Hi everyone, welcome to my podcast Our Extraordinary Stories.

My name is Dr Devika Patel I am a junior doctor working in the NHS specialising in psychiatry, which means I work with people who need support and treatment for severe mental illnesses.

In this episode, I speak to my dearest friend from university Dr Krishan Parekh. We both went to medical school together and became friends in 1st year. Krishan chose to specialise in anaesthetics- to become a doctor who work in theatres and ITU and completes complex life-saving procedures on seriously unwell patients. They were the doctors looking after the most unwell patients during the pandemic. Krishan gives a small insight into working during the pandemic and how it made him take the decision of taking a year out of training.

Trigger warning: COVID-19, pandemic, ITU

In this podcast we cover:

• Working during COVID in ITU
• Making a decision to step away from Medicine for a year.
• Taking the plunge- how (f)unemployment really feels and the initial doubts
• How Krishan rebuilt his working life, based on his preferences.
• Making wellbeing a priority to guide career choices.
• Doctors and mental health stigma
• How can doctors change the culture in the NHS
• How do systems need to change to improve doctors wellbeing
• How to make small changes to improve your workplace wellbeing

Don’t forget to like, share and subscribe so you get notified every time a new episode is released! I aim to release one every month so stay tuned. If you’d like to be a guest you can get in touch via my Instagram @drdevikapatel.