It’s not you, it’s the system: how outdated training and rushed appointments fail patients

Self-advocacy can only get you so far if the system is broken. So in this episode, we zoom out from the doctor’s office to examine the deeper problems baked into our healthcare system — from doctor burnout, to cultural insensitivity and the exodus of women doctors. Because medical misogyny isn’t about individuals: it’s the entire healthcare system that needs reform.

Plus: KZ Barton shares her long journey through medical gaslighting to finally get her diagnoses for endometriosis, adenomyosis, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome — and discusses how bias training for healthcare providers could help others in her position.

CONTENT WARNING:  This episode mentions systemic racism and birth trauma.

Guests in this episode:

• Professor Cath Chamberlain, Professor of Indigenous Health at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne; registered midwife; member of the National Women's Health Advisory Council
• Dr Imman Joshi, Sydney-based specialist GP focused on women’s health, menopausal health and procedural work involving skin
• KZ Barton, Melbourne-based author and teacher with lived experience of chronic health conditions
• Dr Pav Nanayakkara, a gynaecologist working at Jean Hailes for Women's Health and operating at Epworth Freemasons in Melbourne
• Gabrielle Jackson, author of Pain & Prejudice and Deputy Editor, Guardian Australia
• Dr Sue Haupt, senior research fellow at the Centre for Sex and Gender Equity in Health and Medicine at the George Institute for Global Health at UNSW

Resources for this episode:

• Pain & Prejudice, Gabrielle Jackson, 2019.
• “Representation of Women and Women's Health in Australian Medical School Course Outlines, Curriculum Requirements, and Selected Core Clinical Textbooks,” Lea Merone et al, 2024.
• “Uncertainty isn’t a bad word: Understanding its role in healthcare education,” Michelle Lazarus and Georgina Stephens, 2022.
• “Yes, Trans People Are Still Being Refused Health Care in Australia,” Sav Zwickle and Tomi Ruggles, 2024.
• "Disruption of gender-affirming health care, and COVID-19 illness, testing, and vaccination among trans Australians during the pandemic: a cross-sectional survey", Dr Sav Zwickl, Tomi Ruggles et al, 2023.
• “BlackLivesMatter in Healthcare: Racism and Implications for Health Inequity among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in Australia,” Kathomi Gatwiri, 2021.
• “Closing the gap review: study report,” Productivity commission, 2024.