Tag Archives: Mark Moubarek

Owning a Visible Disability during Med School Interviews

Share
creepy van photo
Photo by davitydave

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 tells us 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!

This Week in Medical News

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.

We Want to Hear From You

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!

Continue reading Owning a Visible Disability during Med School Interviews

Med School Youtubers, Pre-Med Experiences, and Overcoming Shyness

Share

So many listener questions!

regrets photo
Photo by ♥S♥M♥C♥A♥V♥Z♥

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.

We Want to Hear From You

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!

Continue reading Med School Youtubers, Pre-Med Experiences, and Overcoming Shyness

Taking Advice is Hard To Do

Share

Giving advice is easy.  Taking it?  Not so much.

selfie photo
Photo by Maurits Verbiest

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.

This Week in Medical News

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.

We Want to Hear From You

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!

Continue reading Taking Advice is Hard To Do

“I’ve Got Some Bad News”

Share

Delivering bad news is an art.

uh oh photo
Photo by Powerhouse Museum Collection

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. So, M3 Mark Moubarek shows M1s Joyce Wahba, Gabe Conley, and new co-host Claire Casteneda the ropes.  Of course, Dave devises an educational exercise to “help.”

This Week in Medical News

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!

We Want to Hear From You

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!

Continue reading “I’ve Got Some Bad News”

General Haze-pital

Share
digital artwork by medical student irisa mahaparn
High Noon, by Irisa Mahaparn

Improvisational acting is a greater part of medical school than one might expect.  Between pretending to be doctors for one’s simulated patients,  or acting like you know what you’re doing when you’re not entirely sure, a big part of med ed is faking it until you make it.  So Dave, in his never ending quest to offer (ahem) valuable teaching moments, asks Mark Moubarek, Irisa Mahaparn, Kaci McCleary, and newcomer Johnny Henstrom to put on their masks once again for a game of General Haze-pital.  Will Johnny be cured by the dashing doctor Dr. Mark and his two eager med students, Kaci and Irisa?  Tune in to find out.  Dave is always happy to hang students’ art projects up in the building (over the objections of the architect), and Irisa’s latest work has taken its rightful place on the walls of MERF.  Also, we discuss the recent trend of trying to cure public health issues by using market forces, including the recent proposal to tax prescription opioid manufacturers a penny per milligram to fund addiction treatment and prevention.  And an Indian medical student turns to Whatsapp to deliver a baby on a train…thus fulfilling a heroic daydream we’ve all had about saving the day in dire circumstances.  Listeners, share your thoughts with us each week.  Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or send your greetings to us at theshortcoats@gmail.comContinue reading General Haze-pital

Careless (and Repulsive) Whispers

Share
scalp massage photo
Photo by Yogesh Mhatre

Fresh from winter break, Kaci McCleary, Tony Rosenberg, Mark Moubarek, and new co-host Teneme Konne bring us up to date on their activities during their time off.  We hear from co-host Amy Young as she sends in her (surprising?) thoughts on the Grand Canyon.  Meanwhile, the good old mesentery might get a well deserved promotion, from fatty membrane that gets in the way during abdominal surgery but conveniently holds your spleen to full blown organ…so long as you’re an Irish researcher.  Sadly, recent extra-legal efforts to replace fatally flawed mitochondria in human ova with healthy ones might prove to be worthless (and worse).  France declares everyone an organ donor, unless you opt out (you jerk).  And Dave takes everyone on a tour of the murky world of autonomous sensory meridian response on YouTube.  Will we jump on the ASMR bandwagon, or wipe the warm condensation off our ears and sit this one out?

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 Careless (and Repulsive) Whispers

Semester Wrap-up, Gramma’s baked, and Short Thoughts

Share
cats photo
Mmm-hm, well, I can help but notice you’ve stopped petting me, so prepare for a good clawing. Photo by rainerstropek@yahoo.com

Dave and the crew–Mark Moubarek, Levi Endelman, Julie Gudenkauf, and Erin Pazaski–look back on things they experienced as the semester draws to a close.  As first years, Levi and Erin share their thoughts on entering medical school.  Mark is getting ready for his clerkships to begin.  And Julie has finished up her primary-care clerkships and is moving into exploring some of the more specialized areas of medicine.  We also discuss the not surprising fact that baby-boomers are more into cannabis than their children and grandchildren are.  A scientist has decided that he can find people who are overly susceptible to the placebo effect and screen them out so drug companies can save millions on clinical trials and drugs can get to patients faster.  Meanwhile, some other podcasters who couldn’t join us this week send in their Short Thoughts on American consumerism, a woman that was truly a pioneer in medicine, and cats.  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 Semester Wrap-up, Gramma’s baked, and Short Thoughts

The Value of Coaching in Medicine.

Share

achievment photoCoaching is an integral part of sports, it’s often used by corporate executives, and even helps people manage ADHD.  But until recently coaching wasn’t something physicians used to achieve their goals.  For this show, Mark Moubarek, Aline Sandouk, and Amy Young talk with Georgetown University faculty member Maggi Cary and Georgetown student Jack Penner.  Dr. Cary is a certified coach specializing in leadership coaching for healthcare professionals. But a serendipitous acquaintance with Jack lead to him becoming a client.  Recognizing its value for him as a student–in dealing with the so-called hidden curriculum and impostor syndrome, among other things–they have put together a  pro-bono arrangement for twelve Georgetown student with area coaches.  These relationships have allowed students to address areas of concern for them without the fears they may have in reaching out to faculty or peers, such as raising red flags or competitive issues.  It has also allowed them to get some of the individual attention they may be missing in education systems that are focused more on mass production of doctors.  And as medicine itself moves away from the idea that the doctor is the captain of the ship and towards a more integrative model of cooperation between medical professionals, more doctors are excited about learning leadership, management, and even surgical skills that encourage and value the input of their teammates.  Dr. Cary and Jack also help us consider an idea sent in by listener JW–that burnout among physicians might be addressed by adopting a less martyred approach to their work in favor of understanding that “it’s just a job.”

Listeners, share your thoughts with us on this episode and ideas for future episodes.  Call us at 347-SHORTCT any time, and see our Facebook page for a question to consider every week.

Continue reading The Value of Coaching in Medicine.

Recess Rehash: The Ultimate Taboo: Medicine and Suicide

Share
sad photo
Photo by JoePenna

[With Thanksgiving late week, we didn’t record a new episode.  Enjoy this rerun, instead!]

Just hours before a new crop of medical students are to be welcomed into the world of medicine, Kaci McCleary, John Pienta, Aline Sandouk, Mark Moubarek, and Lisa Wehr confront one of the most uncomfortable topics in medical education: resident and student suicide.  Among doctors, suicide rates are much higher than among the general population.  The long hours, high pressure (from both one’s internal monologue and from outside sources) to succeed, fear of public humiliation regarding one’s shortcomings, isolation, inadequate supervision, the stigma against mental illness, the career penalties faced by those who admit to unwellness, and more, all contribute to the problem.  Institutions also have a difficult time addressing incidents of physician suicide effectively, as they try to walk a tightrope strung between respect for the privacy of the deceased, the needs of colleague survivors to talk about it, the desire to avoid adverse publicity.  Meanwhile, the work does not stop. The only breaks are a moment of silence, a visit with a grief counselor, or an “open forum” to discuss one’s feelings.

Fortunately, the culture may be changing to allow for more discussion, prevention, transparency. Institutions like the University of Iowa and Harvard University are adding counseling capacity, student groups to support struggling peers, and a greater openness to acknowledging without shaming the fact of mental illness among physicians.

We need validation. Leave a review: iTunes

 

The opinions expressed in this feed and podcast are not those of the University of Iowa or the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine; nor do they reflect the views of anyone other than the people who expressed them.  If you have feedback on anything you hear on the show, positive or not, let us know.

Considering The Other Sides

Share
anger photo
Photo by madstreetz

With the close of the election of 2016, many people, including us, found themselves dismayed and surprised by a great many things.  But why were we so shocked?  Now that our hindsight has been LASIK’d, some are noticing the truth that was hiding in plain sight: people were feeling ignored.  And those people were the ones that the electoral college protects: rural Americans. In this episode, we (that is, Dave, Mark Moubarek, John Pienta, Rob Humble, and Amy Hanson) try to step out of our bubble. We cast our eyes on our own ignorance and speculate a little on what our fellow Americans want.  We try to avoid politics in this episode in favor of thoughtful, empathetic consideration.  Let us know whether or not we were successful.

Continue reading Considering The Other Sides