The Dr Coffee Podcast

As we come towards the end of 2024, the closing of the year marks the end of an important chapter in my fledgling medical career: the end of Community Service, and with it the end of my mandatory service in the public sector. It's also the end of a chapter for the Dr Coffee Podcast! Is this the end?? [You'll need to listen to the episode to find out!] Links and resources referred to in today's epi...

"Despicable human beings", "Experimenting on patients", "you don't deserve to live".... These were the criticisms of a patient at Helen Joseph Hospital this week in a now-viral post detailing his experience of poor treatment at the hospital. What are we to make of this video and its contents? Are their lessons for us to learn as young doctors? Disclaimer: All opin...

Prof Jonathan Sackier & Dr Nigel Guest host the wildly funny podcast " Join the Docs ", and invite audiences to delve into health-related topics served with a delightful side of humour.  Along with a little help from Slim the skeleton, they welcome the audience into their conversation to share the intriguing, implausible, and marvellous medical stories that are sure to pique your int...

Dr Shauntel Ambrose is a qualified dentist and dental practice owner with a special interest in Paediatric Dentistry. She’s a speaker, producer and host of the "Behind a Smile" podcast, a healthcare business podcast where healthcare leaders share their stories, tips and tricks around sustainable practice and maintaining balance. Dr Ambrose is a faculty member at Dental Protection and pre...

In this week’s episode, we welcome back Dr Nox Mphambukeli, with the next in our fascinating Registrar Series, where we feature young registrars who have just begun their journey to specialisation. Our guest on the podcast today is Dr Josef Breedt. Dr Breedt obtained his MBChB degree from the University of Pretoria in 2017, graduating cum laude and top of his class. He subsequently completed his m...

In this episode, it was my privilege and honour to interview Dr Nadia Karrim, a qualified ENT surgeon and director of the International Centre for Astronautical Development (ICAD), about space medicine and chasing her lifelong dream to become an astronaut. Thank you to our Sponsors on this episode: IndemniMed - https://www.indemnimed.co.za/ Seventh Star Tuition - https://seventhstar.co.za/ V Prof...

In this episode we speak with Dr Jonathan King, an Emergency medicine consultant currently the acting head of a busy Emergency Department that serves the needs of over 5500 patients each month. We discuss how ED doctors need to know how to identify and treat emergencies related to ALL of the relevant subspecialties in medicine, and how Emergency medicine physicians are as good, if not better, than...

In this episode we have the first in a new series exploring the experiences of registrars currently training towards their specialist qualifications. In the course of this series we hope to offer insights, wisdom and encouragement from young doctors who have begun the process of specialising so that you can learn from their triumphs and struggles and have a clearer picture in your mind what regist...

After a run of topical episodes, it’s nice to come back to our more traditional “ Coffee With Consultants ” feature, which is where I sit down with Consultants and ask them about their journey in medicine, their specialty, and the perks, pitfalls and perils of practicing their profession in South Africa. Today’s episode features one of our more popularly-requested specialties, Dermatology.  Thank...

In this episode we discuss a hot issue right now, which is the rising number of unemployed medical officers in South Africa post-Community Service - literally hundreds of doctors who want to work in government healthcare facilities but cannot get jobs. Our interview takes the form of a conversation with our very own Dr Nox Mphambukeli & the Peoples Doctor, Dr Mumtaz Emeran-Thomas, both affecte...

Dr Juandré Klopper is a South African medical doctor, software developer and entrepreneur with firsthand experience working in low-resource clinics, where he witnessed significant challenges faced by healthcare workers and patients alike. Through his company Cape Medtech and non-profit Sponsor Medic, he has tackled these challenges head-on, leveraging innovative medical technology and strategic in...

In today’s episode we’ll be doing a deep dive into tips, tricks, and just plain good advice to help you maximise your time as a medical student and succeed in medical school. However, I hope that lasts week’s episode is evidence enough, that once you’ve graduated from medical school, the studying has not come to an end. Not in the least. In fact, many doctors will tell you that they have continued...

Happy new year and welcome to 2024! In today’s episode we’ll be doing a deep dive into the various courses and diplomas you should be working towards before, during, and after your Community Service year. Now, many medical students and junior doctors are asked WHAT they would like to specialise in, if at all, and very few are asked about HOW they intend to get there. Certainly, I think for most of...

Thank you for your incredible support of the podcast this year! In this brief episode, we revisit some of your favourite episodes, most popular Instagram reels, and review the year that was, There is also an important announcement about the future of the podcast. Thank you to our sponsors: IndemniMed - https://www.indemnimed.co.za/ V Professional services - https://vprofservices.com/

This is the fifth and final instalment of our series Motherhood and Medicine. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the privilege of 5 interviews with 5 superstar moms. My hope is that as you listen to each mom’s story, how she navigated medicine and her pregnancy and now being a mom, that you’ll be equipped and inspired to make your own important life choices more effectively and with the wisdom of o...

This is the fourth instalment of a series we’ve had brewing for a while: Motherhood and Medicine . As you can imagine, between various theatre lists, call rosters, exams, school runs and running their own practices, to try and get a perfect alignment of 5 moms’ schedules, particularly those in registrar time and private practice, is like trying to arrange a solar eclipse. So instead, I’ve decided...

This is the second instalment of a series we’ve had brewing for a while: Motherhood and Medicine . As you can imagine, between various theatre lists, call rosters, exams, school runs and running their own practices, to try and get a perfect alignment of 5 moms’ schedules, particularly those in registrar time and private practice, is like trying to arrange a solar eclipse. So instead, I’ve decided...

In today’s Coffee with consultants feature, I interview Dr Ismail Cassimjee , to talk to him about his specialty of vascular surgery , and his journey in medicine. I’ve been trying to have Dr Cassimjee on the podcast for a while, so I’m really excited to be able to put this interview out for you before the end of the year. Since July 2022, The Dr Coffee Podcast has been available on the major podc...

In today’s episode, I interviewed Mr Graham Cosgrave from Match Medics in Ireland, about what it’s like emigrating to Ireland to work as a doctor there, whether it be a permanent move or for a season, the various options South African doctors have when it comes to how and when to move across, the path to specialisation in Ireland, how long it takes to get a European passport and much much more. Gr...

On this week’s "Coffee with consultants" feature, we’re interviewing a specialist in what is often portrayed in media and popular culture as one of those ‘rockstar’ surgical specialties - Neurosurgery. We have an awesome interview lined up for you, as well as a historical story time with a question to interact with and respond to, and once again our feature on the IASSS’ future surgeons...

Welcome to Part 1 of our "Motherhood & Medicine" series! In this series, we interview 5 super moms about how they navigated pregnancy and motherhood while balancing a demanding career in medicine. Learn how they decided to time their pregnancies, how they coped with registrar time while pregnant, dealing with the anguish of leaving your baby to return to work after maternity leave, c...

SutureKits.co.za is a new local distributor of suture practice kits, founded by 1st-year medical student Delarey Van Tonder. They offer high-quality, extremely affordable suturing skills kits designed for medical students and aspiring surgeons to sharpen their skills in the privacy and comfort of their own homes. We had a conversation about the kits, which are available for purchase right now on t...

It’s been a while since we last had a “Coffee with Consultants” episode, where I get the privilege and honour of interviewing a consultant in a specialty to ask them about the perks, pitfalls and perils of their specialty, the decision algorithm that led them to choose it, and what advice they’d pass on to junior doctors who’d like to pursue this path in future. Coming up in today’s episode, I sat...

This episode we reach a significant milestone - our 50th Full-length episode of the podcast. Thank you for your incredible support so far. Coming up in today’s episode, I sat down in studio with a fellow medical podcaster who is quickly becoming a good friend: Danroe Oosthuizen, a 3rd year medical student at the University of Pretoria, and host of the Medically Inclined Podcast , to discuss some o...

Coming up in today’s episode, we have a really thought-provoking interview with a social architect for positive change in South Africa, who launched an incredible NGO and mobile clinic initiative [Rhiza Babuyile] to drive better access to quality healthcare in South Africa and to reduce systemic inequality. We also have a dive into the annals of medical history to get you thinking laterally about...