A not so clinical handover on Medic’s Motive
by Kundai Rukambiro
As a medical student and first-aider, I hear a lot of emphasis on the use of the SBAR tool in clinical handovers. This tool is used to communicate critical information in a prompt, structured and therefore effective manner to ensure patient safety and good clinical practice. While I am well aware that writing a blog post is a whole world away from performing clinical procedures, practice – even in loosely related contexts – makes perfect and brevity is key. So, I present to you, the case of Medic’s Motive:
Situation: I’m Kundai the medic behind Medic’s Motive. I am the founder, producer and host of an independent podcast aiming to motivate and inspire medics through conversation. I’m currently producing the #HLA17 series covering their inaugural conference. This is a series of interviews with leaders from different fields. The guests range from medical students to CEOs, CBE holders, leaders in healthcare, and politicians; all of whom spoke at the conference.
Background: I am currently a 3rd year medical student at UCL,studying for an intercalated degree in Paediatrics and Child Health. With the role of the tomorrow’s doctor evolving with advancements in different fields of medicine such as medtech, I found that I was becoming less sure of what specialty to pursue after medical school. The lack of a clear path from point A to point B was frustrating at first. It made it that much easier for me to get creative with my procrastination in career planning. I was easily getting caught up in pseudo-productivity (a concept well explained in Jake Peter’s article on medium) while exploring my different interests.
Eventually, in one of my pillow time thoughts sessions, I audited my use of time and tried to reflect on what exactly I wanted. I realised that not being set on a particular path right now was a good thing. I don’t need to know what point B is at this stage, what I need to know is how to get to zone B. This realisation gives me greater flexibility and creativity in shaping my journey to becoming the doctor I want to be. While I can’t do and learn everything, I can learn from the experiences of others. This is the motive force (wordplay intended) of why I started Medic’s Motive. I can speak to different medics about the inspiring and motivating things they do which in turn motivates me and I hope anyone else listening.
Assessment: The vitals are steady, with 8 episodes, over 20 interviews, and almost 500 plays over the last 3 months, Medic’s Motive is growing slowly but surely. That said, I place more value on the personal growth gained in learning new skills such as in sound engineering and interview techniques as well as in strengthening my communication skills and confidence in unfamiliar settings.
Recommendations: Naturally, my first recommendation has to be to listen to the podcast! I learn so much from the guests and medics with inspiring motives in a wide variety of fields i.e. in entrepreneurship, activism, fitness, politics, research and subspecialty interests. You’ll hear the stories of how the guests started and made their journeys, taking away at least 3 cheesy pearls of wisdom from each episode.
The second recommendation is to embrace and act on any ideas, any pillow time thoughts you have that align with what you want long-term, while still enabling you to enjoy the present moment. Had I not acted on mine, Johann,- co-founder of the HLA – wouldn’t have heard my episode with Zeinab, one of the HLA scholars and without the support and encouragement from him, the team at Medic’s academy, and the HLA, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to speak to and learn from inspiring leaders, such as chairs of national organizations.
And with those two ‘pearls of wisdom’ (not quite too cheesy I hope, I’ll leave that for the podcast), this SBAR information handover is complete.