Category: Life & Advocacy

Doctor comes from the Latin “docero”, meaning: teacher. Etymologically speaking, my primary role as a doctor is to teach. Though, to be clear, I feel that my primary role is to care. Firstly, with my actions (warm welcome, listening ear, caring focus, compassionate stance), prior to even teaching and treating with words, medications, or the scalpel.… Read more

Writing is my therapy. I am not a mental health clinician. I am just a surgeon who grapple with these issues within myself, my colleagues and the patients I see daily. Many of you are much more experienced and better trained to speak into this space.… Read more

Do I need an online presence?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: It depends on the purpose.

Asking if any clinician needs to have an online presence is akin to asking in the 1970s if one needed a fax machine, in 1980s if one needed an email address or in 1990s if one needed a mobile phone.… Read more

Thanks to COVID19, we now live in a physically-distanced virtual world. Online virtual conferences and meetings are becoming the norm. This is a great opportunity to increase our worldwide connectivity across geographical lines. Virtual meetings mean that more people can attend and less unnecessary travels are undertaken (good for the earth!).… Read more

This article was published on the Australian Society of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery Newsletter Summer 2020 Edition.

It was eerie. After finishing up an emergency case at 8pm, I said goodbye to the anaesthetist and the nursing staff. The usual relief of finishing a difficult case was absent.… Read more

Talk presented at #NotYoga2020 Symposium Dec 2020.

I have a question for us. What do you think is our greatest asset in this pandemic?

What is the most important asset that we need to protect during this pandemic? If you’re in leadership positions, you may consider that the team or the institution as something you need to guard.… Read more

This article is posted on Healthcare Workers Australia.

“We’re over it.” Many of us, health care workers or not, have overtly or covertly expressed this state of being. The ever-changing protocols, the hybrid telehealth clinics, the endless zoom meetings, the cancelled conferences, the restrictions, the distancing, the lack of human touch, the masked smiles.… Read more

UPDATE BELOW. It happened again the other day. I asked for an N95 mask for my airway operating list. One hospital provided, another said no. Yes, pre-op swabs are negative, but we know that there is a false negative rate and I spend 3-4 hours in multiple patients’ nose, oral cavity, oropharynx, larynx and trachea in one session.… Read more

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This coronavirus pandemic has changed the way we live drastically. This coronavirus is forcing us to choose. To choose to confront ourselves in the stillness and quietness of our homes. When all the bells and whistles have been removed, when our conferences, meetings and speaking engagements have been stripped away from us, we are forced to face our own selves when no one is looking.… Read more

We do so many online meetings and talks now. Here are 3 little tips to help you do well in front of your phone or computer.

Lights.

Camera.

Action.

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Lights

Keep a forward light directed on to your face.… Read more