Episode 15: Obstetric Critical Care - Coffee with Prof Shastra Bhoora

Welcome to episode 15! In this week’s coffee with consultants, I share the wonderful conversation I had with Professor Shastra Bhoora, a specialist in Obstetrics and Critical Care at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. I learnt that working in an ICU is not a specialty on its own, but rather requires you to have done some advanced training in specialising in another area in medicine. That is, in order to specialise in critical care in South Africa, you first need to go through one of Anaesthetics, Emergency Medicine, Internal Medicine, Obs and Gynae, or Surgery - and you’ll notice I listed those in alphabetical order so as not to show favouritism to any one in particular! In addition, Prof Bhoora shared some wonderful insights into the delicate balance between following an algorithm developed to enhance patient outcomes, and the need for excellent clinical skill and wisdom to know when a decision algorithm needs to be adjusted or even rejected in some cases. I hope you enjoy this episode and get a lot of wisdom and insight from it. If you know of a consultant or senior registrar in a specialty that you would like featured on the Dr Coffee Podcast, please get in touch. The podcast’s email address is [email protected]. We’re also on Instagram and Youtube, with the username @DrCoffeeZA. If you’ve got anything else on your mind, such as a request for additional topics, further information on how to engage with our guests, feedback on the show, or anything else, please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you. Please consider sharing this episode with fellow junior doctors and medical students in your world who you think would benefit from the content and enjoy it. Thank you so much for your support!