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Stay ConnectedThe HONEST guide to medical school, featuring real students from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine–skip this show if you’d rather not know (and hate laughter)!
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Balancing Medical School Ambitions and Personal Well-being
Dave is joined by M2 Taryn O’Brien, M1 Sarah Sarah Lowenberg, Luke Geis, and Radha Velamuri dive into some listener questions, including from Charlotte, a senior in college recently accepted into medical school who is doing a lot and wants to do more. Meanwhile, Moesha wrote in to ask how pre-meds can stop feeling like they’re not doing enough! And a 70-year-old man graduates from medical school proving that too much is never enough. What’s the balance between gaining more experience and taking time to relax? How might Charlotte balance personal well-being and enjoying one’s remaining college days? The cohosts share their own challenges, including managing self-doubt and the rigorous demands of medical school. We also play a fun game in which Dave proposes that Radha be the dean of a medical school for cave people, and that the others practice communicating biomedical terms to her new clan.
Dr. Marty Makary is a public health researcher and bestselling author whose new book, Blind Spots: When Medicine Gets it Wrong and What It Means for Our Health, is an incredibly accessible exploration of the pitfalls of medical groupthink and the importance of questioning deeply held assumptions in medicine. It explores how medical training often suppresses big-picture thinking and critical questioning. Co-hosts M2 Alex Nigg, PA2 Julie Vuong, and M3 Jeff Goddard, and M2 Fallon Jung talk with Dr Makary about the disconnect between what’s practiced in medicine and science, the dangers of dismissing new ideas due to fear of association with discredited concepts, and the significance of maintaining scientific objectivity. The episode combines personal anecdotes, practical advice for navigating medical school, and a thought-provoking discussion on improving transparency and trust in healthcare. Join us for an engaging exploration of the critical issues in modern medicine and the role of young practitioners in driving change.
Med Students discuss their “Why Medicine?” answers. Dave welcomes newly minted medical and PA students at the Carver College of Medicine to share their first-week experiences and the challenges of adapting to medical school. M1s Sydney Skuodas, Michael Arrington, Alex Murra, Luke Geis, and PA1 Harrison Parker discuss what they’ve learned about time management, personal growth during “gap years,” overcoming imposter syndrome, and balancing personal life with rigorous medical training. The co-hosts also discuss the personal motivations behind their decisions to pursue medicine, revealing stories of past careers, family influences, and the aspiration to impact lives directly. Don’t worry about the shock device we’re using, I’m sure they’re fine, plus it was Luke’s idea.
M2s Leticia Franciso and Gizzy Keeler, who served as orientation leaders for this year's new crop of medical and PA students, were in a good position to talk about the experience of transitioning from Orientation Week to the first year of medical school, highlighting the changes in attitudes and relationships they saw. They, along with PA2 Julie Vuong and M4 Katie Higham-Kessler compare the pre-med and medical school environments and offer advice to incoming students. And our admissions expert Rachel Schulista returns to help answer questions from listener JustAGirl who's trying to stay sane during the application process while the other applicants around her are not being especially helpful, and listener Chris's worry that he's looking to the future at the expense of the present. Plus, the importance of having diverse experiences, the real value of personal statements in applications, and why the pursuit of genuine personal interests will help you get into med school and beyond. Join us!
Med School is a non-trivial endeavor, but against the backdrop of a new class of MD and PA students arriving at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Dave and the co-hosts–including M3 Hend Al-Kaylani, PA2 Julie Vuong, M2 Gizzy Keeler, and M3 Trent Gilbert–share their humorous and sometimes ‘smelly’ experiences from their first semester, play a trivia game Dave made up called ‘Blechardy with Alex Trebot 2.0,’ and eat jelly beans. This is high-yield stuff, folks.
This week, M3 Jeff Goddard, M2 Taryn O'Brien, and MD/PhD student Riley Behan Bush are on hand to discuss July's news. First, it's hard to ignore Johns Hopkins joining the tuition free bandwagon thanks to Michael Bloomberg...but this gift goes further...maybe it could actually have a desired effect! Meanwhile, the New York Times offered an expose on a practice that might prey on the emotions of anxious new parents--cord blood stem cell storage. And the public health world marks the passing of the man who exposed the infamous Tuskegee Study...a scandal that's still reverberating today.
Sometimes everyone’s a jerk. The hosts discuss the importance of self-evaluation in medicine, but sometimes you just gotta ask–was I a jerk? Dave Etler, MD/PhD student Miranda Schene, M4 Happy Kumar, and M2 Holly Hemann use Reddit’s ‘Am I the Asshole?’ submissions to exploring feelings of impostor syndrome, the ethics of classroom behavior, fair recognition of achievements, and cases of medical malpractice. Along the way, they provide practical advice for medical school admissions, dissect the delicate balance of maintaining professionalism in the medical field, and what to think when even mom craps on your dreams. Shut up, mom!
LIstener Neurotic Premed dropped us a message at https://theshortcoat.com/tellus to ask what medical students in long-distance relationships, both platonic and romantic, do to keep them alive and healthy. MD/PhD student Madi Wahlen, M2 Fallon Jung, M3 Jeff Goddard, an PA2 Julie Vuong have a lot of experience in that area. From long-distance parenting to making sure friends still feel connected, it takes planning and intentionality along with a slight tweak to what it means to be "together." They share how they do it successfully!
Plus, Chinese researchers appear to have cured a man of his diabetes, Ozempic is powerful enough to affect the food and beverage industry's bottom lines, and Florida allows c-sections outside of hospitals in a bid to improve access.
M1 Fallon Jung, PA1 Olivia Quinby, MD/PhD student Faith Prochaska, M2 Jeff Goddard, and special guest Dr. Peter Kaboli dive deep into the heart of rural medicine. We kick off with a candid discussion about growing up in small towns and how these experiences shape our understanding of community and healthcare. Dr. Kaboli, an expert in rural health with the Veterans' Administration, shares his insights into the nuances of rural medicine. We explore the multifaceted challenges and rewards of practicing medicine in rural settings, from the importance of forming deep connections with patients to navigating the scarcity of healthcare resources. Telemedicine, workforce issues, geographic barriers, and the digital divide are central to the art of medicine in small towns and on county roads, sometimes requiring innovative approaches to healthcare delivery.
The Sheriff of Sodium investigates the state and future of medical training. If you’ve wondered how well the system that trains future doctors works, or about what factors really determine which medical students get into the most competitive residency programs, this episode is for you. M1 Fallon Jung, M2 Jeff Goddard, and M4 AJ Chowdhury get deep into these issues with a very special guest – Dr. Brian Carmody, known on his blog and YouTube channel as “The Sheriff of Sodium.” Dr. Carmody, a pediatric nephrologist by training, closely analyzes and shares data-driven perspectives on medical education, pulling on threads to understand whether the current medical training system is truly functional, fair, and efficient, examining factors like student debt burdens, physician shortages projections, and why people cheat on licensing exams. Like any good sheriff, Dr. Carmody is skeptical, especially about ideas like future physician shortages, and how schools report residency match outcomes.
Listener Eden is looking ahead to how she'll finance medical school as someone who is in the disadvantaged category of applicants. One option she asked us to talk about is the Health Professions Scholarship Program offered by the US military, and she wanted to hear from someone who is in that program. M4 Wilson Fitzgerald gave us the details, some ideas about what it's like to be a physician in the military, the sacrifices he's decided to make to take advantage of the program, and how it's working out for him so far. PA faculty member Jeremy Nelson, M2 Fallon Jung, and M3 Happy Kumar helped discuss why it might not be a great idea to wait to start medical school so that you have time to save up tuition. And Dave pulls out a bunch of reels he's been saving in his drafts because he doesn't think they're any good. Spoiler alert: they should have stayed in his drafts--but you can see them on our Instagram anyway!
Project 2025 is the name of a project that hopes to serve as a blueprint for a future conservative administration that would promote natural family planning methods and reduce insurance coverage for certain contraceptives. M1s* Fallon Jung, Taryn O'Brien, and Gizzy Keeler (who are--boop boop boop!--leveling up to M2s), with help from Curriculum Manager Billie Ruden, discuss what that might mean for training MDs, where they'll be willing to go, and why it's not just OB/Gyn aspirants paying attention. Meanwhile, congress will consider a bill to make permanent several telehealth changes that were enacted to ease the healthcare crisis during the COVID crisis. KFF.org releases a helpful primer about the US healthcare system everyone should know about, and a scandal at the NIH further jeopardizes trust in science.
On this episode we welcome guest Dr. Joshua Trebach, an emergency medicine physician here at Iowa. This past spring he posted on X that medicine must "lose the mentality of thinking its okay to be miserable for years (or decades) to justify it being 'finally worth it' in the end."
We couldn't agree more--live now, not later! Which is why PA2 Julie Vuong, M2 Fallon Jung, and MD/PhD student Madi Wahlen are each finding ways to reject that mentality. Indeed, medical education is changing, perhaps slowly, to reinforce the idea that just because medicine can be a difficult life doesn't mean that you should obsessively look forward to the day it gets better. That day is a long way away, so do what you can (what you must) to be who you want to be even as you're drinking from the firehose.
Also, we answer one of listener Mohamed's questions on how he can jump right into his first year this fall with his eyes on patient advocacy.
It's easy to forget from our ivory tower that many Americans don’t get beyond high school, making it less likely their kids will. Those kids who do are at a disadvantage compared to peers with college-educated parents. First-generation medical students are even rarer and face more challenges. These students, like PA1 Julie Vuong, M1 Amanda Litka, MD/PhD student Faith Prochaska, and M1 Holly Hemann, bring valuable perspectives to medicine, understanding a wider range of patient experiences and health determinants.
This week we discuss their challenges, the impact on their future practice, and how learning medicine highlights (somewhat uncomfortably) their own families' health struggles. And while some medical schools are going tuition-free, this hasn’t increased low-income student enrollment or primary care graduates...and seems to have done some harm.
Its Our monthly roundup of news from the margins of medicine! M1s Fallon Jung and Taryn O’Brien, M2 Jeff Goddard, and MD/PhD studnet Riley Behan Bush are on hand for our monthly news roundup. Including news that presidential candidate and anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy’s brain was ‘eaten’ by a worm and his love of tuna sandwiches. Virtually all healthcare providers globally suffer from a clinical psychiatric disorder. Beethoven really liked lead-sweetened wine, which is probably why he was so sick and deaf. And a Tesla Cybertruck owner smashed his own finger with his vehicle’s frunk to prove that his vehicle’s frunk couldn’t smash his own finger. And can we guess what the shitty life pro tip from Reddit is? Plus lots more observations and revelations from the margins of medicine!
“I honestly have had the most relaxing time I’ve had in forever, and for anybody who’s like, that’s ridiculous, just wait.” The most charitable definition of a hot take is a position taken in order to generate conversation. The more usual definition is a position taken to create controversy (and clicks). Dave asked his co-hosts to come with some hot takes, and it’s up to you to decide which definition they’re using, but PA1 Conner Lieser and M1s Radha Velamuri, Amanda Litka, and Sri Nandakumar offer their hot takes on how hard med school is, the admissions process, shadowing, advice from more advanced students, and more. [Dave's co-hosts were all doing medical student things on our usual recording day, so enjoy this previously released episode!]
M1s Fallon Jung and Alex Nigg, M2 Jeff Goddard, and MD/PhD student Riley Behan Bush hear listener Megan's request for more news on critical healthcare changes from our overlords in the courts and the government. Riley shares insights from her lab work as she works toward finishing her PhD. This episode unpacks the FTC's move to ban non-compete clauses for doctors, a pivotal Supreme Court case on Idaho's abortion policies, and new consent requirements for performing invasive procedures that I guarantee you didn't know were being done on anesthetized people.
Medicine isn’t always kind to its disabled practitioners, but let’s change that. In 2023, a group of Iowa med students founded our chapter of the Medical Students With Disabilities and Chronic Illness, a group “working to remove barriers for students and professionals with disabilities, increasing representation of diverse perspectives in medicine.” M1 Holly Hemann, MD/PhD student Faith Prochaska and PA1s Olivia Quinby and Julie Vuong discuss their lived experiences as students navigating disability and chronic illness. They illuminate the essential support systems, the process of securing necessary accommodations, and the powerful sense of community among students facing similar challenges. And they look critically at how these personal experiences enrich the medical profession and underscore the urgent need for inclusivity in medical training. Their personal stories of coping with PTSD, ADHD, daily vestibular migraines, and celiac disease show how these experiences are shaping their medical journey. They also discuss what colleagues present and future can do (or must do better) to understand and support those who face barriers due to their physical and mental conditions.
It’s a freestyle episode…can’t we just have a rambling conversation? Sometimes it’s nice to just sit down and have a rambling conversation. That’s this episode, with MD/PhD students Madi Wahlen and Sahaana Arumugam and M3s Jacob Hansen and Jacob Lam. We discuss the non-weighty topics of why people don’t know they shouldn’t stare at a ball of fusion in the sky, niche online community drama, a Texas transplant surgeon accused of manipulating transplant lists, everyday things that might not be things someday, why Dave doesn’t yet want an electric vehicle, the co-hosts plans for their futures beyond seeing patients, and so much more that is barely relevant to medical school. If you don’t like this kind of episode, do we have a solution for you--https://theshortcoat.com/tellus!
Occupational Medicine offers a great lifestyle, scope mix, and early-career satisfaction. Matthew Kiok, MD, MPH tells us he's found the perfect specialty. Occupational Medicine is one of those careers we're exploring in our sleeper specialty series--those which you might not immediately think of when you're considering a career as a physician. Dr. Kiok tells M1 Fallon Jung, PA1 Julie Vuong, and M2 Jeff Goddard that he has great work-life balance and a satisfying scope of practice. He makes a difference in peoples' lives by keeping them safe in their workplaces or assessing work-related injuries, even testifying as an expert in court. His experiences highlight the unique challenges and rewarding moments in his chosen career and insights into the complicated relationship between doctors, employers, and employees. He offers advice to those considering a similar career path--and he even gave us his email address if you want to ask him more about it! What a guy!
Are you better off as a surgeon or in palliative care? MD/PhD student Jacqueline Nielsen, M2 Hend Al-Kaylani, and M1 Fallon Jung play with personality to see if their path toward choosing the right medical specialty should be dependent on their personality traits. From the introspective nature of psychiatry to the rapid decision-making required in emergency medicine, Dave and crew explore how tests like The Big 5 or Meyers Briggs might influence their specialty choices. Some question the scientific validity of most personality testing, but the Big Five has some evidence behind it, so Dave also created a custom GPT to analyze their test results and suggest best (and worst) specialties for all of them. This episode also touches upon the broader implications of these choices on personal satisfaction and professional success in medicine. Also, we ponder our consumption of news and its impact on mental health and the Kate Middleton mystery's hold on the world.
M1 Fallon Jung, PA1 Olivia Quinby, MD/PhD student Faith Prochaska, M2 Jeff Goddard, and special guest Dr. Peter Kaboli dive deep into the heart of rural medicine. We kick off with a candid discussion about growing up in small towns and how these experiences shape our understanding of community and healthcare. Dr. Kaboli, an expert in rural health with the Veterans' Administration, shares his insights into the nuances of rural medicine. We explore the multifaceted challenges and rewards of practicing medicine in rural settings, from the importance of forming deep connections with patients to navigating the scarcity of healthcare resources. Telemedicine, workforce issues, geographic barriers, and the digital divide are central to the art of medicine in small towns and on county roads, sometimes requiring innovative approaches to healthcare delivery.
Speaking up for your patients will have profound impacts. Short Coat Savannah’s previous work in mental health settings exposed her to situations where she had to report abuse. She left us a message at 347-SHORTCT asking us to talk about patient advocacy. MD/PhD student Riley, PA1 Faith, M1 Jeff, and M3 Happy–along with some of our faculty–look at what doctors actually do to advocate for their patients in that situation, as well as other more common situations. Plus, Jeff licks an elephant to right an old wrong.
Dave hosts a weird cocktail party for his co-hosts, M1s Fallon Jung and Taryn O'Brian, MD/PhD student Jacqueline Nielson, and M3 Chirayu Shukla. The group dives into a variety of topics: surreal dreams, spring break plans, which celebrity they would replace one of their organs with, book recommendations, personal stories, and AI-generated songs about Menards and Chirayu's curtailed tennis career.
Dave hosts a weird cocktail party for his co-hosts, M1s Fallon Jung and Taryn O'Brian, MD/PhD student Jacqueline Nielson, and M3 Chirayu Shukla. The group dives into a variety of topics: surreal dreams, spring break plans, which celebrity they would replace one of their organs with, book recommendations, personal stories, and AI-generated songs about Menards and Chirayu's curtailed tennis career.
The Sheriff of Sodium investigates the state and future of medical training. If you’ve wondered how well the system that trains future doctors works, or about what factors really determine which medical students get into the most competitive residency programs, this episode is for you. M1 Fallon Jung, M2 Jeff Goddard, and M4 AJ Chowdhury get deep into these issues with a very special guest – Dr. Brian Carmody, known on his blog and YouTube channel as “The Sheriff of Sodium.” Dr. Carmody, a pediatric nephrologist by training, closely analyzes and shares data-driven perspectives on medical education, pulling on threads to understand whether the current medical training system is truly functional, fair, and efficient, examining factors like student debt burdens, physician shortages projections, and why people cheat on licensing exams. Like any good sheriff, Dr. Carmody is skeptical, especially about ideas like future physician shortages, and how schools report residency match outcomes.
An alumni of CCOM and SCP returns to prove: you can do it! MD/PhD student Miranda Schene, M2 Jeff Goddard, and M1 Fallon Jung visit with alumni Teneme Konne, MD, now a second-year resident. They start by smacking their foreheads over AI-generated images in a recent medical journal, unpacking the rigorous demands of peer review and its pivotal role in scientific accuracy. The conversation then shifts to Dr. Konne’s journey in medicine, and the broad responsibilities of family medicine practitioners beyond clinical care. The resilience and growth he achieved during residency offer a comprehensive insight into the realities of becoming a doctor. Key moments include discussions on medical misinformation, the integral role of primary care physicians, and the personal and professional evolution experienced through residency. It wasn’t completely smooth, but he did it! And the crew discusses Medscape’s Physician Lifestyle & Happiness Report 2024.
Happy Valentines Day! MD/PhD student Faith Prochaska, and M1s Taryn O'Brien and Fallon Jung share how they navigate relationships amidst their hectic schedules. With quizmaster Jeff Emrich from student financial services, they play The Just Married Game and discuss their personal plans, the balance between work and personal life, and their insights into relationships in med school through a series of questions answered by their partners--can they guess what their partners think of them? The group also touches on the impact of medical school on their personal lives, highlighting the importance of communication and support in maintaining strong relationships.
“I honestly have had the most relaxing time I’ve had in forever, and for anybody who’s like, that’s ridiculous, just wait.” The most charitable definition of a hot take is a position taken in order to generate conversation. The more usual definition is a position taken to create controversy (and clicks). Dave asked his co-hosts to come with some hot takes, and it’s up to you to decide which definition they’re using, but PA1 Conner Lieser and M1s Radha Velamuri, Amanda Litka, and Sri Nandakumar offer their hot takes on how hard med school is, the admissions process, shadowing, advice from more advanced students, and more.
“A nice re-imagining of how healthcare could be delivered.” It’s another sleeper specialty episode! This time we’re visiting with Andrea Weber, MD, MME. Herself a graduate of the Carver College of Medicine, she is now assistant director of Addiction Medicine and associate program director of the Internal Medicine and Psychiatry residency program. M4s AJ Chowdury and Nabeel Baig, M1 Fallon Jung, and PA1s Noah Vasquez and Julie Vuong quiz her about why she chose med-psych, the combined training she received, the different paths med-psych trainees can take, and much, much more. This is an info-packed episode!
Preventing disease and injury in life, the skies, and at work. It's another sleeper specialty episode! This time we're talking about a *really* low-key one: Preventive Medicine. M2 Jeff Goddard asked Dr. Silvia Caswell of Loma Linda University to join us to talk about her work in one aspect of prev med: lifestyle medicine. There are others under the prev-med umbrella, too, including occupational medicine and aerospace medicine. PA1 Conner Liser is also on hand to talk about the training she completed, the work she does with patients, the differences between the work that primary care providers do and her work, and the day-to-day life of working in her specialty. You're not going to want to miss this one.
In another in our series on "sleeper specialties," we visit with Internal Medicine-Pediatrics (Med-Peds) doc Brittany Bettendorf. M1 Alex Nigg and M2 Madeline Ungs learn about this lesser known specialty that combines the detective work of internal medicine with a focus on kids with childhood diseases, including managing their transition to adult care. There aren't many residencies for med-peds, which alone makes it a sleeper! And Dr. Bettendorf talks about her work in medical humanities at CCOM as a Medicine and Society course director, Humanities Distinction Track co-director, editor of our literary journal, and more.
A common question new medical students have is whether they should get a pet. Will they feel neglected when I have to be at the hospital or the library? Will they be too expensive for a poor med student? Will they be too much work? The answer to those questions can be answered by realizing that PLENTY of us do own pets, and we all do just fine. Also, Dave cornered some frightened-looking M1s during orientation for some people-on-the-street interviews. Riley, Mao, Madi and Matt discuss their answers.
These might be very bad ideas…but we’ll talk about them anyway.
Riley leads a discussion with Jeff, Levi, and Katie of unpopular opinions about medicine and medical education. Anki sucks! Gap years should be mandatory! All clerkships should be optional! 8th graders should review scientific papers! We don’t know about you, listeners, but the co-hosts enjoyed this discussion so much you can look for a part 2 in December!
M1 Hend invited David Kozishek, a chaplain at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, to talk with M3 AJ, M1 Jeff and new co-host M1 Ervina to talk about the role of chaplains on the healthcare team. David also helps the co-hosts discuss the role that religion may play in their lives as future physicians, the tensions and compatibilities between evidence and faith, and how they might respond when their own beliefs may in conflict with standard practices. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode--does religion play a big part of your life? How would you respond to the scenarios we talked about? What questions do you have about the connections between faith and healthcare?
Short Coat co-hosts Brian Young (M1), Jeff Goddard (M2), and Fallon Jung (M1) discussed the challenges and experiences of medical school, including personal anecdotes about coping with stress, the demands of the curriculum, maintaining emotional well-being, the significance of peer support, and the importance of learning from both academic and personal experiences. Brian talked about a student-led initiative, Nets for Nets, aimed at providing mosquito nets to a community in Southern Mexico, illustrating the blend of medical education with social responsibility. Also, Dave shows his co-hosts pairs of images he got an AI to make, and his co-hosts try to work out which is the most like their actual medical school experiences thus far.
What you get away with as an undergrad won’t serve you in med school. M2s Jacob and Maddie, M4 Mason and new co-host PA2 Mark take us through how they changed their study habits from undergrad through the clinical years. Dave reads an old German folktale about how to become a doctor. Hint: it’s harder today, and involves much less mansplaining, but there’s at least one feature that still exists from antiquity.
Dave declared this recording day to be “Effort Free Friday,” as it was officially Thanksgiving Break! That didn’t stop M1 Jeff Goddard from describing a recent meeting of the AMA Students Section that offered an object lesson on how policy is (or in this case, isn’t) made. Among many other topics, some students wanted the AMA to declare a position on the current Israel-Hamas war. In the end, the AMA declined to do so, perhaps deciding that it didn’t have the political capital on a divisive issue that could threaten its ability to participate in other conversations it has a more direct role in. Co-hosts M2 Happy Kumar, MD/PhD student Faith Goddard, and MD/PhD student Riley Behan Bush talk about their personal efforts to understand this compilated issue. And, In the spirit of the tenets of Effort Free Friday, Dave dragged Alex Trebot out from the AI closet to host a trivia contest.
A recent MedPage Today editorial shines a light on four traits that are crucial for every resident. These elements aren’t traditionally taught, but are key for future doctors. They encompass selflessness, optimism, personal responsibility, and a hunger for personal meaning. M4 Alex Belzer, who’s currently interviewing, and M2s Hend Al-Kaylani and Eric Vallin break them down, exploring how each can enhance both personal and professional interactions. And a New York Times editorial video tackles a darker side of medical practice – violence against emergency medicine providers. The challenges faced chuck yet another curveball into the complex reality of a physician’s work-life, the erosion of human connection in healthcare, and the necessity to spark change.
Dr. Michael Graham, a seasoned Nuclear Medicine practitioner and professor at the University of Iowa, reached out to us recently because at a national level his specialty is experiencing a shortage of new residents. The reasons for this include a less-than-perfect fit with the way it’s traditionally been lumped into radiology, a field with some parallels but some important training differences. M1 Fallon Jung, PA1s Olivia Quinby and Noah Vasquez, and M2 Jeff Goddard talk with Dr. Graham about how the field has evolved and changed the dynamics of patient care and medical practice.
We have GOT to get it together. What’s the best way to navigate a fragmented healthcare system? How are patients both the victims and unwitting custodians of their own medical stories? And can primary care address gaps in long-term cancer treatment? We had a fun conversation with Dr. Ilana Yurkiewicz, the author of ‘Fragmented, A Doctor’s Quest to Piece Together American Healthcare.’ Jeff, Fallon, AJ, and Alex walked away not only enlightened about the gaps in the contemporary healthcare system but also the importance of primary care and specialists working together to build patient relationships and keep clinical information flowing.
Dave’s been seeing a lot of videos on social media that suggest “You might have if you [trait or behavior that most people have or do to some degree]. Which is great–it’s always nice to know that you are not alone, that your experience is not unique. But how should physicians work with a social media self-diagnosis? There may some day be a vaccine against fentanyl, meant to protect against overdoses. This is great news, if it works out, because people die from fentanyl overdose every day. Who will get it, what affect it will have on anesthesia, and the parallels to how people view HPV vaccines will among the things we’ll be watching. And Dave has co-hosts Jeff, Jacqueline, Faith, and Riley practice their doctoring on each other.
Do docs and patients mean the same thing when they talk about ‘health?’ Fallon, Sri, Radha, and Kait discuss the concept of ‘health.’ What does healthy mean to our patients? What does it mean to physicians? The definition has changed over time–from freedom from disease to a more self-actualizing concept of thriving in one’s circumstances. Even the normal body temp of 37 degrees C is changing! Is nothing sacred?
As tuberculosis is on the rise once again in this country, it remains *the* cause of death around the world. But thanks to fans of the famous vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green, the world has some additional tools to fight a disease which we've been able to cure for decades, lacking only the will to do it. And Dave tells what he learned this week about Katalin Karikó, the Hungarian-born researcher who, despite being cast aside as a crank in the 1980s, received the Nobel Prize in 2023 for 40+ years of work that saved millions of lives in just a couple short years--and which is now about to revolutionize medicine.
As another physician shortage looms, M2s Jeff and Olivia and M1 Fallon look at the reasons–the market forces, political issues, and the missing incentives. There is some good news–a shortage of physicians means that residents get a ton of solicitations for post-training jobs. Elon Musk’s Neuralink might be bad for monkeys, but the FDA has cleared the way for human trials to begin. What place do techbros–who have a rep for “moving fast and breaking things”– have in medicine where lives are at stake? And Dave gives a pop quiz on this year’s Ig Nobel Prize winners--listen to learn more about the latest technology in excretion analysis!
Physician Associate (formerly Physician Assistant) students learn the preclinical curriculum right along side their Doctor of Medicine colleagues here at Iowa. Of course, that means they learn the same things, but also the level of trust and mutual understanding between the two professions is that much more explicit. October 6 to 12 is Physician Associates Week, and PA1 producer Noah Vasquez rounded up some classmates--Olivia Quinby, Emily Sarvis, and Noah Herkert--to talk about how they chose their future profession, what they're learning, and what their plans are after they graduate.
The beginning of the 20th century brought huge changes to medicine; we’re still trying to cope with them. Special guest Dr. Adam Rodman, visits with M1s Jeff, Faith, and Linda and PA1 Kelsey, to talk about “path dependency,” the idea that a complex system (like medical education) is almost impossible to change without starting over. The path we have taken to today constrains what we can do tomorrow. We discuss the founding of medical education as we know it today and how that has created an academic medicine system that values facts, science, and publication more than things like equity, empathy, and work-life balance. The good news is that very dedicated people are working to make the sorely needed adjustments to these areas and more…without burning it all down and starting again.
Motherhood is a revered institution in many cultures, but in the good old US of A there's one area where mothers are being failed: medicine. Maternal mortality continues to increase to alarming levels, especially among people of color. We explore our thoughts on why, and what doctors can do in an environment in which financial profit is a prime motivator for health systems, rural areas are losing OBs, and nurse staffing levels are too low. Plus, we hear from some influencers with their health advice in a game of unnecessary censorship.
How should Thomas choose between his great career options? We’ve all been there: faced with some good options, which one do we choose? Listener Thomas wrote in with his dilemma: he studied and loves engineering, but what about medicine? M1s Jacqueline Nielson, Fallon Jung, and Sri Nandakumar discuss what they studied as undergrads, what made them realize that medicine is the right path, and how to become certain about that. Also, women surgeons are better than male surgeons, according to yet another study, and a supermarket’s chatbot recommends meals for busy people, like delicious chlorine gas.
Why docs don’t like the word “provider,” and the surprise dealt to the AAMC by OB residency programs
a Delaware-based health system, is taking a stand against the use of the term “provider” to describe physicians. The AMA agrees, saying they oppose the term “provider” as inadequate and urging MDs to insist on being identified as "physicians." Co-hosts Nicole (Pathology Extern), Riley (MD/PhD student), and Jeff (M2) discuss why "provider" might not capture what doctors do. In the mid 90s, OB/Gyn residencies helped to pilot the Association of American Medical Colleges’ Electronic Residency Application Service, or ERAS. This year, to the “surprise and dismay” of the AAMC, the OB residencies are jumping ship this year and starting their own system. Despite the oft-repeated trivia, urine isn’t sterile. I know! mind blown.
Why do we struggle to change when our world changes around us? Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum is beloved by its visitors. Styled as an homage to Victorian displays of medical and biological curiosities, its exhibits include human remains with extreme pathologies…and sometimes dubious provenance. Once such items were joyfully collected by rich men to fill their cabinets of curiosities. But times have changed since the museum opened in 1863. The museum’s leaders have decided to reassess the exhibits’ ethical and moral qualities, despite the anger of devoted fans who like it fine the way it is, thanks. Dave, M2 Jeff Goddard, and new co-host M1 Fallon Jung discuss our all-too-human resistance to change, as well as a proposal by a consumer group to open access to a ‘secret’ database of state medical boards’ disciplinary actions against physicians, which they hope will prod medical boards to do their jobs better.
AI chatbots can help brainstorm ways to communicate more compassionately. We’ve talked about the study that found patients rated responses by the recent generation of AI chatbots significantly better in both quality and empathy than physicians. We decided to test ourselves on our efforts to bring up awkward topics with patients and others by comparing our answers to those provided by Anthropic’s Claude-2. Did M2 Jeff Goddard, M3 Betty Tu, M2 Yumi Engelking, and MD/PhD student Riley Behan-Bush do better than a bot? Betty and Yumi told us about CCOM’s new First Generation and Low-income in Medicine Association chapter. And we review some of the health advice found on social media, including videos by Tik Tok’s urmomstoering, angelapharmd, heyitskikiiiiii, and mirandaksmith.
Meet one doctor working to counter once-fringe anti-vax conspiracy theorists. M2 Jeff Goddard invited internationally-renowned virology and immunology expert Dr. Paul Offit on the show to talk about his lifelong struggle to fight vaccine misinformation. MD/PhD Students Riley Behan-Bush, and Madi Wahlen join Jeff to talk with Dr. Offit about his work educating politicians and policy-makers (as well as battling anti-vaxxers like 2024 presidential candidate RFK, Jr.) and with the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. One thing is for certain: though fear and doubt about vaccines have existed since the first smallpox vaccine, in the age of social media educating the public about vaccines and science hasn’t gotten any easier.
More about our guest:
Website: PaulOffit.com
Substack newsletter: Beyond the Noise
How do you choose between jumping in with both feet vs. watching and learning? Listener Jordan DM’d to say that she’s having trouble finding the right balance of initiative and observation in her clerkships. To stand out, should she jump into situations and try to contribute? Or is it better to step back and observe? M2s Trent, Bridget, Maddie, and Yumi discuss their ideas about it, and we ask some faculty and experienced students to weigh in. Plus, a dumb folktale by chatGPT offers us the story of radiologist Dr. William his magical radiograph-reading chicken Clara.
[A Note to Listeners: this episode features discussions of sex abuse, rape, and other crimes that many listeners will find disturbing.]
Insights From the Bench on How Doctors Can Work With The Law To Protect Victims of Sexual Assault.
The Honorable Rosemarie Aquilina–the judge in the Larry Nassar USA Gymnastics Sex Abuse trial–talks with us about how even well-meaning doctors can ruin prosecutions of sex abuse cases. Trauma informed care, restorative justice, and compassionate advocacy are all tools that must be shared between the law and medicine. As Aline and Jessica discuss very sensitive and disturbing topics with her–listeners beware–we think you’ll find Judge Aquilina’s courage and values resonant with attributes of the best medical practitioners.
Recognizing good advice and discarding the bad is part of the admissions process. Aline has finished her PhD! She walks Jeff, Riley, and AJ through what defending a dissertation is like, and looks back on some of the things she’s learned about herself and about science. And, bad advice is like a leaky umbrella that lets you down when you need it most. So how do you recognize good advice and distinguish it from bad advice when you’re applying to medical school?
Speaking up for your patients will have profound impacts. Short Coat Savannah’s previous work in mental health settings exposed her to situations where she had to report abuse. She left us a message at 347-SHORTCT asking us to talk about patient advocacy. MD/PhD student Riley, PA1 Faith, M1 Jeff, and M3 Happy–along with some of our faculty–look at what doctors actually do to advocate for their patients in that situation, as well as other more common situations. Plus, Jeff licks an elephant to right an old wrong.
The Supreme Court has struck down the use of race-conscious admissions practices--affirmative action--that many colleges use to counteract bias against admitting people of color. Short Coats Hend (M2), Nicole (M3), Faith (MD/PhD) and AJ (M4) discuss why that's a problem for patients, and what might happen now that AdComms are forced to use proxies to diversify their classes. Harvard continues it's run of bad legal luck with the news that its morgue manager has been selling body parts. And chatbots are helping docs talk to their patients with more empathy. Dave subjects his co-hosts to another concoction of food items.
M2s Trent Gilbert, Olivia Jenks, PA1 Faith Anton, and M4 Sarah Costello discuss what it might mean that doctors recently discovered a group of patients, previously diagnosed with schizophrenia, who might actually have other treatable immunological disorders that present as psych disorders. We also discuss other news of the week, and Dave subjects his co-hosts to a pop news pop quiz.
Think of it as education you don’t have to pay for!
In an episode best described as…laid back?…calm?…sleepy?…Nicole, Alex, and Sarah discuss why those AdComm-required experiences are actually important. Both the colleges and the applicants themselves benefit from them, but in the rush to ‘get them over with,’ their utility gets overlooked. Instead, they’re often seen by applicants as a means to an end, not an end in and of themselves.
[We'll be back next week with a new episode! For now, take a listen to this re-run!]
Decisions made at the end of life are among the most complicated. M1 Jeff, M3 Ananya, and MD/PhD students Riley and Miranda discuss what they’re taught about the ethics surrounding death. What are the physician’s responsibilities? How do they balance the patient’s wishes, the family’s desires, the directive to do no harm and to provide the best possible care, and the need to ensure that such considerations are supplied to any and all patients. Add in the myriad cultural and religious beliefs that doctors, patients, and families have, and you get quite a difficult set of calculations to ponder.
Med students are smart, but how much useless info can they spout? It’s Spring Break, so we’re taking a break from our usual content to bring you a trivia contest featuring M4 Emerald, MD/PhD students Riley and Faith, and CCOM Learning Communities Coordinator Cody. Dave created a trivia bot using chatGPT, and to ratchet up the tension, he poured some shots of mysterious and probably unpleasant liquids to punish his co-hosts’ wrong answers. Happily for his co-hosts, it didn’t work out well for Dave.
The importance of getting your head outside of medical school.
Lots of people have hobbies, and perhaps many of those people use them to step outside their day-to-day lives for a while for a peaceful break. Is there time for a hobby or three in medical school? M3s AJ and Alex, M1 Hend, and MD/PhD student Sam say there absolutely is! In fact, it’s possible the importance of finding time for your outside interests is greater in medical school than any other time!
Burnout is the wrong word for what’s ailing healthcare workers. The term burnout doesn’t really cover what happens to physicians and others in healthcare. Dr. Wendy Dean and others are coming around to the idea that what’s really happening is moral injury–what happens when you want to do the right thing but aren’t allowed to do it. M1s Jeff, Faith, and Linda visit with Dr. Dean to talk about moral injury, what people are doing about it, and what still needs to be done. Her book, If I Betray These Words, is available everywhere, and is a great read for anyone interested in knowing why their doctor can’t just do what’s right for their patient.
Some stories from history that remind us medicine has come a long way. Podcaster Ryan Nanni, of the Shutdown Fullcast, joins M2 Matt, M1 Jeff, Md/PhD student Riley, and Communities Director Cody to talk about some ‘fun’ stories from history. For example, how did a man named “Doctor” (his first name) probably kill President Garfield? And what was the dumbest, most dangerous marathon in Olympics history? Plus, the disease that helped make the cowboy hat a thing.
The beginning of the 20th century brought huge changes to medicine; we’re still trying to cope with them. Special guest Dr. Adam Rodman, visits with M1s Jeff, Faith, and Linda and PA1 Kelsey, to talk about “path dependency,” the idea that a complex system (like medical education) is almost impossible to change without starting over. The path we have taken to today constrains what we can do tomorrow. We discuss the founding of medical education as we know it today and how that has created an academic medicine system that values facts, science, and publication more than things like equity, empathy, and work-life balance. The good news is that very dedicated people are working to make the sorely needed adjustments to these areas and more…without burning it all down and starting again.
M1 Hend invited David Kozishek, a chaplain at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, to talk with M3 AJ, M1 Jeff and new co-host M1 Ervina to talk about the role of chaplains on the healthcare team. David also helps the co-hosts discuss the role that religion may play in their lives as future physicians, the tensions and compatibilities between evidence and faith, and how they might respond when their own beliefs may in conflict with standard practices. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode--does religion play a big part of your life? How would you respond to the scenarios we talked about? What questions do you have about the connections between faith and healthcare?
The process of “doing research” is a methodical slog. AJ has finished up some interventional radiology research and gotten it published recently. He and Daniel, Jeff, and Mallory–who’ve all been down that road–walk Dave through the research process, step by step. The crew discusses how they’ve found a problem to examine, done the background lit searches, gotten approval from the ethics watchdogs, collected data, written it up, and submitted the finished research to a journal. Plus, Dave gives everyone a pop quiz on the latest fascinating research from some random website he found–research you can USE, though you might want to ask someone before you start sniffing their pits.
We Want to Hear From You: YOUR VOICE MATTERS!
No matter where you fall on any spectrum, we want your thoughts on our show. Do you agree or disagree with something we said today? Did you hear something really helpful? Are we delivering a podcast you want to keep listening to? We’ll be sure your ideas are heard by all–leave a message at 347-SHORTCT (347-746-7828) and we’ll put your message in a future episode (use *67 to be an “Unknown caller”).
We do more things on…
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theshortcoat
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theshortcoat
You deserve to be happy and healthy. If you’re struggling with racism, harassment, hate, your mental health, or some other crisis, visit http://theshortcoat.com/help, and send additions to the resources there to theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love you.
Music provided by Argofox. License: bit.ly/CCAttribution
DOCTOR VOX – Heatstroke: youtu.be/j1n1zlxzyRE
Catmosphere – Candy-Coloured Sky: youtu.be/AZjYZ8Kjgs8 ;
Hexalyte – Wandering Hours: youtu.be/FOAo2zsYnvA;
Recognizing good advice and discarding the bad is part of the admissions process. Aline has finished her PhD! She walks Jeff, Riley, and AJ through what defending a dissertation is like, and looks back on some of the things she’s learned about herself and about science. And, bad advice is like a leaky umbrella that lets you down when you need it most. So how do you recognize good advice and distinguish it from bad advice when you’re applying to medical school?
Questions lead to experimentation, which leads to evidence, allowing for conclusions, and then--voila!--practice. Equipoise was a new word for Dave, Mitch, Nathen and Riley. Jeff explains that it describes a state of equilibrium at which debate on a topic is no longer required, and factuality has effectively been achieved. But in science, that state has time and again been upset by new ideas and evidence that initially seem wrong. So, who decides whether the debate is remains open, or has gone on long enough?
Dr. and Lady G have a new podcast! Will and Kristin Flanary, better known as Dr. and Lady Glaucomflecken, visit with The Short Coats to talk about their new podcast, Knock Knock, Hi! AJ, Madi, Zay, Jacob, and Hend talk with the Flanarys about the value of satirizing medicine–a surprisingly universal source of workplace comedy–an its ability to humanize physicians. Kristin discusses her experiences as co-survivor of everything Dr. Flanary has put her through, like cancer (twice), a midnight cardiac arrest, and–shudder–medical school.
Med students got jobs, and most are even happy about it. Match week, when senior medical students select/are selected for their post-graduation jobs as junior residents, was for CCOM a success. That doesn’t mean it isn’t nerve-wracking for all involved. M1 Jeff, MD/PhD students Faith and Daniel, and M2 Jacob look at the nationwide stats and find room for optimism about their own future prospects. And Dave asks his co-hosts provocative questions to get them to fall in love with him. It didn’t work.
Med students are smart, but how much useless info can they spout? It’s Spring Break, so we’re taking a break from our usual content to bring you a trivia contest featuring M4 Emerald, MD/PhD students Riley and Faith, and CCOM Learning Communities Coordinator Cody. Dave created a trivia bot using chatGPT, and to ratchet up the tension, he poured some shots of mysterious and probably unpleasant liquids to punish his co-hosts’ wrong answers. Happily for his co-hosts, it didn’t work out well for Dave.
Med School is a Transformative Experience. PA 1 Kelsey, M1 Faith, M3 Rick, and M4 Ananya talk about the changes they've seen in themselves since arriving at medical school. No matter how prepared you are, there are some things about being a medical student that can’t be understood until you are one…and until you’re almost done with medical school. Listener Cathy, a registered nutritionist dietician, wants to go to medical school after 25 years in healthcare…but her physician friends think she’s crazy. Should she trust her gut, or the people ‘living the dream?’
The things everyone gets wrong about medicine and medical education: Your family and friends, maybe even students themselves before they got to med school, have some weird ideas about doctors and medical school. No matter where these ideas come from--medical dramas, social media, movies--chances are you'll find yourself explaining them or falling for them. M4s Mason and Talia, and M1s Jeff and Trent discuss the myths and misunderstandings they’ve heard about their world. Also, stories of medical students embarrassing themselves. It’s part of learning, but also cringe.
We Want to Hear From You: YOUR VOICE MATTERS!
No matter where you fall on any spectrum, we want your thoughts on our show. Do you agree or disagree with something we said today? Did you hear something really helpful? Are we delivering a podcast you want to keep listening to? We’ll be sure your ideas are heard by all–leave a message at 347-SHORTCT (347-746-7828) and we’ll put your message in a future episode (use *67 to be an “Unknown caller”).
We do more things on…
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theshortcoat
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theshortcoat
You deserve to be happy and healthy. If you’re struggling with racism, harassment, hate, your mental health, or some other crisis, visit http://theshortcoat.com/help, and send additions to the resources there to theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love you.
Music provided by Argofox. License: bit.ly/CCAttribution
DOCTOR VOX – Heatstroke: youtu.be/j1n1zlxzyRE
Catmosphere – Candy-Coloured Sky: youtu.be/AZjYZ8Kjgs8 ;
Hexalyte – Wandering Hours: youtu.be/FOAo2zsYnvA;
How medical students keep from going nuts while programs and schools decide they’re worthy.
This is the season of uncertainty, as both pre-meds and med ask themselves, “will they let me in?” It’s out of their hands, but M4 Mason, M3 Ananya Munjal, and M1s Jeff and Faith have some experience to draw upon to keep you from going nuts. Also, we discuss the revolt underway as medical schools around the country back away from the US News and World Reports rankings.
How straightforward is any discussion about genetic engineering? M1 Jeff talks with M3 Ananya, MD/PhD student Riley, and M3 AJ about the nuances of genetic engineering, a scientific pursuit that not everyone agrees should happen. Despite that view, it seems likely that genetic engineering has been, is, and will be an increasingly available tool in medicine’s arsenal as our understanding of genetics increases. But first, we answer Listener Helina’s question: what should she be thinking about when picking medical school electives?
Without trust, medicine doesn’t work. M4 Nathan, M1s Trent and Leon, and MD/PhD student Aline talk about the nature of trust–what it really means, how we trust ourselves and others, and what it means when it’s lost. Trust is, after all, the thing that makes much of society possible–it’s the belief that people do not only what’s in their own interest, but what’s in the best interest of other people. Medicine is a perfect domain to explore trust, given what doctors ask of patients and what patients ask of doctors.
Decisions made at the end of life are among the most complicated. M1 Jeff, M3 Ananya, and MD/PhD students Riley and Miranda discuss what they’re taught about the ethics surrounding death. What are the physician’s responsibilities? How do they balance the patient’s wishes, the family’s desires, the directive to do no harm and to provide the best possible care, and the need to ensure that such considerations are supplied to any and all patients. Add in the myriad cultural and religious beliefs that doctors, patients, and families have, and you get quite a difficult set of calculations to ponder.
Three Medical Students’ perspectives on their first med school semester.
Co-hosts Hend, Brian, and Leon are on hand to discuss the things they learned in first semester about medical school, including how their own understanding of it has changed. What is medical school like in those first, rather intense few months? Did they adjust to the (much) faster pace? Did they learn the language of medicine? Have they found their people? Also, helping people recover from addiction just became easier, and some good news on the mental health of first-year interns.
We Want to Hear From You: YOUR VOICE MATTERS!
No matter where you fall on any spectrum, we want your thoughts on our show. Do you agree or disagree with something we said today? Did you hear something really helpful? Are we delivering a podcast you want to keep listening to? We’ll be sure your ideas are heard by all–leave a message at 347-SHORTCT (347-746-7828) and we’ll put your message in a future episode (use *67 to be an “Unknown caller”).
We do more things on…
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theshortcoat
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theshortcoat
You deserve to be happy and healthy. If you’re struggling with racism, harassment, hate, your mental health, or some other crisis, visit http://theshortcoat.com/help, and send additions to the resources there to theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love you.
Music provided by Argofox. License: bit.ly/CCAttribution
DOCTOR VOX – Heatstroke: youtu.be/j1n1zlxzyRE
Catmosphere – Candy-Coloured Sky: youtu.be/AZjYZ8Kjgs8 ;
Hexalyte – Wandering Hours: youtu.be/FOAo2zsYnvA;
M3 Ananya, M3 Eric, MD/PhD student Madi, and our admissions guru Rachel talk about communication skills and their importance for patient outcomes, professional development and advancement, and career satisfaction. Whether it’s patients reviewing their notes in the electronic health record, residents passing on knowledge to students, providers empathetically communicating findings and plans to patients with no scientific background, or scientists collaborating professionally with their colleagues, everything depends on this thing that humans do all the time–with varying degrees of success. Meanwhile, some students may see these as “soft” skills, giving less importance to them than grades on exams or their scores on boards.
[A Note to Listeners: this episode features discussions of sex abuse, rape, and other crimes that many listeners will find disturbing.]
Insights From the Bench on How Doctors Can Work With The Law To Protect Victims of Sexual Assault.
The Honorable Rosemarie Aquilina–the judge in the Larry Nassar USA Gymnastics Sex Abuse trial–talks with us about how even well-meaning doctors can ruin prosecutions of sex abuse cases. Trauma informed care, restorative justice, and compassionate advocacy are all tools that must be shared between the law and medicine. As Aline and Jessica discuss very sensitive and disturbing topics with her–listeners beware–we think you’ll find Judge Aquilina’s courage and values resonant with attributes of the best medical practitioners.
Race is commonly spoken of in medicine as a risk factor for diseases. It has even found its way into the equations that help doctors assess biological function. But race--commonly acknowledged these days as a social construct and not a biological one--really a valid way to factor in the differences between one patient and another? M3 Vijay and other students are helping lead the charge to re-assess these ideas. Also, MD/PHD students Aline, Levi, and Riley help listener Michelina decide what to do about her hair during interviews...and debate whether aspiring docs should even be worried about their physical look when applying.
How should med students think about research projects, how to get involved, what to look for in a mentor, and realistic expectations for research in medical school.
Co-hosts Chandler, Jeff, Matt, and Faith talk with Robert Roghair, MD, the director of our Medical Student Research Program to find out what it means to do research during medical school.
Dave makes his co-hosts take a pop quiz on Holiday Season research posted at StudyFinds.org.
More possibly terrible ideas about how the world should work! Dave and Riley enjoyed the first hot takes episode so much, they decided to do a follow up of those they didn’t get to. Aline, Alec, and Miranda join in, with their takes: no medical students who haven’t failed, Tik Tok filters are doing to damage to children’s brains, students lie about their ability to hear heart murmurs, and more. Listener and US Marine Tanner writes in to ask about his undergraduate education plan as his military service draws to a close, but Dave has concerns about how schools will view education at a for-profit institution.
Co-hosts Aline, Riley, Jacob, and Tracy discuss why they’d have reconsidered their desire to go to medical school…if only they’d known! Things like medical ‘hazing,’ the opportunity costs, and the heirarchical nature of medicine are all infuriating at times, and cause a sort of stress that can make students miserable. Forewarned is forearmed! Plus, listener John and his fiancé will be applying to medical school together. Is that even a good idea, and should they tell their schools about it?
Happy Thanksgiving! Dave and co-hosts Matt, Miranda, Happy, and Chirayu take a moment to acknowledge and call out those they're thankful for. The gang settles an age-old question: what medical specialty would each Thanksgiving dish be? Listener Thor wants to know: how can he be the best and most helpful shadower possible?
Co-op housing saves money for health professions students
Housing is among the most expensive parts of the medical student budget, but here at Iowa there is an option that could serve as a model for students at other schools looking for inexpensive housing that comes with friends! The Alpha Kappa Kappa Medical Society started in the early 20th century as a fraternity, but in more recent times has evolved into a housing co-op/collective–owned and maintained by its residents rather than a landlord looking for profit. Zay, Conor, Nolan, and Ian discuss its organization, weird bits of its history, and purpose; and its community of not just medical students, but all the other healthcare students who live, study, and play there.
These might be very bad ideas…but we’ll talk about them anyway.
Riley leads a discussion with Jeff, Levi, and Katie of unpopular opinions about medicine and medical education. Anki sucks! Gap years should be mandatory! All clerkships should be optional! 8th graders should review scientific papers! We don’t know about you, listeners, but the co-hosts enjoyed this discussion so much you can look for a part 2 in December!
M2s Matt, Happy, and Jacob, and MD/PhD student Levi welcome Rachel Barron and M4 Dao Tran to talk about a program which links medical students with families and patients suffering from rare genetic conditions. Rare Compassion seeks to build mutual understanding between learners and people with untreatable or unknown conditions as they navigate a healthcare system that has difficulty dealing with ambiguity.
Many medical students decide to take a year “off” to do research. But is it necessary? M2s Zach and Elvire, PA2 Ethan, and Md/PhD students Miranda and Riley talk about why a student would want to take a whole year out of med school to do research. Some reasons discussed include ambitions for a research-heavy specialty program; to make up for deficiencies in other areas; and just to increase one’s skills in the event that their future careers might benefit. The gang pimp each other on important ‘medical’ knowledge, and Dave fires up the SCP Test Kitchen to create more efficient snacks for busy students.
M2s Matt, Caroline, and Maddie, and PA2 Ariele, discuss what they're thinking about with respect to healthcare issues in the US November 2022 mid-term elections.
Mental health, lowering costs, the primary and knock-on effects of abortion bans, and more, are all issues that healthcare voters may be considering. Short Coats may not all agree on these issues. Instead, what's important is simply to vote.
What you get away with as an undergrad won’t serve you in med school. M2s Jacob and Maddie, M4 Mason and new co-host PA2 Mark take us through how they changed their study habits from undergrad through the clinical years. Dave reads an old German folktale about how to become a doctor. Hint: it’s harder today, and involves much less mansplaining, but there’s at least one feature that still exists from antiquity.
There’s always something more to do, but should you do it? And how much?
First, we get something important out of the way: Is “Drinking from the Firehose” the best analogy for medical school’s workload, or is “The (Infinite) Stack of Pancakes” more accurate? M2s Matt and Zay, MD/PhD student Riley and M4 Nathen discuss how they decide how much to do in medical school to become the best doctor they can be.
M4s Nathen and Zack, M3 Rick, and MD/PhD student Riley offer their ideas on prepping for residency interviews and the questions they'll probably be asked. Dave offers up an 'educational' improv exercise to help them prepare. Premed listener Emily was told that Family Medicine is a dead end...by her mom who is a Family Medicine doc! That's not really the case, is it?
Iowa College of Public Health Professor Peter Thorne visits with M4s Nathen and Zack, M3 Rick, and M2 Chirayu to look at what climate change means for doctors and patients in the future. As seas rise and weather events become more and more severe, there will be changes to the kinds of conditions and people that physicians will treat. Garrison writes in to ask us about a med school that just wants 90 credits and an MCAT–is it too good to be true?
Co-hosts Aline, Riley, Jacob, and Tracy discuss why they’d have reconsidered their desire to go to medical school…if only they’d known! Things like medical ‘hazing,’ the opportunity costs, and the heirarchical nature of medicine are all infuriating at times, and cause a sort of stress that can make students miserable. Forewarned is forearmed! Plus, listener John and his fiancé will be applying to medical school together. Is that even a good idea, and should they tell their schools about it?
M2s Matt, Chirayu, and Jacob, and PA2 Ariel discuss the premed activities they found most helpful (as opposed to required) now that they’re in medical school. A Yale study claims to bring pigs back to (some semblance) of life. The gang practice their patient interaction skills by delivering some fake bad news, then following that with fake breakthrough treatments.
A common question new medical students have is whether they should get a pet. Will they feel neglected when I have to be at the hospital or the library? Will they be too expensive for a poor med student? Will they be too much work? The answer to those questions can be answered by realizing that PLENTY of us do own pets, and we all do just fine. Also, Dave cornered some frightened-looking M1s during orientation for some people-on-the-street interviews. Riley, Mao, Madi and Matt discuss their answers.
Have we learned anything from HIV or COVID? M4 Nathen, M2s Noah and Shana, and MD/PhD student Aline discuss the new epidemic of “Monkeypox,” and try to discern if our country has learned anything about how to respond to emerging diseases. A BMC Medical Education journal article shines some light on the best (and worst) study techniques med students use to drink from the firehose. Dave asks his co-hosts to celebrate an incoming class of med students by PIMPing each other…while wearing mouth spreaders.
Race is commonly spoken of in medicine as a risk factor for diseases. It has even found its way into the equations that help doctors assess biological function. But race--commonly acknowledged these days as a social construct and not a biological one--really a valid way to factor in the differences between one patient and another? M3 Vijay and other students are helping lead the charge to re-assess these ideas. Also, MD/PHD students Aline, Levi, and Riley help listener Michelina decide what to do about her hair during interviews...and debate whether aspiring docs should even be worried about their physical look when applying.
Listener Riley wants some suggestions on experiences that will help him grow while he pursues his path to medicine.
We discuss some comments from YouTube on female urologists and male patients.
That leads to a discussion on why hospitals default to environments for their adult patients which are downright icky.
Sometimes, you just don't want to take that extra loan money. One option: a part time job. But that is risky--the time you devote to that job could have been spent on studying, and perhaps could decrease your chances at those competitive residency programs. But there are medical students who make the choice to work, and some jobs might even help your chances.
MD/PhD students Michelle and Aline, PA2 Alice, and M2 Jacob discuss the pros and cons of their use of social media, including...
...who the heck gets to decide what is "professional," and does anyone even know what that means? Listener Alyssa joins the crew to discuss her question: how can she discuss the challenges she experienced during undergrad without sounding whiney (even if her challenges would sure have made Dave whine a bit).
Dr. Abby Hardy Fairbanks, medical director of Iowa City's Emma Goldman Clinic joins co-hosts MSTP students Madi and Riley, and M2s Mao and Tyler to help us understand how the recent SCOTUS decision striking down abortion as a federally protected right will affect their training. The changes may extend beyond OB-Gyn training to affect other specialties...as well as the trust that confidentiality brings to the doctor-patient relationship. Also, Dr. Hardy-Fairbanks talks about the advocacy roles physicians can take on, from state-house lobbying to voting to just being there for their patients.
CONTENT WARNING: We're discussing a controversial subject. The opinions expressed are not those of the University of Iowa. Listener discretion is advised.
Chirayu (M2), Maddie (M2), Tracy (M2) and new co-host Levi (MSTP) discuss the financial changes that doctors experienced after COVID, and whether a career in medicine makes as much financial sense as it once did. MIT scientists use locust cyborgs to find cancer cells.
And we visit with two premeds–Deeraj and Daniel–who are proving that competing with classmates is a losing strategy for studying medicine.
Dave asks his co-hosts--M2 Maddie, M2 Chirayu, MD/PhD students Aline and Hannah--to discuss the things they would like to change about medicine and medical education, if (when) they could. A study in JAMA Pediatrics finds one reason students of color may drop out of med school: mistreatment. Dave fiddles around with AI text-to-image software. Can his co-hosts guess what the AI was trying to create?
We Want to Hear From You: YOUR VOICE MATTERS! No matter where you fall on any spectrum, we want your thoughts on our show. Do you agree or disagree with something we said today? Did you hear something really helpful? Are we delivering a podcast you want to keep listening to? We’ll be sure your ideas are heard by all–leave a message at 347-SHORTCT (347-746-7828) and we’ll put your message in a future episode (use *67 to be an “Unknown caller”).
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You deserve to be happy and healthy. If you’re struggling with racism, harassment, hate, your mental health, or some other crisis, visit http://theshortcoat.com/help, and send additions to the resources there to theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love you.
Music provided by Argofox. License: bit.ly/CCAttribution
DOCTOR VOX – Heatstroke: youtu.be/j1n1zlxzyRE
Catmosphere – Candy-Coloured Sky: youtu.be/AZjYZ8Kjgs8 ;
Hexalyte – Wandering Hours: youtu.be/FOAo2zsYnvA;
Morgan (M3), Eric (M3), Aline (MSTP), and Abby (graduate!) discuss their experiences being evaluated in medical school. Abby offers her big tips for new MDs to get the best deal on internet service (apply for Medicaid and wait for them to give you candy). A doc goes to jail for his COVID cure kits. We practice giving sincere compliments to each other while trying to make the other person laugh. Can the co-hosts reassure a freaked out Redditor who abuses Imodium?
Short Coat Listener Josh wrote in to share some hacks he uses to get grumpy patients on his side the moment he walks into the exam room.
Co-hosts Jessica, Aline, Hannah, and Riley share their own techniques on managing those first few seconds of the patient visit.
Plus, many tangents along those lines, such as when not to use 'quips' and humor with patients and bosses.
Dave asks his co-hosts to discuss the ups and downs of their first year, which some will argue is the hardest.
What were their social lives like? How much leisure time do they get? What about sleep?
Dave loves a good case study, so he subjects the crew to some to see if they can guess the patients' conditions.
Dave asks his co-hosts to think about the role of discomfort in learning. It's a signal that you need to pay very close attention, both to the topic and to why you feel that way.
Listener Michelina, an undergrad mom with a full-time job, asks if she should extend her time in college to seek a toxicology degree or just stick with biology.
The discussion on working during medical school continues, as Michelina wonders if she can work full time while she balances motherhood and med school.
There are at least three ways an aspiring MD/PhD can add those last three letter to their name, but why choose one way over another?
To celebrate our CCOM Art Show, the crew makes some art for Dave to admire (See them for yourselves on our Instagram.
The co-hosts answer Dave's probing questions as he tries to get to know them even better.
Abbey Hardy-Fairbanks is an OB/Gyn who often works with expectant moms who use drugs. Future resident MDs: this episode features some of the many things she's learned about meeting patients where they are, practicing medicine without judgement, and understanding what her clients can and cannot accomplish in their circumstances. Approaching patients with an open heart from the first moment, even when their lives are outside society's mainstream or approval, can mean the difference between losing them for good and them coming back to see anyone for more help.
Listener Preston is weighing PharmD or MD school. How can he choose, and how his process of choosing make schools feel better about him?
Brylee didn't get into med school this time around, is facing a tight turnaround for the next application season, and she hasn't even got a compelling gap year job lined up yet. Is she risking another rejection by rushing things?
M4 Mackenzie Walhof and M1s Happy Kumar, Matt Engelken, and Jacob Hansen try to convey their passion for random, made-up gap year. Can they convince a skeptical interviewer?
Nurse RaDonda Vaught faces jail time for an error that killed her patient, and the crew discusses what they learn and know about dealing with medical errors.
While Vaught (convicted later on the day we recorded this episode) made some pretty terrible errors that justifiably ended her career, her employer bears responsibility, too...but so far is getting off without meaningful consequence.
Threatening jail for nurses who make medical errors isn't going to help attract people to the profession, especially when their employers create conditions that lead to errors.
An injury during medical school or residency can temporarily or permanently alter one's career prospects and trajectory. Even serious disabilities don't have to be career-enders. But in many cases, it's up to the injured to counter the ableism that still exists in medicine. Also, what unionizing residents might accomplish, and why it might be needed even in today's graduate medical education paradigm.
Sometimes, you just don't want to take that extra loan money. One option: a part time job. But that is risky--the time you devote to that job could have been spent on studying, and perhaps could decrease your chances at those competitive residency programs. But there are medical students who make the choice to work, and some jobs might even help your chances.
Rushing to med school may be a good idea, but there is a danger of missing experiences that make you a better student and a better doctor. But if you're going to do it...go hard. Nutrition is well covered in the med school curriculum, but there's a lot we don't understand. And Falling off a tall stack of milk crates on purpose has questionable health benefits.
You deserve to be happy and healthy. If you’re struggling with racism, harassment, hate, your mental health, or some other crisis, visit http://theshortcoat.com/help, and send additions to the resources there to theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love you.
Music provided by Argofox. License: bit.ly/CCAttribution
DOCTOR VOX – Heatstroke: youtu.be/j1n1zlxzyRE
Catmosphere – Candy-Coloured Sky: youtu.be/AZjYZ8Kjgs8 ;
Hexalyte – Wandering Hours: youtu.be/FOAo2zsYnvA;
Medical schools' mission is to create doctors that treat patients. In that context, the options provided for trainees who don't see that as their own mission may be limited.
However, those options do exist--should schools acknowledge them? Should schools even promote those options to their students?
And listener Nicole asks what prerequisites she can take at a community college, if any.
* “Cuddles” worries that he can’t be a research MD if he doesn’t get into an allopathic med school due to his low MCAT. But is that really the problem?
* Can osteopaths be academic (research) physicians?
* Dave gives his co-hosts a pop quiz on old time remedies after learning chimps may be practicing folk medicine.
Listener Valerie's pre-med advisor still haunts her years later, despite a stellar recovery from academic disaster.
We got hammered by anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers on our Instagram. Will our response get the same result?
The co-hosts and Dave celebrate the upcoming Valentines Day observance--can we guess what our SOs and parents think of us, Newlywed Game style?
Folk rock god Neil Young and others have removed their music from Spotify, which hosts Joe Rogan's controversial podcast over his discussions with COVID and vaccine deniers. Does that actually accomplish anything, or is it too late to win over the hesitant? And we play Kiss, Marry, Kill: Medical Specialties Edition.
Listener Riley wants some suggestions on experiences that will help him grow while he pursues his path to medicine.
We discuss some comments from YouTube on female urologists and male patients.
That leads to a discussion on why hospitals default to environments for their adult patients which are downright icky.
If your undergraduate studies in a different field lacked a certain enthusiasm but you’ve now decided to pursue medicine, it can be difficult to know where you’ll stand with admissions committees. Fortunately, adcomms don’t just look for perfect grades and unwavering and early certainty from med school candidates on their path to medicine.
We discuss a great way to fill a hole in what your school teaches–create a course on the subject!
Most people don't see themselves as partners in success, but as hired hands. Doctors are employees, too, and have similar issues with their employers!
30% of administrators reported losing physicians during the pandemic. Either an exit from healthcare or a mass shift of physicians from low-engagement jobs to higher engagement positions may have already begun.
The Short Coats discuss what a great job for a doctor might look like.
Medical school is all-consuming, but sometimes you need to take time to deal with the slings and arrows of life. Don’t be afraid that you’ll jeopardize your career by taking a leave during medical school. Better to do it before your situation causes harm to your test scores or grades. A Brown University study finds that schools are failing in their diversity goals for admitting URMs.
Doctors who practice community medicine make more than academic physicians (sometimes lots more). As it often does, the question of which to choose depends on which aspect of each you can live without. The co-hosts also visit with Santa, because Dave’s been naughty, to answer pop quiz questions on holiday crimes.
Eliminate unnecessary friction to the completion of a task. Paying others to do other life tasks can be helpful. Saying no is as important as maximizing efficiency.
Happy Thanksgiving!
We discuss the MD/PhD life, and the jobs that will prepare a hopeful MD/PhD student while also giving the admissions committees something to love.
We diss Thanksgiving while still loving it, including a special Turkey Day pop quiz.
Medicine is filled with both the momentous and the prosaic. Yet every interaction is a chance to process and understand the impact one person can both have and be subject to.
Dr. Campbell suggests students start journaling their experiences early. Not only might this lead to a lovely book of essays near the end of a career, but it's also a great tool to track the fleeting experiences that will much sooner make a great personal statement!
Puzzled by the interviewer's question? You can fumble around with the answer, or answer a question that wasn't asked.
Did the Electronic Residency Application Service screw some applicants (again)?
We get to know this week's cohosts using interview questions they might actually enjoy answering.
A question Dave found on reddit inspired this week’s topic: is there any program or school that is “out of your league?”
Co-hosts recap their recent residency interview experiences.
We practice answering absurd residency interview questions.
The experience of job hunting for a residency position is unlike any other.
It's way easier to donate bone marrow than many think.
Dave stuffs the episode with Squid Game references in the hopes that various algorithms love us.
You may have heard of the dean's letter. It's sent to all residency programs, one of the things they'll use to choose who to invite for an interview. But do you know what's in it...and that it's creation begins on your first day of med school? YouTube announces blanket ban on vaccine misinformation, and axes the biggest misinformation peddlers. And, can The Short Coats pass the 2021 IgNobel Prize Winners Quiz?
Married couples applying to a school together are really a bonus for schools, all other factors being equal. We discuss Niki Minaj's cousin's friend's testicles, because that's a thing we do now. And Wiki How has interesting illustrations--can we guess the article?
Medical students can use their music background to enhance their education. Playing together and improvising is great practice for working in teams. The mental health benefits of playing or singing are huge--it's impossible to play or sing without forgetting your cares.
Now that Texas has conferred on its citizens the responsibility for enforcing it's ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, what will be the effects? Also, the University of Iowa community protests alleged sex abuse in Greek life, but the movement is tearing itself apart. And we play a game to distract ourselves from all that stuff.
Rushing to med school may be a good idea, but there is a danger of missing experiences that make you a better student and a better doctor. But if you're going to do it...go hard. Nutrition is well covered in the med school curriculum, but there's a lot we don't understand. And Falling off a tall stack of milk crates on purpose has questionable health benefits.
You deserve to be happy and healthy. If you’re struggling with racism, harassment, hate, your mental health, or some other crisis, visit http://theshortcoat.com/help, and send additions to the resources there to theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love you.
Music provided by Argofox. License: bit.ly/CCAttribution
DOCTOR VOX – Heatstroke: youtu.be/j1n1zlxzyRE
Catmosphere – Candy-Coloured Sky: youtu.be/AZjYZ8Kjgs8 ;
Hexalyte – Wandering Hours: youtu.be/FOAo2zsYnvA;
One important responsibility that doctors can and should take on is to educate their communities on health issues.
Learning how to do this in medical school can be as easy as collaborating with your university news paper.
Plus, our advice for a young mother and wife whose med student husband will be away during third year: plan, iterate and empathize.
Dave picks his co-hosts' brains on how they interpret the latest numbers on COVID. We eat baked goods that AJ brought us and try to guess what's in them, and fail because they're deliciously unlike anything we've had before. And we play Out of the Loop.
Most people don't see themselves as partners in success, but as hired hands. Doctors are employees, too, and have similar issues with their employers!
30% of administrators reported losing physicians during the pandemic. Either an exit from healthcare or a mass shift of physicians from low-engagement jobs to higher engagement positions may have already begun.
The Short Coats discuss what a great job for a doctor might look like.
Your med school application won't be the last time you write a personal statement. They're everywhere in medicine, so keep track of experiences you can write about when you need to.
Be careful about thinking too much about strategy, sacrificing the 'personal' part. It's pretty easy to spot someone who isn't writing with feeling.
Very few people can honestly write about a lightbulb moment when they suddenly knew what they wanted, so don't bother.
Eliminate unnecessary friction to the completion of a task
Paying others to do other life tasks can be helpful
Saying no is as important as maximizing efficiency.
We share more stories from our med student parents.
What the research says about how medical schools are supporting parents and pregnant students in medical school.
How should med schools support student parents and pregnant students--can schools do better?
* Urologist Amy Pearlman has built her practice upon the opportunities offered by YouTube, Twitter, and Tik Tok.
* The one question no one asks themselves that can help you decide on your future specialty: what can’t you live without?
* Medical school does not teach you how to be a doctor. That’s what residency and fellowships are for.
You deserve to be happy and healthy. If you’re struggling with racism, harassment, hate, your mental health, or some other crisis, visit http://theshortcoat.com/help, and send additions to the resources there to theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love you.
Music provided by Argofox. License: bit.ly/CCAttribution
DOCTOR VOX – Heatstroke: youtu.be/j1n1zlxzyRE
Catmosphere – Candy-Coloured Sky: youtu.be/AZjYZ8Kjgs8 ;
Hexalyte – Wandering Hours: youtu.be/FOAo2zsYnvA;
TL;DR
* Medical school is all-consuming, but sometimes you need to take time to deal with the slings and arrows of life.
* Don’t be afraid that you’ll jeopardize your career by taking a leave during medical school. Better to do it before your situation causes harm to your test scores or grades.
* A Brown University study finds that schools are failing in their diversity goals for admitting URMs.
Guest Marty Makary condemns the old way that healthcare responds to current events.
Sticking to the clinical trials process and a reluctance to use the knowledge already available from Chinese doctors slowed US responses and killed people.
“We had terrible medical leadership throughout the pandemic, and I think it’s good for our leaders to show some degree of humility to say, look, we consistently got it wrong.”
You deserve to be happy and healthy. If you’re struggling with racism, harassment, hate, your mental health, or some other crisis, visit http://theshortcoat.com/help, and send additions to the resources there to theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love you.
Music provided by Argofox. License: bit.ly/CCAttribution
DOCTOR VOX – Heatstroke: youtu.be/j1n1zlxzyRE
Catmosphere – Candy-Coloured Sky: youtu.be/AZjYZ8Kjgs8 ;
Hexalyte – Wandering Hours: youtu.be/FOAo2zsYnvA;
The choice to become pregnant in medical school is always a difficult one to make, considering the time constraints and the physical toll it can take.
Raising a kids in medical school is perhaps even harder, as even if things go well in the pregnancy, now you've got little humans to learn about, protect, and enjoy (and miss out on, sometimes).
In Part One of this three-parter, we'll lay it all bare for you--what's it really like to raise a family while learning to be a doctor.
* Taking the med ed bull by the horns in a purposeful way will get your through one of the toughest moments.
* Given any definition of “success,” a medical student who succeeds in medical school engages “like they paid for it.”
* The definition of “success” doesn’t necessarily include honors grades or high scores. If you choose what it means, you will succeed!
Often a discussion of medicine as a career is discussed in terms of sacrifices made. What sacrifices have our co-hosts made? How did they prepare or study before they started school in the fall? Did they find their people, or did pandemic online medical education get in the way?
Affective presence is the lasting and stable impressions your interaction partners get from you.
Your scores and grades only get you in the door.
It's your personality that makes you a medical student, and later, a doctor. So make sure you're giving off the right vibes!
Listener Kalmen reminds us of a paths for some students who don't match.
You deserve to be happy and healthy. If you're struggling with racism, harassment, hate, your mental health, or some other crisis, visit http://theshortcoat.com/help, and send additions to the list to theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love you.
Resources: You deserve to be happy and healthy. If you're struggling with racism, harassment, hate your mental health, or some other crisis, visit http://theshortcoat.com/help, and send additions to the list to theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love you.
Music provided by Argofox. License: bit.ly/CCAttribution
DOCTOR VOX - Heatstroke: youtu.be/j1n1zlxzyRE
Catmosphere - Candy-Coloured Sky: youtu.be/AZjYZ8Kjgs8 ;
Hexalyte - Wandering Hours: youtu.be/FOAo2zsYnvA;
COVID stressed healthcare but showed us a better future.
TL;DR
COVID revealed what’s broken in healthcare, and also offers a glimpse of how it can be fixed
Distributed, decentralized and digital isn’t about technology, but about putting patients at the center of healthcare.
Read Dr. Nundy’s book Care After Covid: What the Pandemic Revealed Is Broken in Healthcare and How to Reinvent It.
Care After COVID…by Shantanu Nundy, MD
This episode is sponsored by Panacea Financial, Member FDIC. Panacea is banking for physicians and medical students!
Shantanu Nundy, MD, is no stranger to healthcare policy and patient care. He’s a physician, entrepreneur and technologist “passionate about reinventing healthcare for all.” He’s a CMO for a company working to improve health outcomes, a primary care doc in the Washington, DC area, and a lecturer in health policy at the George Washington Milken Institute for Public Health and advisor to the World Bank Group on digital health and innovation.
So we were grateful that he offered to sit down with Dave, M4 Holly Conger, M1s AJ Chowdhury and Rick Gardner, and M3 Emma Barr to talk about his new book Care After COVID. He shows us a future that COVID has revealed as possible for healthcare if we have the will to make it happen: in which technology is a tool that puts patients at the center of everything physicians and systems do.
We Want to Hear From You
How’d we do on this week’s show? Did we miss anything in our conversation? Did we anger you? Did we make you smile? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. It’s always a pleasure to hear from you!
How did COVID affect the 2021 Match?
This week’s sponsor, Panacea Financial (Member FDIC) is giving away $500 to five students participating in the 2021 Match. Check it out!
Match Week is huge for senior medical students. It’s the week they find out if they will continue their training (yikes!), and where in the country they will go to complete it…and this year’s match was even more-than-usually anxiety provoking due to COVID.
Were our fears–of large numbers of unmatched applicants, programs with many unfilled positions, and students unfairly penalized by virtual interviews–realized? We try to figure it out with the stats available to us just an hour before recording.
This Week in Medical News
Some Grand Rapids, Michigan residents were very bad on Instagram. Hey, future and current students–keep other peoples resected organs off social media, and while you’re at it, you really aren’t supposed to take pictures in the OR without consent. M’kay?
We Want to Hear From You
How’d we do on this week’s show? Did we miss anything in our conversation? Did we anger you? Did we make you smile? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. It’s always a pleasure to hear from you!
Academic medicine--in which a physician works at a university and may have research and/or teaching duties in addition to patient care--is but one of the fulfilling options available to medical students. What's that lifestyle like? That's the question an anonymous listener (who we'll call Dr. Piledhigh Erandeeper) wanted our help answering. Fortunately we have Miranda Schene and Sahaana Arumugam (both in our Medical Scientist Training Program) on hand to tell us--including co-hosts M1 Brandon Bacalzo and M2 Mason LaMarche--what they know about this career option.
Plus Dave puts his co-hosts through a game of Doctor Forehead, featuring some of the more interesting oddball medical stories he ran across prepping for this week's show (see the next section for those links).
This Week in Medical News: The President's new budget could be another nail in the coffin for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Mayo applicants get acceptance letters that the institution later had to rescind, causing one of the disgruntled victims to create a crowdfunding campaign. And if you're in the market for "global elite" DNA, then...well, you've already missed your chance.
Is there a MD career niche you want to know more about? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
This episode is brought to you by Pattern. We hope you'll check out their disability insurance offerings for docs at http://patternlife.com/partner/shortcoat.
Are Zoom interviews the future? They could be, if some sort of magic doesn't intervene in the course of the pandemic. Meanwhile, everyone has a love-hate relationship with video conferencing, and Dave fears that those on the sharp end of the interview may not have the technology and skills to shine brightly. So, with the help of Brandon Bacalzo, Sahaana Arumugam, Nathan Spitz, and Claire Carmichael (all M1s who, like you, are in the thick of virtual everything right now), we collect our thoughts on how you can remove the distractions and subconscious biases that could sink your interview.
What advice would you give for virtual interviews? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime or email theshortcoats@gmail.com! We need to hear from YOU!
Moving to a new place can be daunting–but it’s an amazing opportunity!
(This episode is brought to you by Pattern Life. We hope you’ll check out their disability insurance offerings for docs at http://patternlife.com/partner/shortcoat.)
Listener Noodles (not her real name) is planning to go to med school in a new state, perhaps. What’s it like, she wondered, moving to a new state for med school? And Lex Turesboreme is back to ask how MSTP student Miranda Schene and M1s Brandon Bacalzo, Maggie Jakubiak, and Kenzie McKnight deal with an inevitable part of med student life–their families’ medical questions.
Got a question we can help with? Call 347-SHORT-CT or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. We’ll talk about it on the show!
This Week in Medical News: A Texas nursing home medical director has decided it’s a good idea to do what he’s calling an “observational study” of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine on his elderly patients with COVID-19. And we can’t help but discuss the president’s thoughts on disinfectant and the VP’s coronavirus response coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx’s rather visible reaction.
Choosing a specialty is far too important to rush it, so keep an open mind on day one of med school.
There's no doubt that the global pandemic of COVID-19 has caused much human suffering. And for those people around the world who are the worst affected, know that you have our deepest sympathies. No one should have to go through this.
Nevertheless, something compelled Dave to think about the ways that society might change as a result of the pandemic...in some ways, perhaps for the better; in others, perhaps things will just different than were before. Either way, co-hosts Eric Boeshart, Kenzie McKnight, Michael Gardeau, and Nathen Spitz try to look into the crystal ball a bit.
Next up, the crew answers some listener questions. "Lex Turesboreme" wants some advice on using lectures wisely when attendance isn't required. And Soon-to-be-Dr-Ray is looking for some perspectives on which school to enroll in: the DO school or the MD school. We're on it, friends!
And Dave takes the opportunity to put on his fake medical educator hat to give a pop quiz on historical epidemics.
Choosing a specialty is far too important to rush it, so keep an open mind on day one of med school.
Emotions are difficult to ignore. Especially when those emotions are telling us to ACT NOW! That's what listener Jordan from Texas is fighting as he happily gets an acceptance from his backup, with no word from his dream school. Should he commit now? Should he sit tight? Co-hosts Brandon Bacalzo, Michael Gardeau, Jessica De Haan, and Cody West (All M1s) share their experiences and advice for Jordan.
And Dave continues his quest to learn all he can about his med student friends with a game of Would You Rather.
This Week in Medical News: What if transplant patients could introduce their immune systems to a friend who broadened its horizons and eliminated the need for anti-rejection meds? The National Association for the Preservation of Skin Art will help remove and preserve your tattoos after you die. And the first observed case of bladder fermentation syndrome.
We Want to Hear From You: How's med school application season going for you? Did you experience any interview trail weirdness you want to share? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love all kinds of messages!
Academic medicine--in which a physician works at a university and may have research and/or teaching duties in addition to patient care--is but one of the fulfilling options available to medical students. What's that lifestyle like? That's the question an anonymous listener (who we'll call Dr. Piledhigh Erandeeper) wanted our help answering. Fortunately we have Miranda Schene and Sahaana Arumugam (both in our Medical Scientist Training Program) on hand to tell us--including co-hosts M1 Brandon Bacalzo and M2 Mason LaMarche--what they know about this career option.
Plus Dave puts his co-hosts through a game of Doctor Forehead, featuring some of the more interesting oddball medical stories he ran across prepping for this week's show (see the next section for those links).
This Week in Medical News: The President's new budget could be another nail in the coffin for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program. Mayo applicants get acceptance letters that the institution later had to rescind, causing one of the disgruntled victims to create a crowdfunding campaign. And if you're in the market for "global elite" DNA, then...well, you've already missed your chance.
Is there a MD career niche you want to know more about? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
How the huge change the USMLE has made to Step 1 might affect medical education and your strategy for applying to residency.
Turkish listener Ali would like to come to the US for residency and to practice medicine someday, so he wrote to us to ask us what we knew about how that works. Co-host Nadia Wahba happened to visit Turkey a while back and blew our minds by letting us in on a little secret: that in the city she visited, there are public parks full of well-cared-for pets you can visit and play with.
Also, Dave subjects the gang--which also includes MD/PhD student Miranda Schene, M2 Jenna Mullins, and M3 Brendan George--to a game of Great Minds Think Alike: Med School Edition.
This Week in Medical News: A Florida resident calls the cops after they receive what the suspect is a box of Novel Coronavirus (now named Covid-19 by science) from China. And how an AI alerted some agencies and businesses early to the pandemic, before it blew up and just a day after a now-deceased Chinese ophthalmologist tried to warn his med school classmates.
We Want to Hear From You: How are you? Tell us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com! We love you.
What does Rosanne Cash have to do with science or medicine? Sure, the American pop, folk, country, and roots rock legend isn't technically a scientist. But it was surprising for us to learn that Rosanne Cash has the soul of one within her, with its arms spread comfortably around her musician and poet souls. When the University of Iowa's Hancher Auditorium reached out to the College of Medicine to let us know she'd be putting on a concert and might be interested in coming to speak on a panel, we had to dig a little deeper to find out about the connection.
Rosanne was diagnosed in 2007 with Chiari malformation, a disorder of the skull which puts pressure on the brain and causes the cerebellum to protrude into the spinal canal. It's an incredibly painful, debilitating problem that is usually diagnosed in children, not in a woman in her 50s. Her doctors gave her all sorts of diagnoses (some with a dose of condescension), until she diagnosed herself. Even then, it took finding the right doctor to believe her to get her on the long journey to recovery. The lessons of her identity and career-threatening condition are profound.
Then, too, is Rosanne's curiosity about music and the brain. With MD/PhD student Miranda Schene, M1 Alexa Schmitz and neuroscientist Justin Sipla, PhD she was fully on board for an often trippy exploration of how and why we are creatures of rhythm, the "sorcery" our brains use to fabricate meaning from vibrations in the world around us, and what an openness to shared experiences can do for medical students and doctors and their patients.
There are other connections to medicine. The link between a performer being on stage for an audience and physicians performing a role for their patients are considerable, and the lessons Rosanne has learned about creating a shared experience between performer and audience are applicable to the relationship between doctors and their patients. But there is also her desire to "keep a beginner's mind" that every doctor should appreciate--cultivating one's curiosity and understanding that "insecurity is part of the game" are essential lessons that could keep you from missing something important in patient care.
We Want to Hear From You
Never forget that we are always excited to answer our listeners' questions or take their suggestions. Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Listener Salutes McGee (not her real name) is planning on med school after her tour of duty. What hard-won skills, she wonders, will transfer to medicine? And Krystal writes in with her med school debt worries. Will she need to plan to pay off $600,000 all in? No need to fear, Krystal and Salutes, because M4s Liza Mann, Derek Bradley, Jessie White, and M2 Abby Fife are here to soothe your fears and answer your questions.
Dave quizzes his co-hosts on medicinal booze. And And Dave heard from University of Maryland medical student and Elisabeth Fassas that she'd written a book published by Simon and Schuster's Kaplan arm just before she started medical school last fall. So as a bonus, he asked her for some tips on how you can set yourself up for a successful pre-medical experience from the very beginning. Pick up her book, Making Pre-Med Count, at your favorite bookseller.
This Week in Medical News: For the first time, lab-grown heart muscle tissue has been transplanted into a human patient. And never mind coughing into your elbow or sneezing into a handkerchief; if you want to stop the spread of germs, just lower your damn voice.
We Want to Hear From You: Are you (or do you know of) a medical student anywhere who's done something cool like Elisabeth Fassas? Write to us at theshortcoats@gmail.com. Maybe we can help spread the word!
Listener Joseph starts medical school soon, and wants to know how to manage his new life as an M1. Luckily Kylie Miller, Kalyn Campbell, Marissa Evers, and Erica Henderson (all veteran med students) can help, Joseph--bottom line, studying is paramount, but there are keys to success you need to remember.
Plus, we visit Yahoo Answers for some real-life health questions, including a couple that got Dave thinking about his own embarrassing problems.
This Week in Medical News, Radiologists have begun to re-think something they've been doing to protect patients since the 1950s. The NIH and many others aren't doing what they're required to do with their research data, leaving important data unreported. And for the first time, drug company executives have been sentenced to jail time for their roles in opioid addiction.
We Want to Hear From You: Got a burning question for us about med school, being a doctor, or literally anything else? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
When listener Celebi Jigglypuff (yes, that's a pseudonym) reached out to ask whether we felt taking Step 1 after a year of clinical rotations (as some schools require) was a good idea or not, we were prepared to sink our teeth into that and have a normal show, too. But then, University of Iowa College of Education PhD student Andrea Ash happened to reach out to us because she's been looking at Step 1 as a class project and was surprised about what she was finding. Everything from residency programs using scores for an unintended purpose to a cut score far below the averages that students were obtaining to officials snarking about students who should be studying rather than having lives outside of med school. And thus, Dave's plans for the show were subverted for the greater good--a discussion on much of what's wrong with this important exam that can affect a medical student's dream specialty choice.
Is all hope lost if you score less than average for a given specialty? Certainly not! These are averages. But it's a source of anxiety that to many seems unnecessary--maybe it's long past time, they say, to make Step 1 pass/fail. Of course, then residency programs would grasp for some other metric to use as a way to weed out their long lists of candidates, but we'd be happy to deal with that in a future show.
We Want to Hear From You: Did you catch what started us talking about this week's topic? Celebi Jigglypuff's question! See why we love listener questions? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime or email theshortcoats@gmail.com and tell us what you want us to discuss on next week's show!
Research takes time, so what's a realistic outcome for the summer research student? Pipette LeGogettuer (not her real name) wrote in to ask for our input on her summer research plans. Not only is she struggling to come up with a project idea but she has very specific hopes for her outcome--first authorship. Is that realistic? How can she find a project and someone who will sponsor her in their lab? Don't worry, Pipette! Miranda Schene, Danial Syed, Art Thanupakorn, and Mahek Shahid--most of whom have done summer research themselves--have got your answers!
And Dave puts the crew through another of his 'educational' activities, a role playing scenario set in an operating room 100 years in the FYOOOTURE!
This Week in Medical News: In Romania this past December a patient undergoing surgery for her pancreatic cancer caught fire during her operation. And a study in JAMA Internal Medicine has found that old habits die hard, at least when it comes to giving pelvic exams and pap smears to young women and girls.
We Want to Hear From You: What do you think of our advice to Pipette? Do you have a question we can help answer? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
On a previous episode, Mason LaMarche discussed a college friend who had a habit of sketching his bowel movements. On this episode, his friend defends his artistic endeavor, while another LaMarche friend writes in with a question about mind over matter. And the gang--Mason, and M2s Emma Barr, Nick Lind, and Sahaana Arumugam--tastes some treats from another land. What does that have to do with med school? I don't know, cultural competency?
This Week in Medical News: JAMA's case study on frontotemporal dementia has implications for us in the Carver College of Medicine's Writing and Humanities Program. And Harvard geneticist George Church is creating a dating app to match people based on genetic compatibility...in other words, eugenics?
We Want to Hear From You: What question do you have about med school, the application process, or your love life? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love questions!
[Happy Holidays! Dave is on vacation, but here's a re-run to tide you over. We'll be back with new episodes starting 1/16]
Short Coat Scribbleson Wordsonpaper (not his real name) wrote a paper for one of his classes, and was told it'd be worth putting it out there for publication. But where, and how? So we asked Writing and Humanities Program Director (and SCP exec producer) Cate Dicharry to give some guidance. Scribbleson's second question, about the lifestyle factors that medical students weigh when making a specialty choice, was a great one for co-hosts Mackenzie Walhof, Miranda Schene, and Abby Fyfe to dig into.
Plus Dave puts on his ten-gallon perfesser hat, offering up a pop quiz on the 2019 Ig Nobel prize winners.
This Week in Medical News: what happens when you want to study pregnancy and other women's health issues? Yeah, your research proposal gets rejected because you didn't include men among your subjects. And an Oregon doctor finds out that he has 17 kids he didn't know about from his time in medical school.
We Want to Hear From You: What factors are you weighing to make your specialty choice? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
This episode comes out the day after Christmas, and is recorded the week before, so we're exploring what some describe as "the most wonderful time of the year," and what others describe as Thursday. Given that recording date, in a bit of time travel Hillary O'Brien, Laura Quast, Jenna Johnson, and LJ Agostinelli share what they want to will have gotten (because time travel is confusing for grammarians) for Christmas. LJ shares her recent experience defending her thesis, Kylie Miller stops by with her cat Mowgli, the gang tries Turkish treats, and Dave forces them to take a pop quiz on Christmas according to unreliable internet sources.
This Week in Medical News
American patients turn to internet black markets to trade, barter, and sell their medicines and medical supplies because that's how great our system of healthcare is. And get ready for home epigenetic testing.
The amazing Dr. Ryan Gray, host of quite a few of the pre-med focused podcasts over at mededmedia.com (of which we, of course, are a member), joins Maddie Mix, Hillary O'Brien, Nick Lind, and Kyle Kinder as guest co-host! Which is good, because we start with a rather difficult topic: should the parents of a profoundly disabled child--who will never be able to care for herself in even the most basic of ways--be allowed to 'freeze' her development so that she remains physically six years old if it will enable them care for her at home? Plus, with the news from our own University of Iowa that surgeons often prepare for surgery by watching YouTube, Dave subjects Dr. Gray and his co-hosts to a YouTube-based health topics pop quiz.
This Week in Medical News: The decline of rural emergency rooms has gone so far as to create a new kind of telemedicine. Crazymothers (no, that's not a slur, that's what they call themselves) want us to stop calling them anti-vaxxers. And month-long birth control may become achievable if you can swallow a six-pointed star about 2 inches in diameter.
We Want to Hear From You: So, what's up with you? Tell (or ask) us anything at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
A question from listener Blake--do we use Anki or Brainscape for studying?--led to a discussion of the various tools and techniques Aline Sandouk (MD/PhD student), Nick Lind, Madeline Cusimano, and Mason LaMarche (all M2s) use to shove medical knowledge into their brains. And the co-hosts get some practice with their patient communication skills using questions posed by Yahoo! Answers users.
This Week in Medical News: MIT wants pics of your poop to train their artificial intelligence with, which is not at all a problem. Hiccups could be a way of teaching babies how to monitor their breathing, an activity that is partially under voluntary control. And the vaping sickness epidemic continues.
We Want to Hear From You: What are your favorite study apps and tools? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
FYI, there's new merch for charity (stickers!) at at theshortcoat.com/store! Happy Thanksgiving, bishes! It's Thanksgiving Day in the United States of America, and as we 'muricans collapse on our sofas replete with turkey with all the trimmings, let us give thanks that M1s Nathen Spitz and Morgan Kennedy, and MD/PhD student Aline Sandouk are here to discuss auto brewery syndrome (or how to be a guilt-free Thanksgiving Day day-drinker if you want your life ruined for years by a real zebra of an illness). And the gang tries to string together arbitrary medical words into illnesses and breakthrough treatments.
This Week in Medical News: trauma surgeons at the University of Maryland let the world know that they're the first in the US to put patients in suspended animation. And Dave doesn't understand at all why media outlets are giving a seemingly minor development in aging research--we share some of the features of an important cell replication enzyme with plants, woot!--"breakthrough" status.
We Want to Hear From You: did anyone in your family embarrass or annoy you on Thanksgiving? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
Today's show features multiple screams, so don't freak out. Because it's Halloweeeeeeeen! Co-hosts Hillary O'Brien, Jenna Johnson, Elizabeth Shirazi, and newbie Erica Noyes (all M1s) tell their scary med student stories for your entertainment. And Short Coat MD Wannabe has a serious question about her future, as her post-bacc program is proving harder than expected.
This Week in Medical News: Mortician YouTuber Caitlin Doughty, of Ask a Mortician, is doing good work to change how America fears death and draw the curtain back from its mysteries. Some undergrad has the amazing job of making little cars for rats to drive around in. And a haunted wheelchair is terrifying security guards in Chandigarh, India.
We Want to Hear From You: What's the scariest thing to ever happen to you? Call us at 347-SHORTCT to tell us in your own words!
Second year students Abby Fyfe, Mason LaMarche, and Madeline Cusimano offer their advice to first-year Morgan Kennedy, who confesses that she's feeling the burn of being an M1. And Mason discusses the opportunities he's had to present his undergraduate work at conferences, a good way to stand out from other pre-medical applicants. And it doesn't have to be bench or clinical science, either, as Mason demonstrates. Plus, Dave pretends to be a medical educator with a game he calls MegaBattle. Can his co-hosts help their professors defeat a variety of creatures with strange powers?
This Week in Medical News: A Venezuelan telenovela is being chopped up and overdubbed to deliver public health messages in Africa. Migrant children detained in the US are battling preventable diseases as Customs and Border Patrol throws up their hands at the complexity of offering vaccinations to that population. And a childhood cancer drug--the only on that exists--is in short supply in the US because it's hard for Pfizer to turn a profit on it.
We Want to Hear From You: What are you struggling with? We can help--call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime or email theshortcoats@gmail.com!
Short Coat Scribbleson Wordsonpaper (not his real name) wrote a paper for one of his classes, and was told it'd be worth putting it out there for publication. But where, and how? So we asked Writing and Humanities Program Director (and SCP exec producer) Cate Dicharry to give some guidance. Scribbleson's second question, about the lifestyle factors that medical students weigh when making a specialty choice, was a great one for co-hosts Mackenzie Walhof, Miranda Schene, and Abby Fyfe to dig into.
Plus Dave puts on his ten-gallon perfesser hat, offering up a pop quiz on the 2019 Ig Nobel prize winners.
This Week in Medical News: what happens when you want to study pregnancy and other women's health issues? Yeah, your research proposal gets rejected because you didn't include men among your subjects. And an Oregon doctor finds out that he has 17 kids he didn't know about from his time in medical school.
We Want to Hear From You: What factors are you weighing to make your specialty choice? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Fourth-year students David Rudolph and Chandini Reddi join co-hosts Brendan George and LJ Agistonelli to answer listener Krista's question--a self-confessed "loud mouth" with radical thoughts about how she'd like to practice medicine one day. Can she bring those ideals to life, or will she be drummed out of medicine. Are there other, related careers that might allow her to achieve her goals even better? We've got you, Krista!
Plus, Dave asks David and Chandini what they learned from watching their Medical Student Performance Evaluation take shape before it gets sent off to residency programs they're applying to.
This Week in Medical News: Weill Cornell joins the list of schools offering med school for free (to some). Napping is good for you, up to a point. And skeletons aren't just scary during Halloween--they seem to be part of the fight-or-flight response in a rather big way. We Want to Hear From You: so, how are you? Tell us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Co-host and MD/PhD student Miranda Schene is a woman who has obviously been raised well. So when her mother, Ginny, wrote to theshortcoats@gmail.com asking about the surprises med school had in store for this week's gang, Dave--who also loves his mother--couldn't very well say no! M1 Nathan Spitz and M2 Jenna Mullins, along with new co-host M1 Bryn Myers join in to give Mama Ginny the deets. Plus Dave asks if his co-hosts can find and supply doctors' testimonials for some As-Seen-On-TV products.
This Week in Medical News: The plight of a Colorado prisoner sheds more light on the abysmal healthcare incarcerated mothers-to-be get. And some interesting case studies show why it might not be a good idea to keep roosters in your backyard if you have varicose veins; and what a diet of chips, fries, and sausages can do to your eyes.
We Want to Hear From You! What are your favorite case studies? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Dave can't get enough!
Some of the most important contributions to knowledge have come at a terrible price. The BBC featured a story on their site about an anatomy atlas that was created by a Nazi doctor, and the images within are those of hundreds of dissected political prisoners. The very conditions in Hitler's concentration camps may have been among the reasons why these illustrations are so detailed. It is a terrible piece of work. This book, now out of print for decades, is still on the shelves of surgeons and consulted (if rather furtively) when they run out of other options. But we have to ask--can its vast utility outweigh it's evil origins? Short Coats, we'd love to hear your thoughts. Plus the gang visits Yahoo! Answers to practice their patient-communication skills, sort of. Pharmaceutical giants Johnson & Johnson and Purdue Pharma were both in the news recently as opioid manufacturers who will be paying millions for their roles in the opioid epidemic. And a study suggests intermittent fasting (a religious practice but also a diet fad) may be effective at limiting inflammation for rheumatoid arthritis patients.
Elders are not just sickly adults. Ours is an aging society, and as the populations skews older, medicine has begun to realize that treating elder patients isn't the same as treating adults or children. Treating the conditions of older people means that clinicians have to understand them in ways that go beyond diseases and drugs. Hence, the science of geriatrics. Dr. Louise Aronson is a geriatrician and the author of Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life (Bloomsbury 2019). It's a beautifully written book the focuses on the stories of our elders and what they can teach us about their needs both biological and psychological. Among the things co-hosts Miranda Schene, Emma Barr, Mason LaMarche and Nick Lind learned: Older people respond in unpredictable ways to medications. Often the work of a geriatrician is to 'deprescribe' medicines that are hurting them.
Never undervalue the things that are important to elders just because they aren't medicines or procedures. If the patient needs something from their doctor that increases their success in life, then it's important.
Recognizing when you as a doctor are doing things for you, vs. when you're doing things for your patient is important. Older people are no longer beyond help simply due to age. With the right training and an in-depth understanding of the science of aging, huge gains can be made in treating the serious disorders of elderhood. American medicine's concept of "the Good Death" (aka, dying at home surrounded by loved ones) isn't a given for elders. Understanding what elders want, rather than subscribing to some monolithic idea, is important.
We Want to Hear From You: Are you considering geriatrics, and why? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Ceremonies are important. If you're like Dave, you think they're a bit of a pain--you have to dress up and keep a straight face. But as a bit of (lengthy) symbolism, they do have their place, and the White Coat Ceremony is no exception. Maddie Mix and Aline Sandouk reflect on their White Coat Ceremonies and what it meant to them to be standing up in front of those they admired, respected, and loved, and promised to essentially selflessly give their lives to medicine in return for admiration, respect, and love of their own.
Of course, since Aline got kicked out of Cedar Rapids' Paramount Theater for using her cell phone by a very angry usher, I guess that respect and love she can expect from others will only go so far. It makes a good story, though, and was totally offset by a bit of feedback she got from a listener. Remember--you can send questions or feedback to theshortcoats@gmail.com! We love it! This Week in Medical News: Another month, another new organ no one's EVER noticed before. Ebola gets a new, very promising treatment. And the ongoing reproducibility crisis in research gets another look, this time from a study in the BMJ that looks at authors' use of "spin." We Want to Hear From You: As we begin the next admissions cycle, we offer free advice! How can we help? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Brandon Bacalzo and Angeline Vanle join the team as incoming medical students. Luckily for them they have the chance to put questions about med school to M2 Nick Lind and M3 Brady Campbell, including how to find the new study habits they'll need to succeed. Ethical objections to a controversial practice in medical education have been simmering for a while, so we discuss how medical students should prepare for potential dilemmas that may occur during their training. And Dave is snared by clickbait yet again--because who wouldn't want to know more about how tickling elders could keep them young? And are there other kinds of stimulation we should study to cure disease? Artificial intelligence is always fun, so we try out an app that measures your stress level, pulse, and (one-day) your blood pressure just by looking at your face.
We Want to Hear From You: What are (were) you thinking about when you started medical school? Did your hopes and fears pan out? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
For those who have been out of the student game for a while, or who feel they need a little extra time to get acclimated to the fast pace of medical education, there are programs like our Intro to Medical Education at Iowa. Whatever an individual school calls it, these programs can act as a bridge between your life before med school to the rigours of learning medicine. On this episode that Dave forgot to release a while back because he went on vacation, we meet pre-M1s Nicole Lacina, Timothy Morris, and Alec James. They and their teaching assistant, regular co-host Jacob Chrestensen are here to have some fun and describe what it's like to crack the firehose with this program instead of taking it full in the face.
Plus, Dave's unreasonable susceptibility to clickbait leads him to make up a new game. Can the co-hosts get him to click on their article with their crazy headlines? Yes. Yes, they can.
We Want to Hear From You: Are you starting med school this fall? What did you do to prepare yourself? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
When listener Caven wrote in asking why CCOM graduates don't include hardly any specialists and why they all seemed to be going into primary care, Dave was puzzled. While it's true that a state school like ours, serving a rural part of the country, emphasizes primary care, he knew that not 'everyone' goes into primary care. On further questioning, it turns out Caven's info came from the Medical School Application Requirements (MSAR) tool on the AAMC website! What was going on? Dave sought help from his friends in Admissions, and it turns out that MSAR doesn't tell the whole story...and aspiring med students have to dig deeper. Also, Dave asks his co-hosts Matt Wilson and Tony Mai, both rising M4s, to give their advice for those starting clinical rotations. And they help Aline Sandouk and LJ Agostinelli answer some of Yahoo! Answers most probing health questions. This Week in Medical News, there's good news in med school diversity--the number of students underrepresented in medicine is on the rise. A paper in Nature Microbiology says the authors have found an easy and economic way to convert A and B red blood cells to type O cells, the universal donor type. And a study in JAMA notes that patients of surgeons who behave unprofessionally around their colleagues have more complications. Plus, cell phone horns are probably not a thing.
Our charitable mission is supported in this episode by CommonBond.co/scp. Be sure to pay them a visit to learn more about their new medical school loan, and tell 'em we sent you! Admissions counselor Megan Kosovski joins the fun to help LJ Agostinelli, Aline Sandouk, and new co-host Armin Avdic answer some listener questions. Claire, for instance, wants to know if she needs to quit her job as a radiation tech to fulfill pre-med requirements like shadowing and volunteering. And Elizabeth wants to know what colleges typically do when personal difficulties arise between one's peers and mentors. Plus, Dave satisfies his pretensions to be a medical educator by giving the crew a pop quiz. Can they discern which strange research project is the actual strange research project and not one Dave made up? The AAMC offers insight into a 'new' trend in medical education: the three-year fast-track MD degree program. It's been tried before in times of shortages...is the time right to roll it out again to address physician shortages and high student debt? The Short Coats offer free advice! Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com! We'll try to help!
Continuing our recent discussion on the price of healthcare in the United States, on this episode we talk with Dr. Martin Makary. Dr. Makary is a surgeon at Johns Hopkins, a best-selling author, and a health policy expert. Dr. Makary's latest book entitled The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care--and How to Fix It, is due out in September. We were so glad to talk with him, because it's all-too-easy to be jaded about the 'business' of healthcare when one in five Americans are in collections over healthcare debt. But Dr. Makary combines outrage at the market forces that have created a used-car-lot sales environment with optimism about healthcare's future prospects for transparency and fairness. Things are changing, he says! Interestingly, the medical students doing research with him--pouring their hearts, souls, and minds into it--have helped to create that sense of optimism in him. In other words, millennials may be saving American healthcare even as they're killing the napkin and real estate industries.
On top of all that, while The Price We Pay is an indictment of the insurance and billing practices that hinder the work of doctors and the healing of patients, the book is also a guidebook to the things that can and are being done to restore medicine's mission.
We're devoting this episode to the perils of love between med students and their non-medical partners. Despite the clickbait title (don't hate the player, hate the game), it isn't destined to end badly! It just takes lots and lots of patience, communication, and sacrifice, not to mention a plan. Kelsey Adler, Madeline Slater, Terry Hayes, and new co-host Chris Schanbacher--all married or in committed relationships with people who aren't medical learners--are ready to offer an anonymous listener advice on keeping love alive with her soon-to-be med student. Plus, we talk about how med students socialize, how "their persons" can join in some of the more fun bits, and what changes significant others can expect to change about their relationships. To cap off their hard-earned words of wisdom, Dave decided to see how close his co-hosts and their "persons" really are, with a bit of fun we're calling The NewlyMed Game. Will each couples' answers to Dave's questions agree? Will their loving relationships dissolve in acrimony when they disagree? That's a chance Dave's willing to take! Are you dating a medical student? What advice do you have for others? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Dan Weissmann is a former NPR journalist who was interested in the crazy world of healthcare costs in America. He'd suggested to his former bosses that he start covering people's stories of dealing with their medical care and it's often unpredictably wallet-sucking expenses, reasoning that the subject is one we all can relate to. Plus, he though, it's a damn important topic with political, economic, and personal implications. Unfortunately, it wasn't the story he'd been employed to tell, so he back-burnered the idea.
Until one day he decided to leave radio and strike out on his own. As Dan put it to co-hosts Aline Sandouk, Laura Quast, and Dr. John Pienta, suddenly that story was very personal. After all, he didn't have health insurance through an employer anymore, and he found it difficult to even make a decision on what insurance to buy since that industry (and its collaborators in healthcare) makes choosing intentionally difficult by not supplying information we usually rely on to make purchasing choices. So he started his new job, one he created for himself, a podcast he named An Arm and a Leg. Now in its second season, the show explores the topsy-turvy world of paying for health, using the stories of real people. Those people are incredibly easy to find, too, because they are our friends, neighbors, relatives, acquaintances, strangers, men, women, children...all of us are victims. If we want to fix it, Dan's here to say that our best hope is listen to and understand these stories, because we're all in this mess together.
This week, president Donald Trump signed an executive order that would require insurance companies, hospitals, and doctors to give patients more info about the prices they'll pay for healthcare...but some say he have consulted with Danish cement manufacturers? And Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders uses a puzzling figure to support his signature campaign issue of "Medicare-for-all"...a figure that Politifact and Kaiser Health News isn't so positive about.
What stories have you heard about the damage caused by spiraling and opaque healthcare costs? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
How do medical students deal with the stress of constant examinations? Dabin Choi, Gabe Conley, Claire Casteneda, and Erik Kneller discuss meditation, sleep, prayer, and eating habits that keep them from letting the fear derail them.
When listener Caven wrote in asking why CCOM graduates don't include hardly any specialists and why they all seemed to be going into primary care, Dave was puzzled. While it's true that a state school like ours, serving a rural part of the country, emphasizes primary care, he knew that not 'everyone' goes into primary care. On further questioning, it turns out Caven's info came from the Medical School Application Requirements (MSAR) tool on the AAMC website! What was going on? Dave sought help from his friends in Admissions, and it turns out that MSAR doesn't tell the whole story...and aspiring med students have to dig deeper. Also, Dave asks his co-hosts Matt Wilson and Tony Mai, both rising M4s, to give their advice for those starting clinical rotations. And they help Aline Sandouk and LJ Agostinelli answer some of Yahoo! Answers most probing health questions. This Week in Medical News, there's good news in med school diversity--the number of students underrepresented in medicine is on the rise. A paper in Nature Microbiology says the authors have found an easy and economic way to convert A and B red blood cells to type O cells, the universal donor type. And a study in JAMA notes that patients of surgeons who behave unprofessionally around their colleagues have more complications. Plus, cell phone horns are probably not a thing.
The thing about conspiracies that's hard to combat is that there is sometimes a kernel of truth in them that makes them more believable. Dave found some unfortunate 'facts' about medicine and doctors on a random website , and asked Miranda Schene, Kyle Kinder, Nick Lind, and Dr. John Pienta not to refute them, but to discuss the little nugget of truthiness they're based on. Warning: in the end, we didn't bother to refute them--we figured y'all are learned enough to know why they're truthy-but-not-true! Let us know if we're wrong about that!
And Dave asks his co-hosts if they can find the true research title among the truthy garbage titles he made up.
Friend of the show Dr. Yolanda Villalvazo found out that Veterans Administration Hospitals have been experimenting with a program for a few years that allows patients to tell their providers what they should know about their lives. And Dave rants about the state of the research poster...but one man thinks he has a solution for those afflicted by the poster session blues.
We Want to Hear From You: A new class of MD students is getting ready to begin at med schools all over the country. What questions do you have about med school? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
Cultural competency is a tough thing to teach, but so important. Today's physician (and med students!) encounter patients from wide range of backgrounds, any of which could come into play in a patient-provider interaction. In this episode, Brent asks how med students learn about the nuances that come with treating people of different backgrounds, from ethnicity to gender to religion to disability. Aline Sandouk and Brady Campbell consider the question and offer their experiences.
And Brady, who's co-hosting on the eve of leaving CCOM for a year-long Masters in Public Health program at Hopkins, talks about why he's pursuing a whole 'nother degree and why he's decided Hopkins is the right place for that given that we have a lovely Public Health school right next door.
A New Jersey pastor and a British clairvoyant are under investigation for promoting the use of 'miracle mineral solution' as a cure for malaria in Uganda. The WHO has removed 'gender identity disorder' from the International Classification of Disease. And with Viagra's patent set to expire, what's on the horizon for ED treatment? Don't worry, we make plenty of jokes about that, as if you had any doubt.
We Want to Hear From You: What are your questions for The Short Coats? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
Dr. Marley Doyle is a reproductive psychiatrist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She's also "legally blind", with 20/400 vision. She struggled through medical school just like all med students, but with that additional complication. She made it, however, and her discussion with Aditi Patel and Irisa Mahaparn gives some clues as to why. First, her disability was invisible which made it easy for people to assume that she wasn't disabled. And second, she was naive to the fact that she could ask for help. In other words, she stumbled through it all and came out the other side without having been a "burden" for her school. Years later, she acknowledges that she could have asked for more help. We also discuss the technical standards that most schools have in place to define what a student physician should be able to do physically, intellectually, and emotionally to succeed in school. These standards, however, often seem to be written with a stereotypical disabled person in mind, one who cannot possible succeed because of their disability, and thus should not be in medical school. We discuss the concept of "assumed competence" which, as recent CCOM guest lecturer Dr. Oluwaferanmi Okanlami pointed out, allows people with disabilities to show they are able to fulfill their duties as opposed to assuming they cannot. And we discuss the AAMC's recent first-of-its-kind report "Accessibility, Inclusion, and Action in Medical Education Lived Experiences of Learners and Physicians With Disabilities," which brought to light the inconsistent policies and procedures for, lack of support of, and lack of awareness many schools have of their legal obligations under the law towards students with disabilities. And we talk about why med schools that don't encourage disabled people to apply are missing out on a piece of the diversity puzzle. Plus, Dr. Doyle helps answer a listener who is lucky enough to have several med school acceptances, and wants to know how to decide among them! Lucky you, 'Anxious Premed!' Don't worry, we can help. Are you living with a disability and discouraged about your med school plans? Are you in medical school, disabled, and have some advice to offer? Tell us about it by calling 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
We’re clearing out the backlog of listener questions–thank you listeners for so many fun ideas to talk about! Cailin had her med school dreams ‘crushed’ in college when the science prereqs turned out to be too intense. She’s now considering an MPH, but she hasn’t entirely given up on becoming an MD. Aline Sandouk, Irisa Mahaparn, Levi Endelman, and Dr. John Pienta are on board to say it’s not really a problem, Cailin…as long as you can be realistic about the timeline. And Melvin Piebags (not his real name) sent in a series of questions: how do we cope with failure? Is anatomy lab a grim place to be? How do we cope with difficult patients and colleagues? We're answering them all on this episode. Do you like our answers? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Our charitable mission is supported in this episode by CommonBond.co/scp. Be sure to pay them a visit to learn more about their new medical school loan, and tell 'em we sent you! Admissions counselor Megan Kosovski joins the fun to help LJ Agostinelli, Aline Sandouk, and new co-host Armin Avdic answer some listener questions. Claire, for instance, wants to know if she needs to quit her job as a radiation tech to fulfill pre-med requirements like shadowing and volunteering. And Elizabeth wants to know what colleges typically do when personal difficulties arise between one's peers and mentors. Plus, Dave satisfies his pretensions to be a medical educator by giving the crew a pop quiz. Can they discern which strange research project is the actual strange research project and not one Dave made up? The AAMC offers insight into a 'new' trend in medical education: the three-year fast-track MD degree program. It's been tried before in times of shortages...is the time right to roll it out again to address physician shortages and high student debt? The Short Coats offer free advice! Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com! We'll try to help!
Saie Joshi is a first-year med student at Baylor, but that's not all she is. She's got a beautiful singing voice and a busy schedule advising med school hopefuls from her tight-knit Indian-American community. And, of course, as she's an up-and-coming podcaster we were excited to have her on as a guest co-host. Aline Sandouk, Issac Schwantes, and Rob Humble spoke with Saie about her show Brown Girl White Coat, and about ZdoggMD's recent reflection on moral injury among physicians and healthcare providers. Fittingly, we had a question from listener Jesse about his path forward after a bad first semester lead to a low graduating GPA. Luckily Saie was on hand to help. Scientists at Yale have found a way to partially re-start the brains of pigs hours after they were slaughtered, causing ethicists to clutch their inhalers. The Feds rounded up more than 60 people including doctors and pharmacists in Appalachia charging them with opioid offences and fraud. And a cure for bubble boy syndrome using HIV has changed the lives of 10 infants barring unknown future side effects. We Want to Hear From You. Do you have a project you want to tell us about? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. We'll help you spread the word. Merchandise: theshortcoat.com/store.
This week, with help from LJ Agostinelli, Irisa Mahaparn, and new co-host Fili Bogdanic, Dave offers listener Karstan some advice for med students (and others) who want to start a podcast. It's a worthwhile activity, without question, for discovering and understanding the field you're growing into, provided you can find the time! Listener Coleman writes in to find out what kind of plan we'd suggest having for visiting medical schools. Dave has ideas...but to his surprise his co-hosts weren't even sure pre-interview visits were necessary! Vive la difference! And we once again plumb the depths of Yahoo! Answers for some real-life medical questions, the excuse Dave always gives for doing this to his co-hosts. To Dave's relief, scientists have found that declines in working memory can be temporarily reversed using non-invasive transcranial alternating-current stimulation, but to his eternal dismay, his co-hosts always...uh, the always...wait, what was I writing about? What would you do to increase your working memory? Let us know that, or anything else by calling 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene is a sprawling organization, and for good reason. As CEO Karen Goraleski says, it's a big tent. And with all the disciplines needed to fight emerging infectious diseases like Leishmaniasis and other neglected tropical diseases, from veterinary medicine to ecology to entomology to logistics--it's no wonder. With University of Iowa College of Public Health epidemiology student Kurayi Mahachi, this bonus episode explores the job of eliminating the world's most difficult to treat diseases--infectious or otherwise--and why Americans must not shrug it off as someone else's problem but join the fight. Also, premedicine and med students take note: TropMed is the ASTMH's yearly conference, and it sounds very friendly and is a ridiculous bargain for those looking to explore this fascinating, world-saving effort as a career. This November, consider joining them in Maryland, just 10 miles from Washington, DC.
We offer free advice! Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. We'll answer your questions or find someone who can!
We're devoting this episode to the perils of love between med students and their non-medical partners. Despite the clickbait title (don't hate the player, hate the game), it isn't destined to end badly! It just takes lots and lots of patience, communication, and sacrifice, not to mention a plan. Kelsey Adler, Madeline Slater, Terry Hayes, and new co-host Chris Schanbacher--all married or in committed relationships with people who aren't medical learners--are ready to offer an anonymous listener advice on keeping love alive with her soon-to-be med student. Plus, we talk about how med students socialize, how "their persons" can join in some of the more fun bits, and what changes significant others can expect to change about their relationships. To cap off their hard-earned words of wisdom, Dave decided to see how close his co-hosts and their "persons" really are, with a bit of fun we're calling The NewlyMed Game. Will each couples' answers to Dave's questions agree? Will their loving relationships dissolve in acrimony when they disagree? That's a chance Dave's willing to take! Are you dating a medical student? What advice do you have for others? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Dr. Marley Doyle is a reproductive psychiatrist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She's also "legally blind", with 20/400 vision. She struggled through medical school just like all med students, but with that additional complication. She made it, however, and her discussion with Aditi Patel and Irisa Mahaparn gives some clues as to why. First, her disability was invisible which made it easy for people to assume that she wasn't disabled. And second, she was naive to the fact that she could ask for help. In other words, she stumbled through it all and came out the other side without having been a "burden" for her school. Years later, she acknowledges that she could have asked for more help. We also discuss the technical standards that most schools have in place to define what a student physician should be able to do physically, intellectually, and emotionally to succeed in school. These standards, however, often seem to be written with a stereotypical disabled person in mind, one who cannot possible succeed because of their disability, and thus should not be in medical school. We discuss the concept of "assumed competence" which, as recent CCOM guest lecturer Dr. Oluwaferanmi Okanlami pointed out, allows people with disabilities to show they are able to fulfill their duties as opposed to assuming they cannot. And we discuss the AAMC's recent first-of-its-kind report "Accessibility, Inclusion, and Action in Medical Education Lived Experiences of Learners and Physicians With Disabilities," which brought to light the inconsistent policies and procedures for, lack of support of, and lack of awareness many schools have of their legal obligations under the law towards students with disabilities. And we talk about why med schools that don't encourage disabled people to apply are missing out on a piece of the diversity puzzle. Plus, Dr. Doyle helps answer a listener who is lucky enough to have several med school acceptances, and wants to know how to decide among them! Lucky you, 'Anxious Premed!' Don't worry, we can help. Are you living with a disability and discouraged about your med school plans? Are you in medical school, disabled, and have some advice to offer? Tell us about it by calling 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
If you got only rejection letters this application season, you might be thinking your dreams of attending med school are dead. Well, pick yourself up off the ground, soldier, it's not over yet because you can apply again. But don't go throwing good money and time away by reapplying without taking a close, honest look at what your application was missing. Amy A'Hearn, our admissions assistant director, visited to discuss what you should think about when re-evaluating your competitiveness, with the help of Aline Sandouk and Irisa Mahapan. Don't give up...find out what Amy's top recommendations are, and get your dream back on track! Match Week was great for us here at UI as our students did better than the national average for finding a job after med school. But all was not perfect this year, as during the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP), the servers crashed denying unmatched residency programs and applicants critical time to do the same. In the end, it all worked out...but it was a stressful time for all--but from our viewpoint, especially for SOAPing students! And it isn't the first time, either. Share your stories--anonymously, if you like--of your rejections and how you fixed it! Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Think of an inventor. What comes to mind? The quirky lone genius, coming up with a blockbuster device that will save the world? The Avengers' Tony Stark in a cave throwing together a functional exosuit from scrap metal? Back to the Future's Doc Emmet Brown crying "1.21 jigawatts?!" and then immediately coming up with the perfect solution? Or is it a person like neurosurgeon Matthew Howard, toiling away year after year alongside a team of trusted experts, all working together to take an idea--slowly--from problem to concept to prototypes to product to FDA approval to market to patient? Dr. Howard was recently named the University of Iowa's first ever National Academy of Inventors fellow, with 34 patents in his portfolio, so we wanted to take a look at yet another amazing aspect of medicine: the people who define and then create solutions that make the surgical world go 'round. Some of his inventions succeed--including a way to guide catheters to their destinations using magnetic fields--while others --like the "shunt scissors" he discusses--are waiting to set the surgical world on fire. But to Dr. Howard it's just a good time. Also, Dave gives the crew--Aline Sandouk, Miranda Schene, Hannah Van Ert, and Maddie Mix--a pop quiz to see if they can guess the invention from some weird patents. Some of the quiz's incorrect answers could be money makers, so feel free to patent them and make a fortune. We Want to Hear From You. Have you ever had an idea for something and thought, I should patent that? Like that time Dave thought up an ejection seat for motorcycles? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com and tell us about it.
Listener Zachary wrote to theshortcoats@gmail.com to ask whether it's useful for students to join medical associations and societies such as the AMA, ACOG, or AAP. Co-hosts Aline Sandouk, Laura Quast, Hillary O'Brien, and newbie Sophie Williams-Perez offer some things they find useful about their memberships, including staying informed about political positions and the latest research in their fields, as well as for understanding what it means to be a physician. Listener Oscar about had a heart attack when he read how much money the Carver College of Medicine thinks a first-semester student should budget for additional expenses (aside from tuition and living expenses). So we asked Financial Aid Counselor Chris Roling to help, and it turns out that this area of the med student budget is real squishy. Plus, Dave has some mouth spreaders to use up, so he makes his co-hosts deliver made-up diagnoses to fictitious patients with them. Because that's educational. A BMJ article got us talking about whether or not doctors should be crying at work. And we revisit everyone's favorite anti-anti-vaccination 18-year-old Ethan Lindenberger--who has famously annoyed his mother by getting his vaccinations just as soon as he legally could--after he testified before the US Senate. Are you a member of a medical society or organization? What do you get out of membership? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. SCP T-shirts are available at theshortcoat.com/store!
As CCOM's second-look day (which we call Get Acquainted Day) approaches, Aline Sandouk, LJ Agostinelli, Miranda Schene, and Danial Syed discuss the benefits--to both the student and the school--of taking a second look at the schools they've been admitted to. And listener Caven wants us to talk about our fantasy gap years. Can our co-hosts articulate the benefits of gap year jobs that Dave made up for them? Spoiler--they sure can. UC Berkeley biologists have found a way to genetically engineer brewers yeast so that they pump out dank medicines. Texas Republican state representative Bill Zedler has some pointless thoughts about why vaccines aren't needed in the US. And we discuss what Click and Clack, The Tappet Brothers have to offer med students. If you could do anything you want--and you can--what would you do during your gap year? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
Here's a question we get often, in one form or another: will [some aspect of my life to date] hurt my chances for getting into medical school? Kyle Kinder, Irisa Mahaparn, Aline Sandouk, and Hanna Van Ert are here to reassure listener Rachel that, despite her background in medical malpractice law, she's going to be fine...if she can articulate what she took away from that part of her life. Listener Fifi Trixiebell, who you may recall set off the keto wars of 2018 which ultimately led Dave to declare a moratorium on diet related topics, wrote in to apologize (no need, Fifi), and also point out that Iowa is the most America of the states. Can the co-hosts discern which other states have achieved total-Murica status based on their rankings for bald eagles, fast food, and astronauts? The Chinese researcher who claimed that he'd genetically engineered two girl infants may have accidentally (or as Dave speculates, purposefully) made them into super-intelligent, super-stroke-recovering humans. And researchers my have discovered an entirely new form of neural communication. We Want to Hear From You. Do you need advice? We give it out, whether it's related to med school or not? Call in your pleas for help to 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Listener Nathan called in to the SCP Hotline at 347-SHORTCT to ask how research works for medical students. Is it necessary? Is it recommended? How do you find research to do? Irisa Mahaparn, Miranda Schene, Emma Barr, and newcomer Nadiah Wabba are on hand to discuss the roles of research in med school, how it can help a residency applications, for which residency applications research is a recommended component, and how it all works.
Also, can the crew figure out what has been censored from medical stock photos? To play along, visit the show notes for this episode at theshortcoat.com.
Cancer Dogs is a Canadian organization looking to make cancer-smelling dogs a valid screening tool; we discuss whether physicians and med schools discourage med students from pursuing primary care; and as a generation of vaccine deniers' children comes of age, are they going to defy their antivaxxer parents?
Is research important to you? Do you plan to do research in med school or residency? Let us know at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Dr. Mamdouh Aker is a very big deal in Palestine, the kind of man everyone knows and respects, and it's easy to see why. He’s urology surgeon and the deputy chair of the Board of Trustees of Berzeit University in Palestine's West Bank. Among the founders of the Mandela Institute for Political Prisoners and the Independent Commission for Human Rights, Dr. Aker was also a member of the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid Peace Conference and in the Palestinian-Israeli bilateral talks between 1991 and 1993. He's also a member of several councils and committees focused on the health, education, and wellbeing of the Palestinian people. During his visit to the Carver College of Medicine he spoke to our students and faculty about the state of Palestinian healthcare. He was generous with his time, as he also sat down with med students Shakoora Sabree, Ossama Habu-Halawa, Jordan Harbaugh-Williams, and Joelle Friezen to discuss the topic. Our discussion was near the anniversary of his 45-day ordeal in the custody of Israeli security forces in the early 1990s because of his outspoken views that his Palestinian patients were prevented from receiving adequate healthcare.
Listener Jen sent an email to theshortcoats@gmail.com asking M4 Irisa Mahaparn, and M1s Nick Lind and Madeline Slater about the doubts they've experienced in their journey through medical education. Oh, Jen. The doubts they have experienced! We discuss them, along with the sources of doubt and how they are learning to overcome them to achieve their goals. Also, we try to give listener Ryan some ideas about his genetics course assignment. We also visit the worst place on the internet to get medical advice, Yahoo! Answers, and discover a potential new treatment for desert-based constipation. All it needs is a good clinical trial and a few not-squeamish human subjects! As the measles outbreaks in the northwestern US and elsewhere continue, Clark County in Washington has experienced a jump in vaccination rates of 500%, almost as if people are starting to trust science. Inventors at MIT and Harvard are both working on swallowable injectors, which sounds worse than it is. And is Wikipedia good enough for med schools to use it in some way? It depends, of course.
[Purchase an SCP T-shirt to contribute to our Charity of the Semester, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Visit http://theshortcoat.com/store. Thank you!] Listener Renee writes in to ask Aditi Patel, Maddie Mix, Nick Lind, and guest Dr. John Pienta whether she can legitimately hope for admission to an MD/PhD program without a strong science background. Luckily, Maddie rolls MSTP style, so she helps us answer. Another listener, Sarah, wrote to us hoping for some suggestions on how to prepare and strategize for her physician shadowing experiences. And Ellen writes to give us some feedback on a recent episode. Plus, Dave's Pop Quiz on undeniably dangerous drinking games--inspired by a case study involving Dutch men, booze, MDMA, and a drinking game of fish swallowing which no one should ever play--is suspiciously easy for his co-hosts. Want to skip med school and go straight to treating patients in your very own pre-fab hospital room? Well you mustn't do that...but with this product on Amazon, you could. Contribute your ideas to the show! Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
This week, we're winging it on SCP--life was a bit more complicated for Dave than usual--but we have some great questions to address from some non-US listeners. Nice to have confirmation that we have more than a couple of those! Luke from Australia wants to come to America, either to study medicine or after his Australian medical education is complete. Which should he choose, and what will he think of our Australian accents after he listens? And Justin, listening in the Philippines, wants to know what story our co-hosts tell themselves when they think about why they're studying medicine. Justin Hababag, Aditi Patel, and Kylie Miller are on hand to discuss. What story do you tell yourself about your interest in medicine? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
But what's this? Podcast merch? Dave has a special announcement, what we're going to use the money for (it's *not* for the show or to line Dave's pockets), and how you can get a special offer and help do some good at the same time. Everybody knows about med school tuition. And then there's the cost of student loans. But there's so much more, and listener Richard wrote in to theshortcoats@gmail.com ask: what are the hidden costs of attending medical school? Luckily Dave has a crew of people on hand who've figured that out: Aline Sandouk, Nick Lind, Maddie Mix, and LJ Agostinelli. Get prepared with their list of things you need to spend money on, and a couple things you shouldn't spend on. Another listener, Sarah, would like some idea of what kinds of extracurricular activities med students can get into, and how to find them. We got you, Sarah! And after pondering what the point is of the case study in medical literature (aside from amusing Dave to no end), the crew takes a pop quiz on weird cases found on the internet. The Gates Foundation may be throwing it's considerable weight and funding behind reducing maternal deaths in the US. What hidden costs of medical school did we miss? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
When thinking about a career in medicine, those who are leaning towards getting an MD often consider the Physician Assistant path; and if they're leaning towards a PA career they often consider the Medical Doctor path. On this show, PA students Steffanie Robertus and Terry Hayes join MD students Emma Barr and Katie Christel explore the similarities between their educational journeys, the exams they'll take, the career paths, and the lifestyles they'll enjoy. Then, Dave pits the two teams against each other in a fight to the death. Or was it a trivia contest? Have you ever wondered if "defecation postural modification devices" (i.e., those potty stools recommended by unicorns to help you poop) really work? So do gastroenterologists and their friends. Cancer rates have dropped a whole bunch in the last few decades. And a Chinese researcher who edited the genomes of twin baby girls is either in danger of being put to death or is doing just fine thank you. Love or hate the Squatty Potty? Need advice? Have questions? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Tell us all about it.
Former co-host and now PM&R Doctor Cole Cheney returns for a discussion of what he's discovered about the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program, which rewards careers in public service by forgiving student loans after 10 years of qualifying work. The first 11 years have passed since its inception, and you'll never guess how many people have had their loans forgiven. Aline Sandouk, Dylan Todd, Brady Campbell, and financial aid counselor Chris Roling were on hand for a discussion of why you'll want to have a backup plan to pay off your med school debt. A study looks at whether we're ready for whole genome sequencing as a screening tool for newborn babies. We discuss whether teenagers are capable of withstanding the rigors of medical school. And an we explore the 'confidence gap' between men and women in medicine and whether it's even important. Are you a woman who has been counselled to lean in and act more confident? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you!
Happy New Year! With the holidays slowing down the pace of listener questions, Dave asks new co-host LJ Agostinelli and old hands Rob Humble and Hillary O'Brien to discuss the harsh truths and pleasant realities of studying medicine. Plus, Yahoo! Answers gets another visit, and manages to live up to Dave's characterization of it as the saddest place on the internet. Scientists make themselves chuckle while proving a point about the gold standard of research, the randomized controlled trial, by elaborately studying whether parachutes save lives. Expensive drugs eek out a win over cheap exercise in treating high blood pressure, causing doctors and patients everywhere to cry, "Meh." And in the battle to curb the ever-increasing national sleep debt, Dave gets a weighted blanket for Christmas.
Madeline called to ask: it's finals week and you're stricken with seasonal depression--what's a med student to do? We feel you, Madeline. Luckily, Aline Sandouk, Nick Lind, Derek Bradley, and Hillary O'Brien are ready to throw open the curtains on their ideas to help. And Jeannet-tello hit us up on our Instagram to find out what she should do about impostor syndrome. Dave shares the recent video that UIHC Marketing and Communications unwisely allowed him to be in. Healthcare providers, if you want to take the Surgeon General's advice and save people from dying of opioid overdoses, you might kiss your ability to get health insurance goodbye. And a Tennessee physician starts off his new job as a US Representative by promising--for no reason at all--to dig up the dirt the CDC has been hiding about vaccines and autism. Thank goodness, we're all saved. Are you nervous about starting med school? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Share your fears!
Aline Sandouk discusses with her co-hosts the recent breakthrough in her research--which is pretty much that she's experiencing the exact opposite of what PhD students fear, and that her research may just have a path forward. Whew! And while we couldn't answer any listener questions this week--hang in there, Madeline and Tiana, you're on the list!--we did answer anatomy questions asked with dental mouth spreaders in our mouths. Warning: this episode contains more than the usual amount saliva-based sounds. Plus, Kylie Miller explains to Aline, Madeline Slater, and Nick Lund that she is a compulsive licker. This Week in Medical News: A DNA study determines that stethoscopes are gross. More doubts expressed at the validity of research in light that many top docs aren't disclosing conflicts of interest in their publications. And docs (plus Dave) are learning that women might actually need uteruses for more than housing and then expelling babies. Are you a compulsive licker? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
Short Coats Rob Humble and Claire Castaneda are joined by new co-hosts Mitchell Hooyer and Jeremy Sanchez to talk about their personal experiences as members of the LGBT community while studying medicine. They highlight Iowa's surprisingly inclusive nature--among other things, Iowa was only the third state to legalize same-sex marriage. And they discuss the interesting origin of CCOM's student group EqualMeds, as well as how LGBT topics are covered in med school curricula. We also answer the question: why is it even necessary to include specific discussion of these groups given that all people are the same on a cellular level? Plus, we answer a listener question from Nikki: is it easy to make friends in medical school if you're an introvert? What have you experienced as an LGBT student or seen as an LGBT ally? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
This past week, the Carver College of Medicine hosted its 12th annual Examined Life Conference. Our featured presenter, journalist and memoirist Sarah Smarsh, grew up in a family of farmers and teen mothers in Kansas. Her family, laborers trapped in a cycle of poverty, made the kinds of choices that poor people must make in rural America--whether to eat or seek medical attention, for instance. Decades of inattention--and scorn--from politicians and the media have widened this class divide, and have sent the inexorable message that their voices don't matter. Ms. Smarsh's recent book, Heartland: A Memoir of working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, tells the tales of her family's struggles with poverty, addiction, workplace injuries, and family violence that many economic and political elites don't have the background or will to truly understand. Though Ms. Smarsh has managed to escape that cycle, she has retained her citizenship in--and love for--that largely unexplored country, and offers a deep look at what it's like to be poor in the wealthiest and most powerful society on the planet. Our executive producer Jason T. Lewis, Rob Humble, Gabe Conley, Teneme Konne, and Christopher Portero Paff talk with Ms. Smarsh about what the working poor are facing, how our willful lack of understanding shapes our perceptions of their struggles, and why it's crucial that medicine encourages and welcomes them as providers.
The MD isn't the only degree offered by many medical schools. For those who get excited about data, research, and advancing medical knowledge, you can add a Doctor of Philosophy degree. Of course, there are those who get their PhD separately from their Medicinae Doctor. Others get their PhDs from combined degree programs, including Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTP). Aline Sandouk and Jayden Bowen took on the topic with a number of first-year MSTP students--why is an MD/PhD something you should consider? Join them and Ossama Abu-Halawa, Hassan Ahamed, Akansha Jain, Madi Mix, Nate Mullin, Miranda Schene, Hannah Van Ert, and Qi Wang as they reveal reasons you might want to consider this sort of combined degree and the types of programs to choose from. What questions do you have about MSTP or MD/PhD programs? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
As medical science progresses, it not only answers questions but generates even more. Listener Tyler pointed out a study (now on hold) that proposes to withhold the current standard of care for victims of penetrating trauma to try something else, and he wondered what we thought of the ethics involved. Co-hosts Nick Lind, Kyle Kinder, Madeline Slater, and Justin Hababag are here to help unwind these and other questions. For instance, we explore how far medicine has come in its quest for answers by looking to the past, and what does My Pillow (as-seen-on-tv) have to do with the opioid crisis? Puzzled, we explore the possibilities for how as-seen-on-tv products could help with other public health efforts. Could the Comfort Wipe wipe out ebola? We visit with (a) President Donald Trump (soundboard) to find out. We still don't know how a pillow can help with opioid addiction, but perhaps we're seeing the first glimmers of a turn-around in this particular public health crisis. What are favorite as-seen-on-tv products, and have you used any to eliminate a public health issue? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
This past week, the Carver College of Medicine hosted its 12th annual Examined Life Conference. Our featured presenter, journalist and memoirist Sarah Smarsh, grew up in a family of farmers and teen mothers in Kansas. Her family, laborers trapped in a cycle of poverty, made the kinds of choices that poor people must make in rural America--whether to eat or seek medical attention, for instance. Decades of inattention--and scorn--from politicians and the media have widened this class divide, and have sent the inexorable message that their voices don't matter. Ms. Smarsh's recent book, Heartland: A Memoir of working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth, tells the tales of her family's struggles with poverty, addiction, workplace injuries, and family violence that many economic and political elites don't have the background or will to truly understand. Though Ms. Smarsh has managed to escape that cycle, she has retained her citizenship in--and love for--that largely unexplored country, and offers a deep look at what it's like to be poor in the wealthiest and most powerful society on the planet. Our executive producer Jason T. Lewis, Rob Humble, Gabe Conley, Teneme Konne, and Christopher Portero Paff talk with Ms. Smarsh about what the working poor are facing, how our willful lack of understanding shapes our perceptions of their struggles, and why it's crucial that medicine encourages and welcomes them as providers.
Our newest co-host has already had a taste of fame. Abby Fyfe joins the crew this time, along with Aline Sandouk, Jayden Bowen, and Aditi Patel. Turns out, Abby is an old hand at being internet famous, because she was once run over by a bus. True story. She has since regained her 3-dimensional shape, but did she mine that experience for her med school applications? But first, listener Tyler wants to know: is your undergrad institution's reputation an important factor for med school admissions committees? And we got some feedback from Alex, an actual registered dietician, and Blake responds to a recent question from Courtney about raising kids during med school. Later, Jayden quizzes us: can we guess what these genes do based on their very geeky names?In light of recent scandals in research and retractions of studies, an article in Molecular Cell proposes a Hippocratic Oath for scientists. And there's a new opioid possibly coming to market that is 500 times more powerful than morphine. What experiences did you mine for your med school application? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
Jennifer Andersen, a sociology PhD student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, teaches a course called Sociology of Health and Health Care. She reached out to us to propose that her students would send in questions for us as an extra credit assignment, which was a great idea we jumped on because it meant Dave would barely have to prepare for this show...I mean, it'd be a great education opportunity for her students' young, fertile minds. Ahem. Aaanyhow, her students really stepped up with some great questions for Aline Sandouk, Aditi Patel, and new co-hosts Kelsey Anderson and Jacob Chrestenson. So come along with us as we dive into questions like, "have you ever had to do something in med school that wasn't ethical," "is it better to come to medical school with an open mind about your eventual career," and "what's it like working with different attendings all the time?" They've got answers to all these queries and a lot more. What do you want us to talk about on a future show? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
We love listener feedback...even when it's negative. And this whole obesity thing is really great for generating negative listener feedback. For instance, Marlene thought our comments on nutrition were mostly wrong. And Laura didn't seem happy with what we thought was our neutral stance on keto, either, as she's having some success with it...although a lack of carbs looks just as bad as a bunch of carbs. We could ride this obesity gravy train all the way...but Dave is le tired. Fortunately for our egos, a while back we managed to give some good advice to Victoria on interviewing , who called back to give Irisa Mahaparn, Aline Sandouk, and newbs Justin Hababag and Annee Rempel some GREAT news! Go, Victoria! This Week in Medical News: are you ready to share your brains with other people? Are you ready to drink your own urine? Are you ready to not choose a medical school based on it's ranking in US News & World Reports? We think hard about those important questions. We Want to Hear From You. Have we stepped on your sacred cow? Are you happy with our advice? Have we done anything useful today? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
The MD isn't the only degree offered by many medical schools. For those who get excited about data, research, and advancing medical knowledge, you can add a Doctor of Philosophy degree. Of course, there are those who get their PhD separately from their Medicinae Doctor. Others get their PhDs from combined degree programs, including Medical Scientist Training Programs (MSTP). Aline Sandouk and Jayden Bowen took on the topic with a number of first-year MSTP students--why is an MD/PhD something you should consider? Join them and Ossama Abu-Halawa, Hassan Ahamed, Akansha Jain, Madi Mix, Nate Mullin, Miranda Schene, Hannah Van Ert, and Qi Wang as they reveal reasons you might want to consider this sort of combined degree and the types of programs to choose from. What questions do you have about MSTP or MD/PhD programs? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
This week, listener Jen sent us an article from JAMA in which the author bemoans his tendency to let the electronic health record (coupled with his data-entry difficulties) dominate his attention at the expense of his ability to really see and empathize with his patients. The cost: missing clues that indicate a patient's progressive decline and family dynamics that contribute to the condition. Meanwhile, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend find themselves chewing on sleeping pill side effects, causing us to wonder--why is Ambien still on the market, unless it's to create really great slam poetry? And we practice our teamwork in a mobile game called SpaceTeam, proving perhaps that not all such games make for good podcast fodder--you decide, but don't @ us, we already know the answer. Will we see a shift in the standard of care for appendicitis, now that a Finnish study has backed up the mounting evidence that it can often successfully without surgery? And a study on the high costs of poor healthcare around the world suggests that fixing it will cost 6% of the cost of doing nothing. Do you have suggestions for what we should talk about on SCP? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Pick your favorite!
In most of India, palliative care--a medical specialty focused on improving the quality of life of people with life-limiting or disabling diseases--is available to only 1% of people who need it. But in Kerala, one organization is making lots of headway in promoting this vital specialty. In this episode, Pallium India's founder, chairman, and 2018 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Dr. MR Rajagopal visited the University of Iowa College of Medicine to talk about their efforts to introduce to Indian providers a new way of thinking about pain and other symptoms by providing emotional, social and spiritual support. As you might expect from such a practitioner, Dr. Rajagopal is an extraordinarily thoughtful man with a kind, quiet voice that belies what must be an extraordinary force of will needed to accomplish his goals. Tony Rosenberg, Ellie Ginn, Rachel Schenkel, and Jayden Bowen discussed how he began his journey, what his fellow Indian providers made of these ideas, and what his hopes are for the future of palliative medicine around the world. Do you or anyone in your family have experience with palliative care? Tell us about it at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you!
Fifi Trixiebell (not her real name) wrote to theshortcoats@gmail.com asking us to discuss what medical students learn about nutrition, and whether they think the keto diet is just another fad. Luckily, Madeline Slater, Emma Barr, Kyle Kinder, and newbie Sam Palmer--M1s all--just had a unit on nutrition so that's an easy one. But Fifi Trixiebell had written in before, a message which--despite his policy of answering every listener question--Dave had passed over. Why did he ignore it? He's not sure; it was a while back, but it may have triggered him. We also discuss an article from HuffPo about the "unique and persistent trauma" doctors visit upon their obese patients. Plus, with the announcement of the 2018 Ig Nobel Prizes, we cover the weird winners in medicine; and Dave puts his co-hosts to the test on their knowledge of past winners. Sure, when a person is stressed out, the cortisol and adrenaline circulating in the blood mediate the body's responses, but what about mitochondrial DNA? Have you ever heard from a perfect stranger how to fix your life? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
Aline Sandouk, Jayden Bowen, Aditi Patel, and newbie Madeline Slater are on hand to answer listener questions, such as J's query about the utility of post-bacc programs for med school applicants, and Chelsea's question about the use of primary literature in medical school curricula. We also discuss how membership in Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society boosts residency applicants' competitiveness, and what some schools are doing to ensure they don't leave out minorities underrepresented in medicine. Plus, have you considered acquiring a medicine bag of polished stones from everyone's favorite MD, Gwyneth Paltrow? With the news that her company GOOP has settled a lawsuit in several states alleging some of their products make questionable health claims, we explore some of the items promoted at their recent convention. Hospitals are tired of shortages of vital medicines, so some are banding together to make them by forming their own non-profit drug company. Do you know anyone who uses GOOP products? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
On today's show, we'll answer a question from listener Victoria about having a feeding tube during med school interviews--should she worry that it will make her look weak and infirm, and thus not a good applicant for med school? Aline Sandouk, Mark Moubarek, Jayden Bowen, Marissa Evers and Gabe Conley tell her why she should OWN it by not being the first to mention it! Go Victoria! Meanwhile, Mark discusses what he did to overcome his sadness in the past year after his wife moved to pursue her own medical education in California while he finishes up at CCOM, and what he's learned by adopting his new unconventional lifestyle. Go Mark! A CNN story about an alleged "medical kidnapping" of an 18-year-old brain aneurysm patient shocked many, but it turns out the story wasn't as simple as the article made it appear. And reaction to New York University's plan to make tuition absolutely free to all medical students forever took the med ed world by storm...but some aren't buying that it will have the ostensible consequences of lowering the barrier for underrepresented minorities and encouraging more to go into primary care. Did NYU's announcement move it higher on your list of schools to apply to? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
Our visit with pre-health students in the Carver College of Medicine's Summer Health Professions Education Program continues as co-host Teneme Konne talks with SHPEPers Asjah Coleman, Kirsten Grismer, Ahone Koge and Margaret Mungai. Before the show, Teneme also visited with two of Iowa City's homeless population, and gained some insight into their lives as well as the reasons they are living on the streets. Plus, we play a game of Mafia, SCP style. Will the hospital administrator, the attending, or the resident escape death? And who is the mystery disease that threatens them all? Dun, dun, duuuunnnn. Also, we discuss LGBTQ+ health disparities, and a review of the evidence that criminalizing drug use has negative effects on efforts to prevent the spread of HIV and other illnesses. Were you lucky enough to take advantage of a SHPEP program, or are you looking forward to participating in the future? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
The day-to-day of internship, residency, and an MD career doesn't allow much time to process the effect it's having on the practitioner. Rushing from one patient to the next, putting out the fires even while drinking from the firehose, and being selfless in service to the patients' needs means that one's own stories are buried, neglected. More and more, however, medicine is acknowledging the need for practitioners to examine and tell their stories so that they can learn from them, teach their lessons to others, and show colleagues that they are not alone. In 2015 Dr. Emily Silverman was in her second year of her internal medicine residency at UCSF. She found herself with a little more time following her frenetic intern year, and with her own stories that had gone untold and unexamined. She started to write, first in a blog she called The Nocturnists. Then, in 2016 she organized the first live storytelling session with her colleagues. Now, in 2018, those live sessions--held in theaters with fun music and a bar-- are playing to sellout crowds. Not only do the shows allow for catharsis, but for community. And because Dr. Silverman isn't ready to allow The University of Iowa to be a satellite venue (and believe us, we asked), we're grateful that The Nocturnists is also a podcast! Each episode feature a piece from the live show, followed by a relaxed, thoughtful discussion between Dr. Silverman and the storyteller. Her email to Dave earlier this spring to tell The Short Coats about The Nocturnists was a wonderful break from the usual pitches for Caribbean med schools and Ivy League pay-to-play programs; and it gave Kylie Miller, Brendan George, Marisa Evers, and Sanjeeva Weerasinghe a great opportunity to discuss what it is The Nocturnists are thinking about.
The Summer Health Professions Education Program, SHPEP, has become a summer tradition at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Students from around the country participate in SHPEP’s goal: "to strengthen the academic proficiency and career development of students underrepresented in the health professions and prepare them for a successful application and matriculation to health professions schools." Iowa program's SHPEPers Hailey Phillips, Hiancha Pinho, and Meranda Pham join co-host Teneme Konne to discuss the program, what it accomplishes for them, and how mentorship -- examples of success in healthcare -- are crucial for those who are underrepresented in medicine. Are you underrepresented in medicine? Who is your mentor? What barriers have you faced and/or overcome? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Executive Producer Jason has kindly let Dave go on vacation, so Aline Sandouk takes over the hot seat, with Irisa Mahaparn, Hillary O'Brien, Elizabeth Shirazi, and Jayden Bowen. Together they unravel the mysteries of the human body and med school. For instance, why do med students feel guilty about having to take time off to deal with their bed bug infestations? And what would having many normal or two overly large testicles do to fertility? Such brilliant questions!!! Does Amazon's Jeff Bezos have Toxoplasmosis? Our lawyers say definitely not, but toxo does have a link with risky behaviors, and business people can win big by taking risks. So, naturally, a new study looks at how likely students with toxo are to be business majors. Also, the mental health consequences of sucking up to your boss, and one woman's warning that her child's Hot Cheetos habit led to her losing her gallbladder. So, what's up with you? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
While Dave and the crew try a recipe from the Med School Success Cookbook, they consider listener Imari's question: how much did co-hosts Aline Sandouk, Eric Schnieders, Gabe Conley, and Irisa Mahaparn think about finances when choosing a medical school? While it's important to know what your financial standing will be when you graduate, including your loans and how they're affected by scholarships and living situation, we think there are more important things to think about. And Maggie has noticed many med schools have co-ed fraternities and wants our thoughts on their benefits for students. Happy to help explore this interesting and fun possibility for lowering costs, sharing responsibilities, and joining a new med school fam, Maggie! Now that the Large Hadron Collider has finished tearing a hole in the universe, researchers are using the technology in its subatomic particle detectors to create 3D color x-rays. And CRISPR-Cas9 has proved to be an excellent tool for editing genomes...and also tearing them up and spitting them back out with all kinds of errors and random deletions. Do you belong to a med school fraternity? What's it like? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Listener Amari returns to ask Aline Sandouk, Jayden Bowen, Tony Rosenberg, and Mark Moubarek--what do they think of med school YouTubers? Is it advisable to broadcast your life during med school in an age when everything you do online has a permanent risk associated with it? Of course, there are some recommendations for residency program directors in searching social media for candidates' info. Next up, Jordan is looking for advice on great pre-med activities that will teach him as well as look great on his application. And Richard is both shy and working in a lab, and he's worried that it will be difficult for him to make connections with doctors for things like shadowing. Have you ever regretted your social media footprint professionally? What pre-med activities would you recommend to Jordan? How can Richard break out of his shell? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
Listener Hanna wrote in to ask an important question: is it better to apply this year despite possibly ending up in the second tier of applicants due to a late MCAT score, or should she just wait until next year? Good question, Hannah! Aline Sandouk, Irisa Mahaparn, Tony Rosenberg, and admissions counselor Dan Schnall (in absentia) have the answer. Another listener, Amari (and we hope we've spelled that right), phoned in to the Short Coats Hotline to find out if there is a medical school equivalent to the infamous Freshman 15 many undergrads suffer through, and if so, what she could do about it when she starts her journey in medical education. Med students aren't, in general, known for being good liars; they tend to be a pretty ethical bunch. But perhaps they suspend their morality enough to fool each other with lies about their time in medical school. We'll see about that, as they play Two Truths and a Lie. Researchers discover what might be a vaccine to treat diabetes...and it's already in use around the world, though not in the US. And the US Supreme Court 's decision to uphold the most recent version of Trump's travel ban won't hurt patients seeking medical attention at all, unless they need a geriatrician, nephrologist, cardiologist, internist, critical care specialist, nurse, medical technician...hmm, that seems like rather a lot. We're still giving away keyfobs if you post a review somewhere and send a screenshot to theshortcoats@gmail.com, and we've begun collecting recipes for our future Recipes for Med School Success cookbook. Do you need advice? Do you have questions about medical school? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
How can you brag about yourself without bragging about yourself? We are taught from a young age (most of us, anyway) not to brag. It is better, we may sometimes be told, to show confidence. Listener Rachel wrote in with a question about the secondary application: how does one confidently talk themselves up without coming across as a braggart? Lucky for Rachel, we have Daniel Schnall from our Admissions staff, on hand to help Mark Moubarek, Kylie Miller, Aline Sandouk, and Gabe Conley with some great advice about how to sell yourself on your application and also back it up. Don't want to look like a chump? Dan has your answer, Rachel. Plus, Kylie wants to feed the (med student) world, and the group plays Doctor Forehead. Do you know the terms and concepts Dave found in the news last week, and why they were even being talked about? Meanwhile, everyone knows ortho residents don't get enough exercise. Skinny, pale, weak, they're practically collapsing under the weight of their own skin. Which is why we're relieved that someone took pity and created a peer reviewed(?) workout routine for them, using common materials found around the ortho workroom. Get swole! Is the NIH doing it's job of funding innovative research and fostering research careers? Doesn't sound like it. And the AMA goes all in on a call to ban the American Dream sale and ownership of assault weapons. Are you a gun owner who feels like the AMA goes to far? Do you want advice and don't want to pay for it? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. We'll talk about it.
We love when listeners get in touch, which is why Dave was glad to hear from Adil who, after listening to our discussion of the new national Right-To-Try legislation, sent us a paper he wrote on the subject the year before. It really helped clear some things up that we weren't sure of. Like the fact that it doesn't actually do anything to help patients get faster access to experimental drugs, has a kind of informed consent problem, allows patients to further conflate research with therapy, and more. And with thousands of new medical students poised to matriculate this fall, Dave and co-hosts Aline Sandouk, Kylie Miller, and Amy Hanson try out a new awkward icebreaker activity to see if it has some utility for new student orientations. The Trump administration walks back their recent decision to claw back money earmarked for fighting epidemics around the world. Back home, St. Louis University opens an influenza hotel. And the function of REM sleep finally revealed...maybe.
Steve Sosebee is the president and CEO of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. He’s married to Dr. Zeena Salman, a pediatric oncologist working with the PCRF. For 25 years, PCRF has been leading medical missions to help children in the Middle East, helping children get medical treatment abroad, and delivering humanitarian aid. Their recent visit to the Carver College of Medicine gave Short Coats Reem Khodor, Ethan Craig, and Nico Dimenstein a chance to sit down with them to discuss the challenges and realities of working to provide healthcare within the confines of an occupied territory.
Listener Meghan is about to start med school in the fall, and is thinking about what sort of regular habits medical students like Aline Sandouk, Tony Rosenberg, and new co-host Jayden Bowen use to keep them on track. Not only do we look at some routines they use (and debate whether they're even helpful), but we also have a suggested routine for the new student. And Dave, who's begun writing dean's letters (or 'Medical Student Performance Evaluations') for students who will be looking for jobs this year, has some sobering news for his co-hosts: they are, themselves, already writing them. Dave thinks most first-year medical students have never heard of this important document, nor do they know what will be in it...and how it could help or hinder their efforts to land that plum residency. Dermatologists are less accurate in diagnosing melanomas than the stupidest artificial intelligence...but don't cancel your derm dreams yet. Meanwhile, patients get the 'right to try' from the Trump administration...but is almost completely bypassing the slow FDA approval process a good idea, or will the bad actors in medicine end up lining their pockets on the hopes of their desperately ill patients? What are your med school routines? Did your school read you in on the MSPE when you started? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Take your pick!
Irisa Mahaparn, Tony Rosenberg, Aline Sandouk, and Rachel Schenkel--a crew of rising M3s and an MD/PhD candidate--were on hand this time to help answer some listener questions. Arman writes in to give us his method for combating test anxiety, and Jen wants to know what med students learn about physicians' bias against obese patients. Plus, our Short Coat Podcast keyfob giveaway is still kicking--listen to find out how to get one of your very own for free. But first, Irisa has strong feels about her local community supported agriculture subscription, so she made us some snacks. Most of them were delicious. One of them was...well, surprising is a word for that one, given Dave's reaction. Dave learned this week about one company that says cockroach milk is a superfood. Do you want free advice from people who've been there? Leave a message at 347-SHORTCT, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com!
Listener Amanda is like many medical students--anxious and worried. In her case, she wonders if she won't be as prepared for med school as her classmates when she starts in the fall, because they are "ahead" of her due to their experience and former careers. We've got you, Amanda: Aline Sandouk, Hillary O'brien, Erik Kneller, and Sanjeeva Weerasinghe are here to help. Also, which of our hosts are on team Yannie or Laurel? It doesn't matter, because Dave did some sophisticated analysis and discovered something about the morphing audio clip that has the internet arguing again. The netflix series 13 Reasons Why returns for season 2 today as we record this, and Netflix has announced it's response to mental health professionals' concerns with the content. Speaking of mental illness, Blue Cross Blue Shield has released a new study that says diagnoses of major depression are on the rise. A portrait of Henrietta Lacks, the unwitting donor of the amazing HeLa cell line used for just about every kind of study of every kind of disease these days, is hung in the National Portrait Gallery. Do you have a question we can help answer? Do you need advice? We're giving away answers for free (along with SCP key fobs)! Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Our Short Coat Podcast keyfob giveaway is still happening! Post the show somewhere on the internet where pre-med and med students hang out, and email a screenshot to theshortcoats@gmail.com, and we'll send you one with our thanks! Our own Claire Castaneda won first place in the Carver College of Medicine's Carol A. Bowman Creative Writing Contest for Medical Students, and her piece caught Dave's eyes and heart. She talks with Aline Sandouk, Melissa Chan, and Tony Rosenberg about the dynamics of family strife and the pressure they can exert to follow one career path over another. Meanwhile, Aline expresses her feelings on being left behind by her original classmates as she continues her MD/PhD studies. And considering that most doctors still don't (and mostly, can't) know much about how medical marijuana should be prescribed, Dave subjects his co-hosts to a pop quiz. NYU Langone Medical School lost two of their community to suicide in one week, in the ongoing tragedy of physician and student suicide. What Maryland doctors could face as the bar for juries to decide medical malpractice is lowered. Is Iowa's US Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the US Senate Judiciary Committee, trying to pressure Supreme Court judges to retire in order to one day secure a Roe v. Wade busting win for pro-life conservatives? Ebola is back, just in time for the Trump administration to dissolve the office responsible for preparing for pandemics.
The day-to-day of internship, residency, and an MD career doesn't allow much time to process the effect it's having on the practitioner. Rushing from one patient to the next, putting out the fires even while drinking from the firehose, and being selfless in service to the patients' needs means that one's own stories are buried, neglected. More and more, however, medicine is acknowledging the need for practitioners to examine and tell their stories so that they can learn from them, teach their lessons to others, and show colleagues that they are not alone. In 2015 Dr. Emily Silverman was in her second year of her internal medicine residency at UCSF. She found herself with a little more time following her frenetic intern year, and with her own stories that had gone untold and unexamined. She started to write, first in a blog she called The Nocturnists. Then, in 2016 she organized the first live storytelling session with her colleagues. Now, in 2018, those live sessions--held in theaters with fun music and a bar-- are playing to sellout crowds. Not only do the shows allow for catharsis, but for community. And because Dr. Silverman isn't ready to allow The University of Iowa to be a satellite venue (and believe us, we asked), we're grateful that The Nocturnists is also a podcast! Each episode feature a piece from the live show, followed by a relaxed, thoughtful discussion between Dr. Silverman and the storyteller. Her email to Dave earlier this spring to tell The Short Coats about The Nocturnists was a wonderful break from the usual pitches for Caribbean med schools and Ivy League pay-to-play programs; and it gave Kylie Miller, Brendan George, Marisa Evers, and Sanjeeva Weerasinghe a great opportunity to discuss what it is The Nocturnists are thinking about.
Remembering a recent episode in which we spoke briefly of colored test tubes, Adee writes in with a question for Hilary O'Brien, Erik Kneller, Mackenzie Walhof, and Rob Humble--what, if anything, do medical students learn about laboratory science? And we got a lot of feedback on our recent discussion of unwanted sexual attention from patients, all of it pretty good! Which is nice...thank you, listeners! We also see if the co-hosts have the skillz needed to translate patients' chief complaints into...well, something that resembles a chief complaint.
Listener Zipadee Doodah (not her actual name) was the victim of unwanted sexual attention from a patient. Because her employer didn't have a policy in place to deal with it, she fought for one. But she wonders, what sort of training do medical students get on dealing with unwanted advances from patients? Kaci McCleary, Erik Kneller, Eric Schnieders, and newbie co-host Cheryl Wang offer their perspectives. Plus we consider a clever approach from a restauranteur who was surprised to learn that her efforts to create a welcoming, inclusive place of business had a harassment problem of its own. How she dealt with it might be a model for medicine. We also heard from Yanis, who's got an MBA/MA and is applying to medical school. But he's worried a lack of science-types to write letters of recommendation letters might hurt his chances. Finally, Paulius responded to our recent episode on test anxiety--specifically, Dave's painful ice cube technique--with a more gentle technique of his own.
Short Coat Podcast veteran Keenan Laraway, MD (CCOM '15, Internal Medicine), returns to the microphone to give his insights into one of the most important parts of residency--finding and being a mentor.
How do medical students deal with the stress of constant examinations? Dabin Choi, Gabe Conley, Claire Casteneda, and Erik Kneller discuss meditation, sleep, prayer, and eating habits that keep them from letting the fear derail them.
Listener Lavender BloodPoison (not their real name) sent us a message saying they were impressed by CCOM's Primary Care residency match statistics. And while many schools that serve states like ours do love primary care, "there are lies, damn lies, and statistics," as the saying goes. How should one interpret match statistics in light of the fact that many who appear to match in primary care will go on to specialize after their first year residency?
Listener Luis wrote in expressing his anxiety that his med school--which he'll begin attending this fall--doesn't have the prestige or programs to support his desire for a competitive specialty like ophthalmology. If that's the case, he wondered, what can he do to increase his chances of obtaining his dream career?
The Short Coats discuss their perspective on how med school can test a romance, and what role it should play in the selection of a school to attend.
The Short Coats propose some paths forward for non-empathetic med school applicants, as well as outlining some of the less obvious areas empathy comes in handy they might want to think about
One of the things we Short Coats agree on is that the stigma medical students and physicians face when dealing with mental illness must end. We are people, too, and thus are subject to the full range of human maladies. So when listener Kate reached out to theshortcoats@gmail.com to tell us of her University of Michigan classmate Rahael Gupta's JAMA article addressing her own struggles, we could only respond with sympathy and admiration.
Can Courtney succeed in med school despite the demands of motherhood? We ask a mom who did it. And, how med students can erase debt fast.
In the first of a two-part answer to listener Courtney's question, Dr. Tom McNalley (MD '04) joins the gang to assure her that it is possible to be a parent of three small children while studying medicine. Also, we take personality inventories and compare the results; do we have what it takes to be in medical school?
We revisit this weeks' co-hosts fears of moving into the clinical curriculum--were their fears realized? The US's largest health insurance company is sick of their patients' bullshit. Needle exchanges may be coming to Iowa, and the work of our own Sarah Ziegenhorn, a 2nd year medical student here at Iowa and executive director of the Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition was featured on Iowa Public Radio this week. And If you're going to have a robot crawling around inside you, it'd better be cute.
During Human Rights Week at the Carver College of Medicine, we heard some hard truths from national news commentator, human rights activist, and podcaster Angela Rye. In her speech to the College of Medicine, she clued white people in on what black Americans face every day in 2017, and how Martin Luther King, Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech was just the beginning of his activism. Meanwhile, Mackenzie Walhof, Joyce Wahba, Claire Casteneda and Gabe Conley discuss the department of Health and Human Services announcement that it would be forming a department to protect doctors from having their rights infringed by requirements that they provide treatments that they don't agree with because of religion or conscience. Do doctors need that protection? Or do they self-select what they do and don't do by where they practice and what they specialize in? And with the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show in the history books, Dave delivers a pop quiz to see if his co-hosts can identify real or fake health-adjacent gadgets. The march of genetic medicine continues, as the NIH has given the green light to using CRISPR to modify cancer patients' T-cells ex vivo, hoping to turn them into killers of myeloma, sarcoma, and melanoma. And Walmart is going to do its part in the fight against opioid addiction by including in prescriptions a substance that destroys leftover opioids when patients are done with them, for free. Are you ready to patent Dave's inventions? Do you think docs need to be protected by the government from their patients' needs? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Listener Arman calls back to thank us for some good advice we gave him on continuing his hobbies and interests outside medical school! Nevertheless, he notes how difficult it often is to take advice, even when we want it, and wonders if we know why? Of course we do, and Levi Endelman, Tony Rosenberg, Mark Moubarek, and Rob Humble are willing to advise him. And Samuel paints doctors with a broad brush when he writes to tell us his worries about the kinds of people who go to medical school and the sorts of things they do when they get those precious letters after their names and the prestige to go with them. The WHO and others are ready to add 'gaming disorder' to the International Classification of Diseases, to the dismay of many experts (and little ol' us). And researchers in India are taking a 2014 internet hoax to its logical conclusion and trying to decide if 'selfitis' (the obsessive taking of selfies) is a real concern, as well as how people use them to prop themselves up. Wanna show us your best duck-lips selfie? Need some advice that you won't take? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
As the semester wrapped up, Dave didn't feel it was necessary to ponder great questions or debate contentious issues, so this week's show is pretty newsy...and there's never a shortage of things to talk about there. Of course, Dave had to make up a stupid game for his co-hosts Erik Kneller, Erick Schnieders, Irisa Mahaparn, and Kaci McCleary to play, in which they pimp each other on non-medical topics. Ever heard of bagel-related hand injuries? Avocados can also wreak havoc on unwary knife-wielders, which is British chain Marks & Spencer excuse for offering UK citizens seedless avocados. Significant progress has also been made in the fight against tropical illnesses as a result of the 2012 London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases. We discuss the idea that moving to Canada may solve American MDs' paperwork woes, even if the countries' respective healthcare systems each have their benefits and drawbacks. A UK surgeon decides it's cool AF to carve his initials in his patients' livers, although the patients themselves disagree. And man flu is real. Of course it is. Do you have any suggestions for future show topics? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
From an early age people are asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Whether they knew it all along or discovered their career path along the way, medical students have made a commitment to the answer, “I want to be a doctor.” As soon as that answer is given, however, an equally challenging question awaits. “What kind of doctor do you want to be?” In the second episode of Night Float, Dr. Tony Chung (R1: Ophthalmology), Dr. Travis Snyders (R2: Internal Medicine), and Lisa Wehr (M4) discuss the process of choosing a specialty. Some medical students will have an ‘aha’ moment, while many others will face a timeline and search more for a ‘tipping point’ that favors a particular choice. The resident physicians share their own experiences with decision making and encourage students to explore their options through making early connections, asking questions, gaining experiences, and not being discouraged or dissuaded even when the process involves navigating unsolicited advice or looping back around. How are you going about making your choice of specialty? What questions do you have about specialty choice? In general, what would you like to hear from residents about their medical school or residency experiences? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Mark Shrime is an otolaryngologist (and American Ninja Warrior competitor) who may just be on the leading edge of change in the way global health sees surgery. In this conversation with Tony Mai, Amanda Manorot, Brian Wall, and Hadeal Ayoub, Dr. Shrime argues that the way surgery is used in international development to date--surgeons fly in for two weeks, do their thing, and fly back out--doesn't do much to allow their host countries to develop their own surgery skills. For his part, he's managed to arrange his work at Harvard to allow him two months abroad helping to strengthen health systems in countries like Congo, Haiti, Cameroon, and Madagascar. The problem is, policy-makers see surgery as 'too expensive,' disregarding it as a tool for global health intervention. Ebola and Zika therefore get all the attention. But analysis of the cost-effectiveness of surgery as a tool in global health efforts belies this view, and shows the burden of surgical diseases may be as high as a third of the global total. Fortunately, Dr. Shrime has good advice for future surgeons who face a system that embraces Relative Value Units as a measure of physician performance, and yet want to pursue work outside their hospitals to effect global healthcare change. What are your thoughts on the effort to elevate surgery as a global health intervention? Any thoughts on who we should interview next? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com to share your ideas.
Dave loves all Short Coats--he's like a benevolent god, except without any godly powers or omniscience but with plenty of love. However, he does like to put people in iffy situations, which is why he and his wife Christine fired up the Short Coat Test Kitchen to create Golden Thanksgiving Perfection Salad for the co-hosts. Perfection not included, but Gabe Conley, Claire Casteneda, and noobs Erik Kneller and Nick Evans don't hate it. While they enjoy that, listener Rachel messaged us on Facebook to suggest we discuss the latest news in chronic traumatic encephalopathy research, in which former NFL player Fred McNeill is the first to have had a PET scan before his death, which means there is now evidence that PET scans can be used as a diagnostic tool for CTE. Speaking of research, Dave pops a quiz from tweets on #weirdresearch. A 7-year-old boy has had 80% of his skin replaced with close to 1 square meter of skin genetically engineered from his own cells...and he's doing great! And another genetic engineering first will soon bear fruit (or fail) for a man who is the first to have had his DNA engineered from within as a treatment for Hunter syndrome. Do you have things for us to talk about? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Medical school definitely hasn't made a priority of teaching about how medicine works as a business. MDs who get involved in that side of healthcare typically learn on the job. But recent caller Ryan is interested in that topic, and wanted to hear from us about what CCOM students are learning about it. A couple years ago, M4 Joe Nellis and some other students founded the Healthcare Management and Delivery Science Distinction Track, in part because they knew that decisions about healthcare delivery and outcomes evaluation were being made without MDs having a clear idea (or even input on) how and why. He and M2s Philip Huang and Amanda Manarot got together with Dave to talk about what they've learning on issues like teamwork, e-health, data and decision-making. And while the healthcare leaders of tomorrow still have to learn much of the biz after they leave medical school, having a fuller grasp of the forces that affect how medicine is practiced is key, especially as the private practice of medicine gives way to employment in hospitals and other organizations. Dave took issue with this article which posits that doctors' salaries are a problem for healthcare costs, despite the fact that according to the author's own figures, that amount makes up about 1/32 of the cost of healthcare per US household. Do you want to learn about this stuff? Or are you content to worry only about taking care of patients? Tell us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
When many people think about becoming a physician, they focus on the positive side of the practice of medicine. Things like diagnosing and successfully treating patients, forming therapeutic relationships, and even income and prestige get most attention. But there is one thing that receives less attention: sometimes, doctors deliver very bad news to their patients. Learning how to do that gracefully in a way that supports patients rather than devastating them is an important skill. And in a team-based environment, it can be tricky. M3 Marc Moubarek shows M1s Joyce Wahba, Gabe Conley, and new co-host Claire Casteneda the ropes. Of course, Dave devises an educational exercise to "help." In other bad news, it's not getting any easier to get into medical school...in fact, it's getting harder. In the last decade, applications have doubled for top 10 schools focusing on primary care, and others (like Iowa) have increased 1.5 times. Time to be interesting, applicants! Are you doing something more interesting than checking off the boxes on your medical school application? We definitely want to know about it. Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. If you're doing something really interesting, maybe we'll interview you on the show
Dave has been noticing a certain mid-semester droopiness among some students at the College of Medicine. Perhaps, he conjectured, we all need a bit of a pick-me-up. So, Levi Endelman, Issac Schwantes, and new co-host Derek Bradley share things about themselves of which they are proud. Issac, however, finds himself less than impressed by Dave's contribution. And the boys reminisce about their rural Iowa upbringings, from careening over the ubiquitous gravel roads to romancing atop grain elevators. Vox has begun collecting data from ER visitors on the resulting bills, so the American Hospital Association issues a warning to its members. And the US opioid epidemic is finally a national emergency, officially. Will the president's latest proclamation have any effect? Will there be any actual, you know, funding applied to the problem? Your guess is as good as anybody's. What do you do when you're academically down in the dumps? Do you take your cell phone to the bathroom? Admit it! Show the world you aren't afraid of its judgement by calling us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Alumni Nate Curl, MD (emergency medicine, '07) and Cathryn Turner (pediatric psychiatry, '10) returned to the Carver College of Medicine last week to attend The Examined Life Conference Jason and Dave put on every year. It was a great opportunity to connect Levi Endelman and Matt Wilson with them for a discussion of their paths to med school, the kinds of experiences they've had since graduating, and some of the things they'd like to have done differently. They also helped answer a listener question from Mary, who is concerned about what she's heard: that self-care--eating healthy, exercise, etc.--in medical school and beyond is well-nigh impossible for such chronically busy people. What concerns do you have about entering medical school? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. We'll try to help.
Once you're on the path to doctorhood, it can be hard to step off. You'll probably be happy...but what if you find out you'd rather just skate? Sure, you're making money, you're an important part of the medical profession, you've got this under control...but there's something missing: satisfaction. How can medical students prevent that from happening? How can anyone? Eric Snieders, Brady Campbell, Erica Henderson, and Marissa Evers take the example of San Diego's local hero Slomo (former neurologist John Kitchin) as well as the apparently happy lives of hunter gatherers and residents of Norway, (but perhaps NOT the residents of the US of A) and try to think about what will keep them happy as they wend their way through the medical industrial complex. Thinking about tattooing your eyeball? No? Hmm, weird. Well, a Canadian model would like you to think again...especially if you're planning on having your boyfriend do it. You've been warned. Are you eyeing a tattoo? Got one you want to show us? We want to see it! Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
Dave's gotten a few requests over the years from folks who want to know: is it a good idea to have pets while you're in medical school? And Dave also has co-hosts who wanted to talk about their pets on The Short Coat Podcast. Now, Dave isn't a pet kinda guy, but luckily he went out of town and Kylie Miller was able to take over the mic. Which means that finally, after all this time, some med student pet owners--Kaci McCleary, Vic Hatcher, Tim Maxwell, and Lisa Wehr--were able to get together with Kylie to talk about the challenges and rewards of having a fur baby while working through medical school. PS: if you want to see pics, visit http://theshortcoat.com/pets/. Are you worried about having a pet while studying medicine? Or are you completely unconcerned? Tell us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Donors are very important to universities and medical schools, typically contributing money to further the educational mission. Often, donors get a plaque on the wall, and some even get whole buildings named after them. But we're also grateful for the donors who get no plaques and whose names aren't known: those who, after they pass away, donate their bodies to medical schools so that students can use them to learn. On the afternoon of the CCOM Deeded Body Ceremony, Patrick Brau, Mackenzie Walhof, Brady Campbell, and Reed Johnson reflect on the nature of this gift, what it meant to them, and some of the unexpected things they learned. Scientists were surprised this week to find out that jellyfish sleep, perhaps just like we do...which is weird because you'd think that sort of thing would get them killed. And in the spirit of the season (interview season, that is), we discuss evidence for why you probably shouldn't have your med school or residency interview at 30,000 feet. Would you donate your body to a medical school? Why? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
Euthalia (not her actual name, though it probably should be. Feel free to take that name, anonymous caller) called us at 347-SHORTCT to express her sadness that she didn't get a secondary interview at Iowa. Which sucks for Iowa because...well, we might not get to meet Euthalia. Of course, she knows rejection is not the end of the road for her dream. Brett Hanson, Tony Mai, Patrick Brau, and Levi Endelman share some things she needs to do now to prepare her for the next time she applies, if that's what she decides to do. Euthalia might be feeling anxious, a good bet because just about everyone we know has anxiety up the wazoo. Luckily, Dave heard about a study in which subjects were able to decrease their anxiety by talking to themselves in the third person. This seemed like a good idea, so we gave it a try. Warning: you might want to turn down the volume. Or unsubscribe. Meanwhile the Endocrine Society has new guidelines for how young transgender kids can begin hormone therapy. And, to the surprise of no nurses at all, nurses in some places have more dangerous jobs than prison guards and police officers. Be kind to the nurses, doctors. What are your rejection stories? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
Among the biggest projects a premed faces: not just getting into medical school, but getting into one that meets their needs. Do they want a school strong in service learning activities? Will they be happy in a system that recognizes academics first and foremost? Is the location more important than other factors? These are only a few of the factors that go into the decision...and Dave's co-hosts couldn't care less about them. There were only two things that M1s Kyle Leubka, Gabriel Conley, Joyce Wahba and Eric Schnieders were most interested in... Listeners Ryan and Michelle called in to pitch show ideas. Ryan wants a show about Technology, Business, and Policy (he's a podcaster at the University of Pennsylvania medical school...check them out). And Michelle wants to know whether her currently well-cared-for Husky will survive having a med student owner. Watch for future episodes, guys! What topics would you like to see us tackle? Do you have any strongly held criteria you're using to judge medical schools? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
Katee Verhoef and Corbin Weaver, from the new show The Vagibonds Podcast are in the studio to talk about their work discussing feminism through the OB/GYN student lens, as well as how they never introduce their co-host who just happens to be familiar to the SCP audience. Plus, we explore the taste of medications. Right out of the research lab, they usually taste gross. This is why pharmaceutical companies go to a lot of effort sweetening them up, otherwise you'd throw up instead of being soothed. But Dave suspects that Big Pharma hasn't fully considered the possibilities for how medicine should taste, so he devises one of his 'experiments' to test whether medicine should taste like ham and gravy baby food instead. Katee, Corbin, Elizabeth Shirazi and Hillary O'Brien help Dave test this medical marketing breakthrough (psst, GSK, call us!). And listeners Evelyn and "Maynard" wrote in with feedback and questions for The Short Coats. And Ryan Gray, MD of the Specialty Stories Podcast wrote in offering a clarification of our answer to Terel's recent question. Perhaps a bigger breakthrough, however, is the news that the FDA is willing to consider evidence that MDMA (or ecstasy) could be a "Breakthrough Therapy" for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. And what about the new genetically engineered T-cells designed to seek out and destroy childhood leukemia, which the FDA has actually approved? What experiments should Dave inflict on his co-hosts next? Do you want to call us out on some bogus thing we said? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
Interview season begins soon, which means it's time to worry about the weird questions you'll be asked during med school interviews. Kayla got in touch with us at our new Facebook Group, The Short Coat Student Lounge, and asked what strange or difficult questions Lisa Wehr, Liza Mann, Irisa Mahaparn, and new co-host Mackenzie Walhof had been asked when it was their turn. Kayla's question, of course, inspires Dave to have them try to play a game of Questions, at which all the co-hosts fail miserably. The FDA announced that it's seeking public comment on plans to reduce nicotine in cigarettes to sub-addictive levels. Interesting idea...but we have questions. Google is trying to give US mobile users who search for info about depression a link to a screening tool for the disease...but we have questions. One thing we don't question: our old friend Martin Shkreli's securities fraud trial jury selection transcripts were released, and let's just say the jury of his peers don't give a rat's butt about what he's actually on trial for...they hate him for the drug thing. What questions do you have for us? We'd love to hear your thoughts. Call us at 347-SHORTCT any time, join our Facbook group, and email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Our recent show on mental illness in medical school generated some listener feedback. K wrote to say thanks for the honest discussion (our pleasure!), and wondered how open she should be on her medical school application about her journey to sobriety and how it led her to find a love for community service. Dave's six (!) co-hosts this week--Kalyn Campbell, Kylie Miller, Levi Endelman, Irene Morcuende, Kaci McCleary, and Laura Quast--agree that it's a tough question with two answers...the one we'd like to be able to give, and the perhaps more realistic one that acknowledges human nature.
Listener Erica called in wondering how students cope with the challenges of medical school and residency, especially in the context of a mental illness. And Terel dropped us a line to ask the differences between a hospitalist and an internist. Groundbreaking research from the Journal of the National Cancer Institute shows that alternative medicine is a crappy option for cancer patients' survival rates...except for prostate cancer. And a Chinese startup publishes a study in which CRISPR knocks out pig PERVs. That's Porcine Endogenous Retroviruses, silly, and it means if you need an organ transplant one day, you might have to thank a pig for that heart. Are you ready for your future pig heart? Who would win in an alpha-gal fight, Kylie or Kalyn? We'd love to hear your thoughts. Call us at 347-SHORTCT any time, and email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
[Hey, gang! We're re-releasing this super good episode because when it first posted the file was screwed up. Enjoy!] Physicians are no better than the rest of us at dealing with mental illness, even as they struggle to get their own patients to recognize and have treated their own disabilities. As society becomes more open about 'mood disorders,' it is still common for MDs to reject treatment for depression, substance abuse disorders, anxiety, and more...and physicians and medical students are literally killing themselves. Our co-hosts this week, Zeynep Demir, Innie Kim, Jason Lewis, and Kaci McCleary all have e xperienced their own disorders, and have formed a CCOM chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Still in it's infancy, they hope to destigmatize mental illness among physicians, residents, and medical students in the hope that those who suffer can be saved and become what they always wanted to be: effective, compassionate, and healthy physicians. We want to hear from you! Do you suffer from a mental illness, and worry about your future as a physician? We'd love to hear your story, anonymously if that's what you'd prefer. Call us at 347-SHORTCT any time, and email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
Sometimes you're having so much fun that the time flies by and you forget that you have other important things to do. That's what happened on this week's show, in which Dave brings Aditi Patel, Aline Sandouk, Kylie Miller and Irene Morcuende along for a trip through the medical supplies section of Amazon. Can they guess what the medical device is based on the reviews alone? We did get to talk about one bit of medical news, pointed out to us on twitter by AJtha808Scientist: the fact that Iowa made national news by forcing the closure of 1/4 of its Planned Parenthood clinics. Thanks for the tip! We also heard from Hannah of Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She wrote in to let us know why, according to the study we discussed in our last show about longevity in US counties, her beautiful corner of the country is so damn healthy. Spoiler: it doesn't involve sitting on the couch and eating chips like Dave was hoping. Listeners, share your suggestions with us each week. Call us at 347-SHORTCT any time, and email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
The world of work, and medical school, is often about adjusting for a number of "top" priorities. Dave's been having one of those weeks where his work is pulling him in several directions at once, and thought to ask his co-hosts Erin Pasaski, Patrick Brau, Elizabeth Shirazi, and Kaci McCleary what techniques they use when they, inevitably, find themselves struggling to manage all of the important tasks med school throws at them. Also, since the CCOM Writing and Humanities Program exists to bring art into the lives of busy med students, Dave went out and bought playdough so his co-hosts could flex their sculpting skills on common patient complaints. Visit our Facebook page for the gallery! Speaking of priorities, a research letter in JAMA takes note of the FDA's somewhat lackadaisical interest in surveilling the cosmetics and hair care industry, and why that should probably change. Will flu shots (and other vaccination injections) soon be replaced by a tiny bed of nails? And Dave warns medical students not to study with their phones in the same room. If you have something to say or a question to ask, and think we are the best people to do so, who are we to question your judgement? Call us at 347-SHORTCT any time, and email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
The world of work, and medical school, is often about adjusting for a number of "top" priorities. Dave's been having one of those weeks where his work is pulling him in several directions at once, and thought to ask his co-hosts Erin Pasaski, Patrick Brau, Elizabeth Shirazi, and Kaci McCleary what techniques they use when they, inevitably, find themselves struggling to manage all of the important tasks med school throws at them. Also, since the CCOM Writing and Humanities Program exists to bring art into the lives of busy med students, Dave went out and bought playdough so his co-hosts could flex their sculpting skills on common patient complaints. Visit our Facebook page for the gallery! Speaking of priorities, a research letter in JAMA takes note of the FDA's somewhat lackadaisical interest in surveilling the cosmetics and hair care industry, and why that should probably change. Will flu shots (and other vaccination injections) soon be replaced by a tiny bed of nails? And Dave warns medical students not to study with their phones in the same room. If you have something to say or a question to ask, and think we are the best people to do so, who are we to question your judgement? Call us at 347-SHORTCT any time, and email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
A flood of listener questions this week! It's probably due in part to medical school application season has begun, which means medical school applicants are trying to figure out if they have what it takes...on paper. For instance, an anonymous listener ("Meldor") called in to find out what kinds of gap year jobs Liza Mann, Elizabeth Shirazi, Kelsey Adler, and Teneme Konne thought would allow her to keep connected to the world of medicine while she's applying. Of course, there are lots of jobs like that...but is it really necessary? We play a game to find out who can best spin any gap year job to an admissions interviewer. Also, listener Mike returns to let us know more exactly what he was concerned about in our long-past episode in which we spoke of gun violence. Meanwhile, Andrea wants to know more about what medical students learn about health disparities; given that much of human disease is about societal influences, including economic and racial divides, it turns out the answer is quite a lot. Lastly, after hearing our recent discussion on food deserts, Erica let us know about an organization at her alma mater, the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. Brightside Produce is devoted to generating scientific results that increase yields and reduce environmental impacts of small-scale agriculture in cities. Basically, they're fighting inner-city hunger using science to enable urban farmers.
Listener T'keyah sends Cole Cheney, Aline Sandouk, and John Pienta a question on gap years, which boils down to what kinds of gaps are okay according to admissions committees? Cole reveals his post-med school podcasting plans, and he and John discuss how not getting your residency match can be a GOOD thing...after one is done crying. And at T'Keyah's suggestion, we try to offer sex education to each other without using words or concepts banned by state boards of education. Listeners, share your suggestions with us each week. Call us at 347-SHORTCT any time, and email theshortcoats@gmail.com.
