Coffee and a Gas podcast

Coffee and a Gas: A wellbeing podcast

Welcome to Coffee and a Gas, a wellbeing podcast brought to you by the Association of Anaesthetists' Trainee Committee. This podcast will cover topics from fatigue and sleep to mentoring, digital detox, and mental health.

The podcast hosts from the Trainee Committee will also be joined by members of the Board and other members of the Association in interviewing a variety of experts who will share strategies to help improve your wellbeing.

You can access the episodes on Podbean, Spotify and Apple Podcasts. 

If you enjoyed this and are not a member of the Association, why not join and access many more benefits and services the Association has to offer: Become a member today.

Exit interviews: Reflections on the anaesthetic training pathway with Hiba Khaled

In this three-part series of exit interviews, we have informal conversations with previous UK anaesthetic trainees who left the traditional training structure to pursue another path. These paths include careers outside of medicine, and outside of the UK. We ask about their thoughts on their time as a trainee. In this episode, Hiba Khaled shares her experience.

Exit interviews: Reflections on the anaesthetic training pathway with Nilofer Ahmed

In this three-part series of exit interviews, we have informal conversations with previous UK anaesthetic trainees who left the traditional training structure to pursue another path. These paths include careers outside of medicine, and outside of the UK. We ask about their thoughts on their time as a trainee. In this episode, Nilofer Ahmed shares her experience.

Exit interviews: Reflections on the anaesthetic training pathway with Chris Smith-Brown

In this three-part series of exit interviews, we have informal conversations with previous UK anaesthetic trainees who left the traditional training structure to pursue another path. These paths include careers outside of medicine, and outside of the UK. We ask about their thoughts on their time as a trainee. In this episode, Chris Smith-Brown shares his experience.

Alternative Career Pathways with Dr. Rob Fleming

In this episode we discuss Dr. Rob Fleming’s experience developing his career as a specialist anaesthetist and how this under-represented part of the medical workforce could be the solution to the anaesthetics training crisis.

Coffee and a Gas Episode 13: Human-centric innovation with Caroline Corbett

Dr. Caroline Corbett is a specialist anaesthetist in Cape Town, South Africa. She is the current President of the South African Society of Anaesthesiologists and the Medical Director & Co-Founder of Morgan Joshua Innovation – a start up medical tech company. In this episode, we discuss human-centric innovation and why any great idea or advancement must focus on people and staff.

Coffee and a Gas Episode 12: Climate impacts of anaesthesia with Dame Julia Slingo

In this episode, Claire-Marie Agius interviews Dame Julia Slingo about the role of the anaesthetist in the climate crisis and the evidence base behind interventions to reduce the carbon footprint in anaesthesia. Dame Slingo was the UK Chief Scientist at the Met Office until 2016. She is also a visiting professor in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading, where she held, prior to appointment to the Met Office, the position of Director of Climate Research in the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) National Centre for Atmospheric Science. For further information on this topic, do look out for Dame Slingo’s article in the January issue of Anaesthesia.

Coffee and a Gas Episode 11: Anaesthetics Down Under

This episode was recorded live at Trainee Conference 2023 by Dr Allan Xu. He interviews his Australian counterpart Dr Ben Cahill about life in Australia as a doctor in anaesthetic training.

Coffee and a Gas Episode 10: Financial Wellbeing with Medics’ Money

This month our guests on the podcast are Dr Tommy Perkins and Dr Ed Cantelo from Medics' Money. Tommy and Ed are both GPs, and Ed also has a background as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser. They talk about financial wellbeing, offer financial advice to new doctors, discuss the recent changes to pension tax and more.

Coffee and a Gas Episode 9: Less Than Full Time Training with Dr Tamal Ray

We’re delighted to have Tamal Ray with us in this episode. Tamal is a Less Than Full Time anaesthetic registrar currently working in London. He rose to fame in 2015 when he was a finalist on the Great British Bake Off. He then re-appeared on our TV screens as co-presenter of Channel 4’s Live Well For Longer in 2018 and is now a food columnist for The Guardian. In this episode we talk about his experience of Less Than Full Time Training and his passion for baking.

Coffee and a Gas Episode 8: The importance of Wellbeing

In this episode Vice President of the Association Dr Tei Sheraton talks to Dr Shahina Braganza and Dr Christa Bell, who are both consultants in emergency medicine in Queensland, Australia. They talk about their wellbeing work, how it is developed, what makes it work, challenges they have faced and why wellbeing is a team sport.

Coffee and a Gas Episode 7: COVID-19 with Michael Rosen

The Coffee and a Gas podcast is back! Our new podcast lead Dr Allan Xu and Dr Leyla Turkoglu from the Trainee Committee talk to beloved children’s author and writer Michael Rosen about his experience in intensive care with COVID-19 and his subsequent recovery. Keep an eye out for further new podcast episodes in your feed in the upcoming months.

Coffee and a Gas Episode 6: Fatigue with Dr Roopa McCrossan and Dr Emma Plunkett

In this episode of Coffee and a Gas we are talking about fatigue. Fatigue is something that we have all experienced as anaesthetists, even before the pandemic. We’re talking to Dr Roopa McCrossan and Dr Emma Plunkett, who are consultant anaesthetists and pioneered the Association’s Fight Fatigue campaign.

Coffee and a Gas Episode 5: Burnout in Healthcare Workers with Dame Clare Gerada

In this episode we welcome Professor Dame Clare Gerada. Dame Clare is a GP with extensive experience of working in mental health and addiction. After her psychiatry training she took up general practice while maintaining her interest and expertise in addiction. Dame Clare has held an impressive number of national roles and is currently the President of the Royal College of General Practitioners. She is also the Medical Director of the NHS Practitioner Health programme. She joins us to talk about burnout in healthcare workers. Find her book Beneath the White Coat on the Routledge website.

Coffee and a Gas Episode 4: How to stay young with Prof Michael Trenell

We are delighted to welcome you to our first in-person recording of the podcast, coming to you from the Association of Anaesthetists Trainee Conference in Newcastle. We are joined by Prof Michael Trenell, professor of lifestyle medicine and digital health at Newcastle University, and CEO of the digital behaviour change company Changing Health.

Coffee and a Gas Episode 3: Ditching Junk Food with Michael Mosley

In episode 3 of Coffee and a Gas we are excited to have Dr Michael Mosley joining us to talk about healthy eating. He is a scientist, journalist, producer and TV presenter, and a pioneer of intermittent fasting. We discuss nutrition and healthy eating for busy anaesthetists and how we can optimise our nutrition to make us more productive.

Coffee and a Gas Episode 2. Sleep Part 1 with the Sleep Geek

Welcome to episode 2 of Coffee and a Gas. In this episode we are talking to James Wilson, also known as the Sleep Geek. James is an expert in sleep behaviour and environment, and has been featured on the BBC and ITV, as well as being a sleep adviser for Rotherham United football club.

Coffee and a Gas Episode 1. Mark Stacey: Reframing the Day

The first episode of the podcast is hosted by Dr Nikki Sharma and Dr Nadia Taylor, and they are joined by Dr Mark Stacey who talks about reframing your day and stress management.