The Short Coat: An Inside Look at Getting Into and Getting Through Medical School

Latest Episodes:

When Life Is Getting In the Way of Med School: the Value of the Tactical Retreat. Jun 10, 2021

Show notes

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.

Hot Takes: Dr. Marty Makary dissects the US COVID Response, and he isn’t happy Jun 03, 2021

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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;

HAVING BABIES IN MEDICAL SCHOOL May 27, 2021

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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.

Practicing Humanism when patients Doubt Your Motives May 20, 2021

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Humanism and compassion isn't just for the good days...they're especially for the bad ones, the days during which humanism is the hardest to practice.

explosion photo — **Recess Rehash: DROWNING IN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES** May 13, 2021
Show notes

Doing stuff outside of your coursework is fantastic…until it isn’t.

Actual photograph of Gwyneth Paltrow’s “This Smells Like My Vagina” candle in use.

*[Dave was suddenly called home for a family emergency, so no recording this week. Enjoy this rerun, though!]*

Listener Tasneem Ahmed–a fourth-year medic at London’s King’s College–joins MD/PhD student Aline Sandouk, M4 Holly Conger, and M1s AJ Chowdhury and Alex Belzer on the show. She wrote to us at theshortcoats@gmail.com because she wanted to talk with us about those times when extracurricular activities are too much of a good thing. These activities are important to both schools and students as a way to convey and learn vital lessons about service and career opportunities. But there is a temptation to overdo it in an attempt to distinguish oneself as a competitive applicant. Take that far enough, and it’s a recipe for exhaustion and burnout.

We also take time to compare the two systems of medical education, dance on the grave of Step 2 CS, and cover the most important story of January 2021: Gwyneth Paltrow’s exploding vagina candle.

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!…

Hitting the Wall, Then Scaling the Heights May 06, 2021

Show notes

* 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!

Table Rounds: Gamifying Med Ed, ft. Paulius Mui, MD Apr 29, 2021

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How Gaming Can Help You Learn Medicine Better TL;DR Rote memorization is part of medical education, but drawing deeper connections between concepts is what makes you a physician. Medical school emphasizes finding the correct answer, but when you begin to practice medicine you’ll find that the answers are much more complex than that. Although moving from med school to residency can be scary–as with any transition–Paulius found it to be easier than he expected. Dr. Paulius Mui is a first-year family medicine resident in Virginia, and a long-time listener (since before med school!). He wrote to Dave not long ago because he had published a game called Table Rounds. It’s a game he and his friends in med school had made up, and now he’s working to bring it into the world as an actual product. Paulius sent Dave a copy of the game, and M1s AJ Chowdhury, Alex Belzer, Nolan Redetzke, and M4 Joyce Wahba play the game. Players use cards–each with a medical term or concept on it–to draw connections between them. The connections can be deep or they can be spurious, but if you can make your case you’re a winner. But perhaps more importantly, it’s a game that you can make your own, coming up with rules that make it even more interesting and helpful. Paulius also gives his advice to Joyce, who’s about to start her residency in Emergency Medicine, and discusses his first-year as a resident beginning while the pandemic raged. 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!

The New Medical Student: Tips and Tricks from First-Years Apr 22, 2021

Show notes

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?

Requiem for a Meme: Yahoo! Answers will close Apr 16, 2021

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Should Victoria also get a law degree to facilitate a career in health policy? Shea sends feedback on our recent discussion of options for unmatched MD Seniors We practice answering patient questions with a straight face by visiting Yahoo! Answers for what might be the last time! 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;

Is Your Affective Presence Killing Your Dream? Apr 09, 2021

Show notes

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;