Tag Archives: Corbin Weaver

The False Dichotomies in Medical Politics, Physician Lifestyles, and Public Discourse

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Photo by Steve Webel

This episode is all about false dichotomies–situations or ideas that seem like dilemmas (and thus require a difficult choice to be made) but which really aren’t.   Much of the public discussions of things like the hours that residents work, the funding for medical research, the lifestyles that residents are forced to lead, the choices that prospective medical students make are couched in terms of either/or choices.  Corbin Weaver, Matt Wilson, John Pienta, and Kaci McCleary discuss the alleged dilemmas that we encounter in medicine and medical education, and conclude that these choices are often not mutually exclusive. It is possible to have both shorter hours and safer patient handoffs and quality education, despite rules that seem to indicate otherwise.  It is possible to adequately fund basic science research and fund a sensible national defense, despite presidential budgets that slash NIH funding.  Should listener Justin study during the summer prior to med school to begin medical school on the right foot, or will he struggle if he takes a break to live a little?  And listener Julian is super annoyed at the admissions process. Is his ire justified? Listeners, share your thoughts and questions with us each week.  Call us at 347-SHORTCT any time.

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Your Pre-med Clinical Experience Can Cost You Money and Waste Your Time…and Hurt Your Application.

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Photo by mikecogh

Medical school admissions committees look for clinical experiences on applications, so it behooves premeds to seek out ways to get into the clinic as a way of learning about the practice of medicine and to show they are serious about becoming a physician.  But there are clinical experiences that can hurt your application, and the Association of American Medical Colleges want to warn premeds that participation might signal a lack of judgement. Corbin Weaver, Kylie Miller, Teneme Konne, and Levi Endelman give some advice on the ones to avoid.  Meanwhile our president-elect is thinking about creating a ‘commission on autism,’ and may be looking to a well-known anti-vaxxer to head it up.  And a cybersecurity flaw leaves pacemakers and defibrillators wide open to hackers, allowing them to shock patients or drain batteries.  And we find out whether our co-hosts can really understand their patients, even if they speak sdrawkcab.  Listeners, share your thoughts with us each week.  Call us at 347-SHORTCT any time, and see our Facebook page for a question to consider every week.

Continue reading Your Pre-med Clinical Experience Can Cost You Money and Waste Your Time…and Hurt Your Application.

PIMPing and Jamming, Sexist Science, and Salon Samaritans

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“Oh, sweetie, aren’t you precious! We were looking for a real doctor!” Photo by gbaku

Dave once again forces the group to play a game of questionable relevance to medicine in which his co-hosts ask each other anatomy questions while wearing speech jammer headphones.  Corbin Weaver, Matt Wilson, and Issac Schwantes are good sports, however, which is easy for them seeing as how Dave is the absolute worst at talking while wearing the mind-scrambling headset.  We also discuss a couple recent examples of bias in medicine, including flight attendants’ response to a young, black doctor’s offer to help a distressed passenger in flight, and Delta’s follow up admission that its policies weren’t helpful. Another example: a recent study that seemed to conclude women were better doctors than men, without addressing other, perhaps systemic reasons for the results. And what can hairdressers do about domestic violence?  Illinois lawmakers think they can help quite a bit.

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Listeners, share your thoughts with us each week.  Call us at 347-SHORTCT any time, and see our Facebook page for a question to consider every Monday.

Continue reading PIMPing and Jamming, Sexist Science, and Salon Samaritans

Superstition is the Human Condition

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Photo by bionicteaching

Halloweeeeeeennnn! It’s upon us, and while we’re women and men of science around here, we’re not completely able to shed our lizard-brain’s need to take shortcuts.  Which is why we are not at all surprised to know that ER docs still think the moon’s revolutions around the big blue marble are in any way important.  Fortunately, the post-cave-dwellers at the Marburg Center for Undiagnosed and Rare Disease are putting IBM’s Watson to good use by diagnosing–in seconds– rare diseases that defy the efforts of meatier doctors.  And a Rutgers study finds that med school faculty severely underestimate students’ stress and mental health issues.

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Recess Rehash: Here’s Lemons In Your Eyes

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You shall pay. Photo by ezhikoff

[Since Dave and the Writing and Humanities Program was putting on an art-and-medicine conference last week, we’re posting this rerun.  Enjoy!]

Dave helps Mark Moubarek, Amy Young, Rob Humble, and Corbin Weaver to practice their clinical skills by  answering random people’s “health” questions from the saddest place on the Internet. But first we discuss the AMA’s policy to support the ban on direct to consumer advertising of drugs and implantable devices, and how such advertising makes the doctor-patient relationship complicated. Will drug companies retaliate by advocating for bans on advertising doctors and hospitals to patients.  Researchers in the UK may be about to get the green light to edit the genes of human embryos seeking answers to why some miscarriages happen.  Are we approaching the slippery slope?

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Reversing Pavlok, and What You Can Learn From Your Bike Wreck.

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Photo by EliPongo

After listening to our recent show that featured a review of a wrist-worn device that you can shock yourself with to punish you for engaging in bad habits, listener Paulius drops us a line to ask what Amy Young, Corbin Weaver, Aline Sandouk, and John Pienta do to reward themselves when they do the right things.  Like watching YouTube videos of people doing things well.  Or turning your life into a video game. Next, Amy attempts to learn some sort of lesson about clinical medicine as a result of her recent nasty bike wreck, aside from, “Being in a nasty bike wreck isn’t at all a good idea.” And Dave’s fear of someday ending up on YouTube video recorded while he recovers from anesthesia leads to a discussion on online privacy.
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Recess Rehash: Snapchat, Psychiatry, Femininity, and Savory Toothpastes

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Photo by Ty Nigh

With Dave on vacation, we’re taking a break this week.  Enjoy this rerun!

Corbin Weaver, Cole Cheney, Taz Khalid and Tony Rosenberg educate Dave on Snapchat.  Technology: scary!  We confront the limits and future of antibiotics as we hear about the new E. coli bug that’s immune from all of them.  We discuss how YOU can set up your own medical office, and get all your equipment from good ol’ Amazon. Corbin is on her psychiatry rotation, and it’s turning out to be a reflective time for her, especially as it relates to how we treat people with psychiatric disorders.

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Recess Rehash: Sister Helen Prejean: Why Medical Students Should Care About The Death Penalty

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Sister Helen Prejean Photo by Irish Jesuits

[Here’s a previously posted episode, since Dave was out of town last week.  Enjoy!]

Sister Helen Prejean is a well-known anti-death penalty advocate who has ministered to prisoners on death row. She began her prison ministry in 1981 by becoming pen pals with Patrick Sonnier, a convicted murder who was sentenced to death by electrocution in Lousiana’s Angola State Prison.

Since then, she has witnessed 5 executions and founded the victim’s advocacy group “Survive” in New Orleans. She continues to counsel inmates on death row as well as the families of murder victims. Sister Prejean speaks out against the death penalty through lecturing, organizing and writing, and she is the author of two books on the subject. Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States was an international best seller, and it was developed into the 1996 motion picture for which Susan Sarandon won an Oscar for best actress.

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A Career in Health Policy: Dr. Lauren Hughes

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Lauren Hughes, MD, MPH, MSc, FAAFP
Lauren Hughes, MD, MPH, MSc,, FAAFP

Dr. Lauren Hughes is a graduate of the Carver College of Medicine who, in addition to her work as a family physician, has made a career in public policy. During medical school, she also got her Masters in Public Health at George Washington University in Washington, DC. After graduating from med school in 2009, she delayed her residency to serve as national president of the American Medical Student Association, and then completed her residency at the University of Washington.  Today Dr. Hughes is Deputy Secretary of Health Innovation at the Pennsylvania Department of Public Health.  Mark Moubarek, Corbin Weaver, Rob Humble and newcomer Morgan Bobb spoke with her about her career in public health and policy. Continue reading A Career in Health Policy: Dr. Lauren Hughes

Snapchat, Psychiatry, Femininity, and Savory Toothpastes

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Photo by Ty Nigh

Corbin Weaver, Cole Cheney, Taz Khalid and Tony Rosenberg educate Dave on Snapchat.  Technology: scary!  We confront the limits and future of antibiotics as we hear about the new E. coli bug that’s immune from all of them.  We discuss how YOU can set up your own medical office, and get all your equipment from good ol’ Amazon. Corbin is on her psychiatry rotation, and it’s turning out to be a reflective time for her, especially as it relates to how we treat people with psychiatric disorders.

Continue reading Snapchat, Psychiatry, Femininity, and Savory Toothpastes