Rhea Liang Profile picture
General + breast surgeon, MedEd, DiversityAndInclusion, #KnittingLady (IT'S CROCHET). @BondUniversity Clinical Sub Dean. Tweets own opinion.
Sep 14, 2023 11 tweets 4 min read
It’s fascinating to see ‘[insert man] was the first to speak up about sexual harassment’ when it was simply that many women had spoken up… AND BEEN IGNORED.

Even the men being named as women’s great grand champions are dismayed to see this gendered silencing.
1/ There have been MANY papers about sexual harassment in medicine and surgery. A cook’s tour-

Miriam Komaromy described sexual harassment in medical training in 1993. In one of the largest journals in the world. And it has been cited more than 300 times.
2/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8419819/
May 8, 2023 5 tweets 4 min read
Dr Claire Stewart presents the results of the @ANZCA Gender Equity survey and they are devastating- almost half of women have experienced bullying and over a third have had difficulty obtaining a position, compared to just 3% of men. 1/5 ImageImage The nature of the disrespect experienced by women anaesthetists is insidious, not overt- this makes it particularly challenging to address. This is amplified by a lack of awareness/allyship by men.☹️ 2/5 ImageImage
Sep 28, 2022 5 tweets 4 min read
.@drpwh62 and I supervised soon-to-be Drs Angela Chen and Neha Ravi in a #LGBTQI+ literature review. Very impressed to see students present 'off podium' with minimal notes at the @BondUniversity MD conference! #MedEd 1/5 The review looked at the gap between medical students and consultancy/attending practice. This is the career stage with the least research, and yet makes the biggest difference to eventual specialist workforce #LGBTQI representation. 2/5
Dec 21, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
I've been asked what I mean by responsibility = privilege.

If you are poor you can't afford masks or sanitizer.
If you live in crowded housing you can't isolate.
If you don't speak English there is almost no messaging for you.
1/4 If you have insecure work you can't take the time to queue for hours to get tested.
If you are First Nations you might only recently have had access to your First Jab.
If you're a rest home resident your 'personal responsibility' lies entirely in the hands of others.
2/4
Dec 20, 2021 6 tweets 5 min read
Do you need a TL break? Here's some wonderful work from @RACSurgeons- the latest Surgical News, with an Indigenous theme 🖤💛❤️and cover art from Sumaya Issa. Too many highlights to cover them all, but here's some highlights. Full link at surgeons.org/-/media/Projec…
1/6 Profiles of two rising stars, Dr Rachel Farrelly who will be the first woman Aboriginal orthopaedic surgeon, and Dr Andrew Martin, who joins @KelvinKongENT as an Indigenous ORL and is just starting his Head and Neck fellowship.
2/6
Dec 2, 2021 10 tweets 5 min read
How much bullying is there NOW in surgery, and is the #OperateWithRespect project working?

In much anticipated news, the results of the @RACSurgeons 2021 Building Respect prevalence survey are out, as part of the very comprehensive Phase 2 evaluation.

A thread-
1/- The whole report is BIG- 185 pages. I'll bet this is the most substantial report into disrespectful behaviours by any specialty medical college anywhere worldwide. It indicates how seriously RACS takes the issue and makes me proud to be a Fellow. Link-
2/-
surgeons.org/-/media/Projec…
Oct 4, 2021 7 tweets 3 min read
6 weeks since my appendix tried to kill me, including an inter-hospital transfer on inotropes, I have learned some hard truths about serious illness that will inform my practice going forward.

A thread.
1/13 Image The tweets I posted at the time? I have no memory of writing them. Ditto this text exchange with hubby👇.

I apparently signed a consent form for the operation. No memory of that either. In future I'm not going to equate 'apparently oriented' with competence.
2/13
Jul 2, 2021 4 tweets 3 min read
A reminder that a 'Diversity' event doesn't mean getting women to speak/ chair/ organise. There's a WHOLE lot more to #DiversityAndInclusion than just gender.

(And there's a lot more to gender than men and women).
1/4 Image The 'who can we think of?' method of finding speakers/ chairs/ organisers is what helped create a lack of diversity in the first place. Even if you're finding 'diverse' contributors, stop and think- why do I think of *these* people? Could it be #SurvivorBias? 2/4 Image
Apr 2, 2021 6 tweets 4 min read
Re-upping the latest excellent #feedback thread from @GStetsonMD @MedEdTwagTeam, and emphasizing this point- someone is not a 'struggling trainee' or, even worse, 'the difficult trainee'. 🤨
#MedEd #SurgEd
1/6 A trainee not meeting expectations reflects on the unit as much as the trainee. Our local saying is 'not a trainee to fail until they are a *properly supported* trainee to fail'. Importantly, this does not mean the support provided to the last successful trainee is sufficient.2/6
May 14, 2020 5 tweets 2 min read
If you have positional power and want to know if #CultureChange is happening, don't ask peers. You have to ask the least powerful people in the team. 1/5 And don't ask them yourself. In teams with poor culture, team members have learnt to tell leaders what they want to hear.

So the teams with poor cultures are, paradoxically, the ones where leaders will be told that they have a good culture. A great culture. The BEST. 2/5
Feb 26, 2019 5 tweets 2 min read
I was bullied. Still remember the sickening feeling of knowing that I'd eventually have to ask the bully for my assessment. BUT. Each of us has more power than we realise. For the aggressor, simply knowing that *someone else noticed your behaviour* can be surprisingly effective. We know the negative effects of cumulative microaggressions. Consider the effect of cumulative micro-counteraggressions. The raised eyebrow, the deliberate silence, moving to stand closer to the victim. Fleas can bring down elephants. #BeTheFlea