RECOVER: On the clinical frontline

Dr Sanjay Agrawal, Consultant in Respiratory and Intensive Care Medicine at the University of Leicester, shares his thoughts on decompressing after a shift.

Our FLIER leadership programme partners Cirrus have provided a number of free resources to download. Cirrus are bespoke leadership, talent and engagement specialists sharing their expertise.

• Tips to help you decompress and aid sleep by using your senses.
• Anxiety management.
• How mindfulness can help with stress.
• Managing time and priorities.

For more information on Careers Policy work we are doing to support clinical academics during COVID-19 please read our joint statements on Supporting clinical academic trainees through ongoing COVID-19 disruption (8 October 2020), Progressing UK clinical academic training in 2020: Addressing the challenges of COVID-19 (1 June 2020) and Clinical Academics and COVID-19 (19 March 2020).

The University of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians have created a free course on 'COVID-19 Critical Care: Understanding and Application' on Future Learn. The topics covered include:

• Deteriorating Patient
• Daily Practice of Critical Care
• COVID-19 Specifics
• Ventilation and Organ Support
• Self-care and Staff Well-being

The Royal Society of Medicine have created a webinar series dedicated to give healthcare workers on the frontlines regular and easy-to-access updates from healthcare leaders on COVID-19. In the episode below, Dr Rachel Clarke (a specialist in palliative care) discusses the challenging topics of bereavement and dying with Professor Sir Simon Wessely FMedSci.

The Royal College of Physicians have launched their RCP Player, a free of charge streaming service for medical professionals. The RCP Player provides videos and other learning materials created for healthcare professionals by healthcare professionals, but it also includes some personal stories, such as the Doctor’s Diaries which looks at life through the current COVID-19 crisis.

NHS Practitioner Health have a variety of wellbeing resources for healthcare workers including webinars, apps, podcasts, support services and access to therapy.

Sleepio is a 6 week online programme designed by sleep experts based on cognitive and behavioral techniques to help improve poor sleep. There is free access to Sleepio for all NHS staff (including those who don't currently have an NHS email address, such as medical students and former staff returning to the workforce). Click here to access Sleepio.

Greater Good turns scientific research into stories, tips, and tools for a happier life and a more compassionate society. They have released a podcast called 'Remembering to Breathe' where Dr Leif Hass discusses how a doctor should calm and centered during times of uncertainty, one breath at a time. Listen to the podcast here.

The animation video below, 'How to Clear Your Head', provides mindful tips and tricks of how to get out of your head after a stressful day at work and savour the small, good moments in your life.