Tag Archives: med school moms

Short Coat Podcast

The Power of Discomfort in Learning Medicine

Audio May 12, 2022 Dave Etler

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:14:13 — 68.0MB)

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If you don’t like what you’re learning, look even closer.

TL;DR

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 her COVID-affected grades mean 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.

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Short Coat Podcast

HAVING BABIES IN MED SCHOOL, PT. 2: HOW DO SCHOOLS SUPPORT PARENTS?

Audio June 24, 2021 Dave Etler

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:03:36 — 58.2MB)

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Is it enough to deal with issues on a case-by-case basis, or do schools need to do better?

TL;DR

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?

Physician training comes smack in the middle of prime parenting years. Yet the intensity and time commitment required to study medicine doesn’t make the decision to have kids while in school or residency–or to go into medicine when you already have kids-seem viable.

Of course, parents do it all the time, so CCOM Dad and M3 Nick Lind is back to host another in his series on medical school parenting with some other mommies and daddies. M1 Katie Higham-Kessler, M2s Jessica De Haan andSally Heaberlin, and M3 Zach Tully discuss what schools are doing to support their students who are considering or having children, and what they can do better.

Jessica also clues us in on the body of research into this important issue. There seems to be a lack of robust research on parenting in medical school, with most such studies focusing on residency–a very different situation. Perhaps the concept of the “traditional” medical student (who is age 22 to 26) has obscured the needs of the non-traditional student who is older and wants to start or has a family.

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Short Coat Podcast

HAVING BABIES IN MEDICAL SCHOOL

Audio May 27, 2021 Dave Etler 1 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:12:04 — 66.0MB)

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Raising babies in med school is possible, with careful thought and lots of help

TL;DR

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.

baby photo — It’s a good thing they’re cute, cause they’re going to screw up your carefully constructed life.

Rising M4 Nick Lind is taking over for Dave this week for this special episode devoted to parenting in medical school. Nick is taking an elective dealing with that very subject, and he’s invited classmates Mackenzie Walhof and Chris Schanbacher as well as CCOM grad Dr. Michael Haugsdal to talk with him about the challenges students and residents face when they decide to grow their families despite already being engaged in one of the most difficult and time-consuming things a person can do.

This is part 1 of a multipart series that Nick is putting together for his elective project, and we’ll have more discussions on this topic in the weeks to come. In Part 2, The Short Coats will dsicuss how medical schools can and are supporting student parents; and in Part 3, we’ll hear from the spouses of medical students.