needs to finally learn how to diagnosis and manage it, rather than how to out-argue your uncle about whether the plan-demic will end democracy. We go through diagnosis, testing, and all the juicey new therapeutics available – enough mabs and mibs here to level up your wordle game.

Nasty Bugs. You gotta treat ‘em! In this, truly, tremendous second antibiotic episode, Sleepy Scott, Deranged Davor, Crooked Bec (and Obama Zala) cover all the gram negative bacteria – from microbiology to antibiotics and resistance. Believe me, you’ll be tired of winning!

This is part 2 of our series on depression. Davor and Dean chat about how to evaluate someone you think might have depression. As fascinating as part 1 was, this is much more clinically relevant. Filled with Dean’s wisdom and clinical pearls, listen on if you want to smash your psych OSCEs or perhaps even to be a better doctor.