Short Coat Podcast

Don’t count on Public Service Loan Forgiveness

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The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program is Broken

loan photoFormer 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.

This Week in Medical News

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.

We Want to Hear From You

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!

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Short Coat Podcast

The Harsh Truths and Pleasant Realities of Med School

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What? No sleep mask? No weighted blanket? No blackout shades? She’s a witch! Photo by C_Scott (Pixabay)

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.

This Week in Medical News

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.

We Want to Hear From You

We crave your questions! Leave a message at 347-SHORTCT,  hit us up on the socials, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.  Do all three!

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Short Coat Podcast

The Darkness Without: SAD in Med School

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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.

Plus, Dave shares the recent video that UIHC Marketing and Communications unwisely allowed him to be in.

 

This Week in Medical News

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.

We Want to Hear From You

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!

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Short Coat Podcast

Mouths Wide Open

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https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-20427-9

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.

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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.

We Want to Hear From You

Are you a compulsive licker? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.  Do all three!

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Short Coat Podcast

Genetically Engineered Babies, Medical Student Influencers

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Are you buying what med student Instagrammers are selling?

genetically engineered photo
Photo by MillionsAgainstMonsanto

You’ve probably noticed them.  Cute med students hawking makeup and study guides on Instagram, posting photos of their fav study beverage, and composing carefully arranged shots of the contents of their backpacks, #medstudentlife #sponsored.  Well, who can blame them–med school’s expensive!  But is it a slippery slope, just waiting for some unsuspecting student to lose their ethical footing?  Short Coats Sam Palmer, Miranda Schene and newbies Allie Fillman and Allison Klimesh take a look.

This Week in Medical News

Funny thing:  that stuff you learned about mitochondria?  Wrong.  And with the news that there are now real live genetically engineered babies in the world–thanks to a Chinese scientist with his own ethical problems–we wonder why it was even necessary, what the dangers are to the family who ‘benefited,’ and just where the heck is this young mad scientist, now, anyway?

We Want to Hear From You

Would you be a med student influencer if you could?  Why, and what limits would you set? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.  Do all three!

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Short Coat Podcast

LGBT in Med School

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What’s it like being a ‘sexual minority’ in medical school?

lgbt photoShort 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?

We Want to Hear From You

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!

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Recess Rehash: Poor: a deadly diagnosis in America, ft. Sarah Smarsh

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A look at the people valued more as functioning machines than as people

Sarah Smarsh

[We had an interview show lined up for this week’s show, but sucky winter weather intervened to ruin our guest’s travel plans.  C’est la vie!  We’ll be back next week with a new show, so stay frosty.]

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 the 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.

We Want to Hear From You

Your voice does matter.  So call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.

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Recess Rehash: Bonus Episode! Why You Might Want an MD/PhD

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All about Medical Scientist Training Programs

[Happy Thanksgiving, US listeners!  We’re taking a break for turkey and trimmings, but we’ll be back on the mics real soon.  For now, reheat this delicious leftover episode.]

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.

We Want to Hear From You

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!

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Short Coat Podcast

Getting there from here, a novel recipe, and future projects

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Drawing by Annie Rempel.

[We’re now available on Spotify and RadioPublic!]

Co-hosts Tim Maxwell, Aline Sandouk, Annie Rempel, and Mackenzie Walhof confront pictures of their younger selves and offer themselves the advice they should have gotten at the start of their med school journeys. Listener Darius asks us for the best options to progress from his current work as an EMT-B/paramedic to medical school–among our suggestions is to check out the AAMC’s list of post-baccalaureate programs, including Iowa State University’s excellent but reasonably-priced option.  Dave offers up his own Recipe for Med School Success–a concoction he’s pretty sure no-one has ever thought of, but which his skeptical co-hosts end up enjoying–and promises an e-book with them all!  Submit yours to be part of it and get it free!

Annie also tells us about her recent arts-and-medicine exhibit at The Examined Life Conference, called Snapshots.  A follow-up to her Stanford Honors in the Arts show, it’s a series of drawings and interviews offering “realistic glimpses into the inspirational life stories of those affected by Huntington’s Disease.”

We Want to Hear From You

What’s your favorite weird snack? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.  Do all three!

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Short Coat Podcast

An Episode of Questionable Things

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 May the Slap Chop save us all.

infomercial photo
Photo by Danielle Scott

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.

This Week in Medical News

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 that particular public health crisis.

We Want to Hear From You

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!

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An honest guide to the amazing and intense world of medical school.