EMG-Health | Episode 99
This week, Jonathan is joined by Dr Alia Medniuk, a Consultant Anaesthetist and Clinical Lead for Acute and Inpatient Pain Management at the North Bristol NHS Trust and Southmead Hospital in the UK. They discuss her career and explore the reasons she chose to pursue medicine, touching on important topics like ‘the opioid crisis’, and advancing to speak about individualised treatment plans and how personal experiences as a patient can influence the practice of clinicians.
Spotify | Apple | Amazon Music | Download MP3 (mp3, 39:22 mins)
Speaker Bio:
Alia Darweish Medniuk is a Consultant in anaesthesia and pain medicine for the NHS at Southmead Hospital, Bristol, UK. Graduating from Bristol University School of Medicine in 2000, Medniuk completed basic surgical training and obtained membership to the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS). Medniuk later changed career pathways to complete training in anaesthesia and pain medicine in 2013.
Now, Medniuk leads the inpatient pain management service in a busy major trauma centre in the South-West England. She has a Masters in psychological trauma, one of her many interests, with research interests in support and recovery following critical illness. Within pain medicine, she has expertise in the management of acute pain in patients with complex relationships, often with prescribed and illicit opioids as well as substance and dependency syndromes. Recently she has secured funding for a drugs service to be reinstated at her Trust.
Her experiences as a patient have shaped her practice as a doctor, which benchmarks her approach to management of inpatient pain: pain is a multidimensional experience, with physical, social, and emotional components that must be addressed holistically delivered with kindness and compassion.
In her life outside work, Medniuk is happily married to a ski and mountain bike enthusiast, and she will tag along if the conditions are good… They have a fabulous rescued German Shorthaired Pointer, Thea, who is full of energy and gives excellent cuddles after enjoying long walks every day. Medniuk makes celebration cakes as a little side hobby and, as a joint creative project, she and her husband are converting a stone barn just outside Bristol into what they hope will be a lovely new home for themselves, but in reality, for Thea and her sofa and squeaky toy chicken collection.
