In this episode of BluePrint MedTalks, recruitment consultant Sorcha O’Connor sits down with Obstetrics and Gynaecology doctor, Dr. Nilab.

Dr. Nilab shares her path into medicine as a first-generation immigrant, reflecting on what drew her to healthcare, the challenges of training, and why resilience and curiosity have shaped her career from the very beginning.

She opens up about her decision to move from the NHS to Australia, and how burnout, workforce pressures and long hours forced her to rethink what sustainable medicine should look like.

Nilab shares:

• How working in the NHS shaped her as a junior doctor, and why those experiences ultimately led her to explore medicine in Australia
• What surprised her most about Australia’s healthcare system, from work-life balance to training opportunities and the public–private model
• Her experience locuming in regional New South Wales, including working at Tweed Hospital and discovering how rural practice differs across states, guidelines and patient populations
• The realities of rural and locum work, from adapting to new teams and systems to finding balance outside of work and truly experiencing life beyond the hospital
• Why active listening is one of the most powerful clinical skills she’s learned, particularly in obstetrics, where trauma, fear and autonomy often shape patient decisions
• How difficult conversations differ between metro and rural hospitals, and why understanding cultural, social and geographical context is essential to safe care
• What she wishes she’d known earlier in her career about boundaries, burnout and stepping off the traditional training “ladder”
• How she looks after her own wellbeing in a demanding role, from running and squash to reflection, rest and learning when to say no
• Practical advice for doctors considering their first rural or locum role, including the importance of choosing the right agency, staying within scope, and prioritising safety over pay

If you’re a doctor navigating career decisions, considering locum work, or curious about what obstetrics looks like across different healthcare systems, this episode offers an honest, thoughtful and deeply human perspective you won’t want to miss. Contact us: https://bit.ly/BPMT-Podcast

In this episode of BluePrint MedTalks, our co-founder Michael Fernandes sits down with Dr. Kaushiki, a highly respected fertility specialist, obstetrician and gynaecologist with more than 27 years of experience across India, the UK and Australia.

Dr. Kaushiki opens up about her journey into the Australian healthcare system and discovering the vastness, complexity and cultural diversity of rural and remote practice.

She shares:

• How training in India, the UK and Australia shaped her into a more grounded clinician and human being.
• Why she still treats private patients the way she treated NHS patients, and how that decision helps her avoid “grey areas” and always act in the patient’s best interests.
• What shocked her about moving into rural and remote Australia, being the only specialist on call, referring patients to tertiary centres hours away, and learning to think “out of the box” when resources are limited.
• How working with Aboriginal communities taught her that patient care is never just clinical, and why truly holistic care has to include mental health, community context and culture.
• The realities of rural obstetrics: doing the hands-on work yourself, supporting GP obstetricians, and carrying the responsibility of being first, second and third on call.
• Practical advice for obstetricians considering their first locum in Australia, from the questions you must ask about workload and support, to how to integrate quickly into a new team.
• How she looks after her own wellbeing on the road, including quarantine stories, body-weight training, painting, and why having a kitchen and a plan for movement really matters.
• Why recurrent IVF failure is rarely “your fault”, what patients often misunderstand about it, and how a more targeted, customised approach can change outcomes. If you’re curious about what modern obstetrics and fertility care really look like across three healthcare systems and what that means for patients in Australia, this is an episode you won’t want to miss. Contact us: https://bit.ly/BPMT-Podcast

In this episode of BluePrint Med Talks, our co-founder Michael Fernandes sits down with Nurse Helen, who swapped a high-flying corporate career in London for a nursing degree, and eventually rural and remote nursing across Australia.

Helen shares:

• How she went from feeling “soulless” in corporate finance to finding real purpose in nursing.
• Wild early-career stories from moving medical supplies through North Africa.
• What shocked her most about working in places like Broken Hill, Mount Isa and Blackwater.
• The real differences between nursing in New Zealand vs Australia – from base hospitals to mining towns and Indigenous communities.
• Why rural nurses have to be “the resource” and how that changes teamwork, decision-making and responsibility.
• The truth about staffing, safety, burnout and loneliness on the road, and how she actually looks after her own wellbeing.
• Her best advice for city nurses thinking about taking the leap into travel, rural or remote work.

Helen also gets real about resilience, the emotional weight of the job, the moments that changed how she speaks to patients and families, and the case that reminded her exactly why she keeps saying yes to this work.

If you’ve ever wondered what life is really like as a rural or agency nurse in Australia, this is the episode to start with. Contact us: https://bit.ly/BPMT-Podcast