In this episode of RCP Medicine podcasts, Dr Rebecca Kuruvilla discusses e-cigarettes and vaping with the RCP’s special advisor on Tobacco, Professor Sanjay Agrawal. It is an area that many physicians are unclear on how to advise their patients on. In this episode, Sanjay aims to shed a light on e-cigarettes and their role on health and he will also discuss the recent report he has co-authored “E-cigarettes and harm reduction: an evidence review” (can link) for the RCP. Sanjay will explain how we should be advising our patients on e-cigarettes looking at the current evidence.  

Sanjay is a Consultant in Respiratory and Critical care medicine at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. He has a specialist interest in treatment of tobacco dependency and NHS financial management, alongside clinical care for patients with interstitial lung disease, lung cancer and patients with critical illness. Sanjay Chairs the RCP Tobacco advisory group and is the National Speciality Advisor on Tobacco to NHS England.  

This podcast has been made with an educational grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited (“BMS”). BMS has had no input or involvement in the design, development or content of the podcast whatsoever.

Music: bensound.com

In this episode of the RCP Medicine podcast's Health Inequalities series, Dr. Rohan Mehra delves into the commercial determinants of health—how private sector activities influence health outcomes and deepen inequalities. This episode focuses on the food industry, examining how corporate actions like product design, marketing, and lobbying can negatively impact public health.

Joining Rohan is Dr. Chris Van Tulleken, an infectious diseases consultant at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, associate professor at University College London, and an acclaimed researcher and BAFTA wining broadcaster. Chris’ work, including his bestselling book Ultra-Processed People, shines a light on how corporations, particularly in the food industry, affect health, especially in the context of child nutrition. Together, they explore the pressing issue of corporate influence on health and discuss practical ways to address these challenges.

Resources:

Lancet commercial determinants of health series: 

https://www.thelancet.com/series/commercial-determinants-health

Commercial determinants of health- WHO fact sheet

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/commercial-determinants-of-health

LSHTM research on commercial determinants of health (CDRG workgroup)

https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/centres-projects-groups/cdrg 

 
Music: www.bensound.com

Osteoporosis

Listen along to Dr Sagen Zac-Varghese, Dr Amy Purohit and Dr Elinor Roderick as they discuss osteoporosis. 

They discuss identifying people with osteoporosis, investigating for causes of falls and secondary causes of osteoporosis, use of FRAX, understanding bone mineral density, and, management to reduce fracture risk, including diet, exercise and medications. 

Sagen Zac-Varghese is a consultant in diabetes, endocrinology and general internal medicine and lead for undergraduate students at the East and North Herts NHS Trust. She is the RCP education representative for the RCP Advisory Group on Nutrition Weight and Health.

Elinor Roderick is an academic foundation doctor at the East and North Herts Trust. 

Amy Purohit is an academic foundation doctor at the East and North Herts Trust.

Links

Royal Osteoporosis Society 

https://theros.org.uk/ 

National Osteoporosis Guideline Group 

https://www.nogg.org.uk/

FRAX

https://frax.shef.ac.uk/FRAX/

music: bensound.com

Listen along to Dr Sagen Zac-Varghese and Dr Elinor Roderick as they discuss hyponatraemia. Using analogies and a structured framework (a five-step approach), they talk you through diagnosing and managing people with hyponatraemia, walk you through a case and, illustrate how to discuss this with your patients. 

Sagen Zac-Varghese is a consultant in diabetes, endocrinology and general internal medicine and lead for undergraduate students at the East and North Herts NHS Trust. She is the RCP education representative for the RCP Advisory Group on Nutrition Weight and Health.

Elinor Roderick is an academic foundation doctor at the East and North Herts Trust. 

Links

European Society of Endocrinology Clinical guideline for the management of hyponatraemia

https://www.ese-hormones.org/publications/directory/ese-clinical-guideline-for-the-management-of-hyponatraemia/

Society for Endocrinology Emergency management of severe and moderately severely symptomatic hyponatraemia in adult patients

https://www.endocrinology.org/media/xhrhxhxm/emergency-management-of-severe-and-moderately-severely-symptomatic-hyponatraemia-in-adult-patients-2022.pdf

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In this episode of the RCP Medicine podcast, Dr Rohan Mehra, an Infectious Diseases and Microbiology registrar with an interest in conflict and catastrophe medicine, delves into the critical issue of pandemic preparedness. As we reflect on the challenges faced during the COVID-19, and other pandemics, the question remains: how ready are we for the next inevitable outbreak? Joining Dr. Mehra is Professor Tom Solomon, a leading expert with nearly three decades of experience in emerging infections.  

Professor Solomon is the Professor of Neurological Science and Head of the Brain Infections Group at the University of Liverpool. He led the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Infection and Global Health and founded the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections. His work has been pivotal in responding to Ebola, Zika, COVID-19, and mpox (formerly monkeypox).

As Director of The Pandemic Institute in Liverpool and Vice President (International) of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Professor Solomon is a leading expert in pandemic preparedness. He also engages with the public through his media appearances and the Scouse Science Podcast.

Together, they explore the lessons learned from past pandemics and discuss what needs to be done to safeguard our future.

Links and resources:

The pandemic institute

https://www.thepandemicinstitute.org/

The WHO pandemic hub

https://pandemichub.who.int/ 

CEPI (coalition for epidemic preparedness Innovations) 

https://cepi.net/ 

Music: bensound.com 

Listen to Dr Rohan Mehra, RCP clinical education fellow, (Infectious diseases/microbiology SPR) and Dr Mumtaz Patel, as they shine a spotlight on female leadership in healthcare. They discuss many of the issues facing women in leadership position within healthcare and the challenges faced in reaching those positions. Inequality remains deeply engrained within the healthcare workforce and urgently needs addressed and Mumtaz and Rohan outline how this could be done.
Dr Mumtaz Patel is a consultant in nephrology in Manchester as well as senior censor and vice president for education performing presidential duties including chair of council for the RCP. Mumtaz previously launched a global women leaders programme, on which she remains an active educator, which empowers female physicians to advance into leadership roles, which continues to be hugely successful to this day. This programme aims to narrow the gender leadership gap globally and is tailored to a local context to address these issues in smart sustainable targeted ways. It is also aligned to the Emerging women’s leaders programme which focuses on the same issues within the UK which Mumtaz has also been instrumental in creating. Mumtaz also recently won the prestigious ‘Outstanding Leader award’ at the Global women in Healthcare awards.

Resources:

https://www.rcp.ac.uk/events-and-education/education-and-learning/clinicians-as-leaders/emerging-women-leaders-programme

https://www.rcp.ac.uk/news-and-media/news-and-opinion/celebrating-international-women-s-day-2024-global-women-leaders-programme/ 

References:

1. Female global health leadership: data-driven approaches to close the gender gap. Lancet 2019; 393: 521-523.
2. Downs JA, Reif LK, Hokororo A, Fitzgerald DW. Increasing women in leadership in global health. Acad Med 2014; 89: 1103–07.
3. HRH Global Resource Center. Resource spotlight: gender and health workforce statistics. https://www.hrhresourcecenter.org/gender_stats (accessed Dec 25, 2020).
4. Kwedi Nolna SK, Essama Mekongo PE, Leke RGF. Mentoring for early-career women in health research: the HIGHER Women Consortium approach. Glob Health Epidemiol Genom 2017; 2: e3.
5. https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/health-workforce/en-exec-summ-delivered-by-women-led-by-men.pdf 
6. Linkage Inc, Intersectionality in the Workplace and the Advancement of Women Leaders, 2020
7. Power, privilege and priorities 
8. Boylan J, Dacre J, Gordon, H. Addressing women’s under-representation in medical leadership. Lancet, 2019, Volume 393: e14.
9. Ferry G. Inspirational women in medicine. Lancet 2017; 390: 1825.
10. RCP strategy 2022-24 
11. RCP global strategy
12. RCP - A 2020 Vision
13. World Economic Forum. Global gender gap report, 2018.  

Music: bensound.com
This episode was funded by Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Limited. Vertex had no involvement in the creation and elaboration of this episode and all views and opinions expressed by the presenter and guests are solely their own.

Listen to Dr Rohan Mehra, RCP clinical education fellow, (Infectious diseases/microbiology SPR) and Professor Habib Naqvi as they highlight health inequalities that exist due to race and what you can do to improve this situation. Sadly, racism is still pervasive in society and healthcare is not immune from this and needs urgently addressed. They explore some of the inequalities that exist due to race, how they need to be tackled and what you can do in your daily practice to try and address these ongoing  challenges.

Professor Habib Naqviis Chief Executive of the NHS Race and Health Observatory in the UK, which works to identify and tackle ethnic inequalities in healthcare by facilitating evidence, making health policy recommendations, and enabling long-term transformational change. Habib has worked in healthcare for 25 years, he’s spoken and written widely on health equity and was awarded an MBE in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to equality and diversity in the NHS. Habib is listed in the Health Service Journal’s ‘100 most influential people in health’.

Further information on the NHS Race and Health Observatory can be found here: https://www.nhsrho.org/ 

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This podcast has been made with an educational grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited (“BMS”). BMS has had no input or involvement in the design, development or content of the podcast whatsoever. 

Listen to Dr Charly Annesley (Consultant Learning Disability physician) and Dr Rebecca Kuruvilla (RCP clinical education fellow and Clinical Pharmacology and GIM registrar) discuss health inequalities in the population of patients living with a learning disability and why we need more physicians who are trained in this area of medicine. They also talk to Dr Alex Tyler who is an ST6 registrar in Geriatrics and GIM who is completing a PG certificate in Medical Practice in Adult Learning Disability.

Dr Charly Annesley is a consultant learning disability physician. She works at North Middlesex University hospital in London, having set up the first and only post of its kind in the country. She is also an honorary clinical lecturer and course lead for a postgraduate certificate in Learning Disability Medicine that is run with the RCP and Edge hill university.

Links:
Training Programme to meet the Medical Needs of Adults with a Learning Disability | RCP London

Learning from Lives and Deaths - people with a learning disability and autistic people (LeDeR) - King's College London (kcl.ac.uk)

BTS clinical statement on aspiration pneumonia | Thorax (bmj.com)

BTS Clinical Statement on the prevention and management of community-acquired pneumonia in people with learning disability | Thorax (bmj.com)

Master LeDeR 2023 (2022 report) (kcl.ac.uk)

RCP Toolkit:  Acute medical care for people with a learning disability

This podcast has been made with an educational grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited (“BMS”). BMS has had no input or involvement in the design, development or content of the podcast whatsoever. 

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Listen to Dr Rohan Mehra, RCP clinical education fellow, (Infectious diseases/microbiology SPR) and Dr Mumtaz Patel, as they shine a spotlight on differential attainment in healthcare. This is a pervasive issue within UK healthcare which requires work from everyone. Here Rohan and Mumtaz illustrate the issue, how it impacts people and what you can do to try and make a difference.  

Dr Mumtaz Patel is a consultant in nephrology in Manchester as well as Senior censor and Vice President for education for the RCP. Mumtaz led nationally on the research around Differential Attainment for over 5 years and has led cross-collaborative research across organisations such as GMC, NHSE, royal colleges and within different specialties with a focus on earlier interventions and support to improve educational outcomes and trainee experience. Mumtaz has helped produce national guidance around supporting trainers and trainees in addressing and narrowing the Differential attainment gap. This work has had national and international recognition with presentations at multiple conferences.

Resources:

GMC: tackling differential attainment.

https://www.gmc-uk.org/education/standards-guidance-and-curricula/guidance/tackling-differential-attainment

Academic papers highlighting differential attainment and steps that need taken:

Woolf K, Potts HW. Ethnicity and academic performance in UK-trained doctors and medical students: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ 2011;342:d901.

Regan de Bere S, Nunn S, Nasser M. Understanding differential attainment across medical training pathways: a rapid review of the literature Final report prepared for The General Medical Council. 2015. https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/gmc-understanding-differential-attainment_pdf-63533431.pdf

Woolfe K, Rich A, Viney R, Needleman S, Griffin A. Perceived causes of differential attainment in UK postgraduate medical training: a national qualitative study. BMJ Open 2016;6:e013429

https://www.gmc-uk.org/education/14105.asp

Hawkridge A, Molyneux D. (2019) A description and evaluation of an educational programme for North West England GP trainees who have multiple fails in the Clinical Skills Assessment (CSA). Education for Primary Care. 30(3):167-172.

 https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/documents/gmc-da-final-report-success-factors-in-training-211119_pdf-80914221.pdf

Jeremy Brown, Liam Jenkins, John Sandars, Julie Bridson, Mumtaz Patel (2023) Evaluation of the Impact of the Workshop ‘EQiT – Embedding Compassionate, Courageous, Cross-cultural Conversations into Training’ General Medical Council

Jeremy Brown, Liam Jenkins, John Sandars, Julie Bridson, Mumtaz Patel (2023) Evaluation of the impact of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Clinical Assessment of Skill and Applied Knowledge masterclass on reducing the attainment gap General Medical Council 

Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, 2023 Principles for exam preparation, feedback and support for candidates to address the awarding gap.

Patel, M. Differential Attainment and implementing successful strategies, RCP commentary 2023, https://70b706f2.flowpaper.com/CommAugust2023v2/#page=18 


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This episode was funded by Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Europe) Limited. Vertex had no involvement in the creation and elaboration of this episode and all views and opinions expressed by the presenter and guests are solely their own.

Ever been unsure of how to deal with the patient that turns up in A&E having travelled to some far flung places sweating profusely? Then this one is for you! 

Listen along as Dr Alex Kew delivers a masterclass on how to treat a patient with an acute undifferentiated fever, at times, ably assisted by Dr Rohan Mehra (Infectious diseases/Microbiology SPR). They provide you with a framework to help with even the trickiest cases that will allow you to get to the bottom of what is going on. 

Dr Alex Kew, Alex is an Infectious diseases and microbiology consultant at the hospital for tropical diseases and royal free NHS trust his Specialist interests include bites, stings and parasitology having  studied zoology and further animal related injury research at the natural history museum and imperial college London. 

Resources

Please always contact your local infection team in the first instance, however here are some useful resources if you require further help or the infection team advise you to call them. 

HOSPITAL FOR TROPICAL DISEASES LONDON

https://www.uclh.nhs.uk/our-services/find-service/tropical-and-infectious-diseases/how-refer-infectious-and-tropical-diseases Please note the contact number for inpatient advice 020 3456 7890- ask to speak to the on call tropical medicine registrar. 

LIVERPOOL SCHOOL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE 

https://www.lstmed.ac.uk/clinical-services

0151 705 3100 

0151 705 3223

IMPORTED FEVER SERVICE

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/imported-fever-service-ifs

0844 778 8990

Where to look for outbreak information/local disease prevalence: 

National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC)

https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/outbreaks

Programme for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED)

https://promedmail.org/

World Health Organisation (WHO)- disease outbreak news

https://www.who.int/emergencies/disease-outbreak-news

Centres for Disease control and Prevention

https://www.cdc.gov/ 

Viral haemorrhagic fever risk assessment 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/viral-haemorrhagic-fever-algorithm-and-guidance-on-management-of-patients

This podcast has been made with an educational grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited (“BMS”). BMS has had no input or involvement in the design, development or content of the podcast whatsoever. 

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Listen to Dr Rohan Mehra (Infectious diseases/microbiology SPR), Dr Pippa Medcalf and Peter Bull as they discuss health inequalities for people experiencing homelessness. Pete shares some powerful accounts of times he has interacted with healthcare when he was without a permanent residence. He highlights the negatives, but also important steps healthcare professionals can take to make the situation better. Pippa describes how her hospital have introduced systems to best help those experiencing homelessness and what healthcare professionals can do to try and make a difference. 

Dr Pippa Medcalf is a consultant in acute medicine in Gloucester Hospital where she established the hospital homeless healthcare team. She now advises the RCP and other organisations on the care of the homeless in hospital.

This resource has been funded by Novartis by the provision of a grant, Novartis has had no editorial input or control over the content of these materials. 

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