This week’s guest is Robert Bednarz, a junior doctor and host of the Patient Will See You Now: A Medical Podcast. A New Jersey native, Robert moved to Poland at the age of 22 to attend medical school. From there, he moved to Scotland to continue his medical career.

As Robert explains, the training process for doctors is different depending on which country you are in. In the case of the United Kingdom, doctors start on a two-year internship program: the Foundation Year One (FY1) and Foundation Year Two (FY2). During this time, junior doctors learn everything they need to become good doctors from how to manage and talk to patients, to taking care of the acutely unwell, and working under stress in a high-paced environment. After that, doctors then choose their specialty.

Hospitals and the Novel Coronavirus Pandemic

At the time the podcast was being recorded (20th March, 2020) , most of the world had gone under lock down to combat the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. As this was a novel virus, meaning that the strain had not been identified in humans, there is a lot we don’t know. Robert talks about how things have changed to keep people safe: medical workers, patients, and other people in the hospital. One way they have done this is by changing the hospital’s organization layout: coronavirus positive patients go to one wing of the hospital, while those who don’t test positive go to another.

Robert credits the National Health Service (NHS) for doing a phenomenal job and keeping everyone updated.

The Patient will see You

On his show, Robert talks to his guests about the various medical conditions they have and lets  them tell the story of how living with those conditions has affected their lives. Robert starts each episode by explaining the disease covered in the episode: what it is, how it works, and how it is treated. Robert then introduces his guest and they talk about the disease from their perspective and experiences.

Robert explains his knowledge and experience of certain diseases comes from textbooks. Even if he does come across a patient with a certain medical condition, he doesn’t have the chance to sit down with a patient, explore what their concerns are, and what it is like living with this disease at home. That desire to understand things from a patient’s perspective is the reason behind the podcast and he says it helps him better understand what patients go through at home and it improves his own patient communication.

• Listen to Robert’s podcast here: https://thepatientwillseeyounow.podbean.com/
• If you would like to be a guest on Robert’s show, or if you have any questions about this episode or some of Robert’s episodes, you can email him at thepatientwillseeyounow@gmail.com
• Check and follow Robert on social media Twitter: @robert_bednarz Instagram: @thepatientwillseeyounow Facebook: The Patient Will See You Now