Audio

Short Coat Podcast

Overthinking: Keeping AdComms Up To Date

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 41:47 — 38.3MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Is there etiquette on staying in touch with admissions?

TL;DR

  • A listener asks about the etiquette of keeping the adcom up to date on their activities.
  • We discuss Dave’s experience in the TSA line with an anti-masker.
  • Dave tries to come up with new business ideas that YOU can use (if you’re brave).

This episode is sponsored by Enso Rings, makers of soft, safe, attractive silicone rings. Listeners get 10% off rings at EnsoRings.com using promo code SHORT!

Listener Krazenwaz (not her real name) called 347-SHORTCT to ask if there is any etiquette surrounding staying in touch with admissions when they’ve asked you to. MD/PhD student Miranda Schene, M2s Nicole Hines and Rick Gardner, and M4 Emma Barr help Dave answer the question of how not to bother your adcom with your meaningless life (hint: don’t overthink it.)

Also, Dave discovers “farm brewed beer” after encountering an anti-masker in the TSA line, which leads him to think about other products that his imagination won’t let him make a million dollars on.

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!

Continue reading Overthinking: Keeping AdComms Up To Date →
Short Coat Podcast

Unsatisfied Just Learning Medicine, These Students Became Journalists, Too

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:38 — 48.2MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

The case for the physician-journalist

The Takeaways:

  • One important responsibility that doctors can and should take on is to educate their communities on health issues.
  • Learning how to do this in medical school can be as easy as collaborating with your university news paper.
  • Plus, our advice for a young mother and wife whose med student husband will be away during third year: plan, iterate and empathize.

In 2018, CCOM M4 Pavane Gorrepati launched The Doctor Is In, a recurring column in The Daily Iowan, the University of Iowa’s newspaper. The goals were to give all healthcare students an opportunity to publish science and opinion pieces, to bridge the divide between our undergrad and grad campuses by focusing on health-related issues that are relevant to the undergraduate population, and to give students experience on how they might convey complex topics to the general public through the popular press.

Pavane and her successor M2 Vijay Kamalumpundi join us for a discussion on this very successful endeavor and what they’ve learned. Among the things COVID has taught us is the importance of understanding complex topics!

But first, offer some advice to a nervous med student’s wife who will be spending a significant time apart from her spouse during his third year. MD/PhD student Aline Sandouk, and M2s Nicole Hines, Sarah Costello, and AJ Chowdhury offer some ideas on how they might cope with the separation and make sure their very young children don’t miss their dad too much.

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!

Continue reading Unsatisfied Just Learning Medicine, These Students Became Journalists, Too →
Short Coat Podcast

5 Med School Application Mistakes Everyone Makes, and How to Crush Them Under Your Feet Like Worms

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:19 — 59.8MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Screw these up, and you may not get in!

TL;DR

  • Our expert looks at the mistakes that can keep you from landing your spot in med school
  • Give the admissions committee what it needs to assure them you want this more than anything, and that you’ve done your homework.
  • When is the right time to apply? When YOU are ready. Don’t rush it, because whether you’re successful or not in finishing med school, a bad decision will affect you for many, many years.

You’ve got the grades, you’ve got the activities, and you’ve got the drive. You’re ready to apply to medical school, right? Not if you haven’t squashed these critical errors in your application. Get these wrong, and you’ll be applying again next year. Get them right, and they can even turn a mediocre applicant into a desirable one.

Our Admissions and Enrollment Coordinator Rachel Ahearn joins MD/PhD students Aline Sandouk and Riley Behan, and M2s Rick Gardner and Sarah Costello to help you smash these problems under your heel.

Also, Rachel helps us answer listener Morgan’s question about post-bacc programs and damage control.

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!

Continue reading 5 Med School Application Mistakes Everyone Makes, and How to Crush Them Under Your Feet Like Worms →
Short Coat Podcast

Ask Your doctor if COVID is Right For You.

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:12 — 61.5MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

As COVID numbers tick up, we choose to drown our sorrows in French/Korean fusion baked goods.

TL;DR

  • Dave picks his co-hosts’ brains on how they interpret the latest numbers on COVID
  • We eat baked goods that AJ brought us and try to guess what’s in them, and fail because they’re deliciously unlike anything we’ve had before.
  • We play Out of the Loop.

NOTE: this episode was recorded a few weeks back–some of the COVID numbers referred to are out of date, but the discussion is still valid.

Dave’s growing concerned about the recent uptick in COVID numbers, but like most non-epidemiologists, he isn’t quite sure what exactly they mean. So he brings it to the closest people he has to doctors to talk about it with on a Friday afternoon, his medical student co-hosts. MD/PhD student Aline Sandouk, M2 AJ Chowdhury, M2 Nicole Hines, and M2 Sarah Costello help him process.

To help that bitter pill go down, AJ brought some sweet tasty pastries all the way from Shilla Bakery in the Washington DC area. They aren’t a sponsor, we just really enjoyed their Korean/European fusion baked goods! Folks with misophonia, Nicole says sorry for her chewing noises.

And we play a game of Out of the Loop.

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!

Continue reading Ask Your doctor if COVID is Right For You. →
Short Coat Podcast

The Coming Physician Exodus: Why Doctors May Leave the Profession Soon

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:18 — 52.5MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

COVID taught many employees what their employees think of them. Doctors are no different.

TL;DR

  • Most people don’t see themselves as partners in success, but as hired hands. Doctors are employees, too, and have similar issues with their employers!
  • 30% of administrators reported losing physicians during the pandemic. Either an exit from healthcare or a mass shift of physicians from low-engagement jobs to higher engagement positions may have already begun.
  • We discuss what a great job for a doctor might look like.

In this episode future physicians M2 Nicole Hines, and MD/PhD students Miranda Schene, Aline Sandouk and newcomer Riley Behan are on hand to talk about “employee engagement,” the idea that workers–and physicians are workers, remember–feel best utilized and appreciated when they are partners rather than cogs in the success of their employers.

And while many physicians have experienced job dissatisfaction and burnout, COVID seems to have taught some docs that they no longer have to put up with that. As employers of all kinds struggle to bring disengaged workers back to their dissatisfying, low-paying jobs, a white paper from a physician recruiter ominously suggests that doctors are also re-thinking their work as employees.

With that in mind, Dave asks his co-hosts what, for them, might be the features of a job that they could feel engaged with, like a partner in success?

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!

Continue reading The Coming Physician Exodus: Why Doctors May Leave the Profession Soon →
Short Coat Podcast

Awesome, More application Hoops!

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:48 — 48.3MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Get ready for new application requirements (and to pay more money?)

TL;DR

  • CASPer seeks to help schools understand applicants’ non-academic and people skills. It’s never been validated, but more and more schools are using it.
  • Some residency programs have begun using ‘supplemental questions’ as so-called objective measures like STEP 1 and STEP 2 CS fall away.
  • Are these new hurdles useful? Or do they add to the burden of becoming a doctor for no reason?

Dave had never heard of CASPer before (Iowa doesn’t currently use it), so he was surprised to hear that a bunch of schools–and more all the time–are using it to outsource their judgements of applicants’ so-called ‘soft’ skills like ethics and collaboration. However, there are reasons to doubt CASPer’s utility, including that it’s not clear it’s actually measuring these things. And while it costs students a small amount per school (‘small’ being a relative term, especially if the student is cash-strapped), what does it cost the schools who use it and how much of that gets passed on in tuition?

And in their never-ending quest to find the ‘best’ applicants, residency programs are finding new ways to evaluate them, such as requiring answers to ‘supplemental’ questions that sound an awful lot like a secondary application. And the part that includes signaling the applicant’s program preference seems a wee bit suspicious to Dave, MD/PhD student Aline Sandouk, M2 Nicole Hines, M2 AJ Chowdhury, and M4 Mackenzie Walhof.

And is Britney Spears being subject to reproductive coercion by her conservators?

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!

Continue reading Awesome, More application Hoops! →
Short Coat Podcast

WHAT Are They REALLY LOOKING FOR IN YOUR PERSONAL STATEMENT? Top Tips from our Expert

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:11:20 — 65.3MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Hint: it’s NOT a dramatic, ‘lightbulb’ moment.

TL;DR

  • Your med school application won’t be the last time you write a personal statement. They’re everywhere in medicine, so keep track of experiences you can write about when you need to.
  • Be careful about thinking too much about strategy, sacrificing the ‘personal’ part. It’s pretty easy to spot someone who isn’t writing with feeling.
  • Very few people can honestly write about a lightbulb moment when they suddenly knew what they wanted, so don’t bother.

Dave works in the Writing and Humanities Program with Director Cate Dicharry, MFA. Among her jobs is to assist medical students in writing their personal statements for residency applications, and she’s been deep in the weeds on that topic since partway through last semester. So Dave asked her to be on the show to give her top tips to both pre-meds and med students in crafting a statement that will grab their school’s or program’s attention. Joining us in the co-hosts’ seats are M4 Emma Barr, MD/PhD student Aline Sandouk, M2 Sarah Costello, and M2 AJ Chowdhury.

We also discuss how medical school curricula are evolving to incorporate more of the humanities into medical education. And Dave continues his weird interest in taking sweet foods and making them savory, this time offering up three ice cream flavors he and his wife made.

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!

Continue reading WHAT Are They REALLY LOOKING FOR IN YOUR PERSONAL STATEMENT? Top Tips from our Expert →
Short Coat Podcast

Parenting in Med School, Part 3: What About the Partners?

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:30 — 43.5MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Because med school is all-consuming, partners often take on much of the parenting tasks

TL;DR

  • Asking for and getting help from one’s med-student partner when parenting gets overwhelming is essential.
  • Organizing with other med student parents for mutual support is crucial.
  • The fear that med school is completely inflexible for parents may be unfounded.

M4 Nick Lind and Miriam Lind are joined by M4 Michael Lung and Christina Lung to talk about the arrangements they’ve had to make and the techniques they’ve used in order to make med school parenting work. Also unintentionally, but predictably, on the mic–Nick and Miriam’s newborn Ingrid and Michael and Tina’s 11-month old Michaela. Warning–cute baby coos and mic-grabbing noises are a feature of this episode, not a flaw! Check out our YouTube channel for the video to see cute babies.

One of the things that’s come out of Nick’s efforts putting together this series for The Short Coat is that the families have started talking more. In fact, they’ve begun organizing a parents’ group to open lines of communication and support for each other. Podcasting FTW!

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!

Continue reading Parenting in Med School, Part 3: What About the Partners? →
Short Coat Podcast

Life Hacks for Med Students

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:22 — 55.3MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Med school life hacks are all about maximizing efficiency, minimizing friction.

TL;DR

  • Eliminate unnecessary friction to the completion of a task
  • Paying others to do other life tasks can be helpful
  • Saying no is as important as maximizing efficiency.

Today we explore the things that med students do to maximize their efficiency. These are the small steps they take to eliminate friction to completing chores, focusing attention where it’s needed instead of where your brain wants it to be, and eliminating those tasks that just aren’t that important to them. M4 Mackenzie Walhof, MD/PhD student Aline Sandouk, M2 Nicole Hines, and M2 AJ Chowdhury explore with Dave their own personal life hacks.

Also, Dave ran famous doctors’ photos multiple times through an app that makes caricatures until they were no longer recognizable, then made videos of the progression. How fast can the crew identify them when the video is reversed? Play along at home on our Instagram.

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!

Continue reading Life Hacks for Med Students →
Short Coat Podcast

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

Audio
Share

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

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

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.

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!

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