Category Archives: Short Coat Podcast

All episodes of the Short Coat Podcast.

1970s Personalized Care?

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Personalized medicine?  Or weird power dynamics?
Personalized medicine? Or weird power dynamics?

Senuri Jayatilleka and Eric Wilson have clawed their way to the surface of the M3-year waters to take a breath, and are ready to update Lisa Wehr on what they’re doing (and have been told they should do) to prepare for their fourth year (‘the promised land’) and matching. Time off, here they come! They share what they’ve learned about presenting patients, and the role the white coat plays in their education (hint: never let them see you sweat).
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Of Advanced Maternal Age

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Okay, old woman, let’s see how baby’s doing, m’kay? Photo by Daquella manera

This time, Kaci McCleary, Lisa Wehr, and Cory Christensen are joined by CCOM alumna Yolanda Villalvazo to talk about what it’s like to have your doctor call you ‘old’ at 39. Two terms are used for moms over 35: ‘geriatric OB patient,’ and ‘advanced maternal age.’ How does that affect moms? How does it affect moms who are physicians, and what are the tensions then between doctor-mom and doctor?
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Dissent In Medschool

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Photo by garryknight

We’ve been bandying about the topic of professionalism recently, and perhaps we’re not the only ones.  Kaci McCleary, Alison Pletch, and Eugene Velednitsky caught an episode of the Inside Stories podcast which featured a medical student who is in trouble with his med school’s administration for what he might characterize as his outspoken nature (but which his administration characterizes as his propensity to express himself unprofessionally).  Consider listening to the episode before you listen to our show (link below), but given our recent focus on the topic, we decided to chime in on Joji’s disillusionment.

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Nick’s Post Apocalyptic Harem

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Nick cranes his head around to look into the back seat at his little group. “Ladies, we’re almost at the compound.” Photo by Nico Time

This time, Mark Toral, John Pienta, Kaci McCleary and Nick Sparr discuss Medical Student Performance Evaluations and Dave’s problem: if you’re looking for it to be a recommendation, that’s not going to happen; but the good news is that when you start your clinical rotations, you are already starting to write your own MSPE through the comments you get, so we discuss how to get good comments and how to learn from the formative ones. We debate Mt. Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine ongoing program that guarantees admission to college sophomores who have good grades and are humanities majors, no MCAT required. And Nick describes one of his medschool interviews in which he laid out his plans for an end-of-the-world harem.

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Doctor, Artist, Writer, Teacher

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Melissa Palma met former transplant surgeon Hani Elkadi in the clinic, and when they got to talking  she realized she couldn’t keep him to herself. Kaci McCleary, John Pienta, and Nicholas Sparr join her for a discussion of his youth in the middle east, the choices (or lack thereof) that led him along the winding road of life.   Dr. Elkadi discusses the role of technology and how it’s changed medicine both for the better and the worse, shares stories from his medical training, the role of volunteering in medical training, and the trap specialists sometimes fall into when trying to treat patients.

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Keenan’s Final Rant

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Grrr. Photo by JelleS

This time, Lisa Wehr, Aline Sandouk, Keenan Laraway, and John Pienta have a wide ranging discussion on evaluations and med school’s fascination with data (and how poorly written evaluations lead to poor data);  weather social media’s emotional content is a true reflection of reality; and Dave’s desire to have the opportunity to decide for himself that having a lot of money will not make him happy.  And as Keenan’s time in medical school draws to a close, and he has nothing to lose, he decides to get something off his chest–do students who are disagreeable really deserve to be tarred with the “unprofessional” brush?

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The Magic Ch-chingdom.

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Addled by food and centrifugal force, Dave loses touch with reality
Addled by food and centrifugal force, Dave loses touch with reality

Dave returns from his vacation at Disney World in sunny Florida, and recaps for Senuri Jayatilleka, John Pienta, and Cole Cheney his fascination with how Disney takes your money and makes you love it.  How does that relate to medicine?  Who cares, it’s fun! And Suri is puzzled by her surgery shelf exam, which seemed to have few questions on actual surgery.  Continue reading The Magic Ch-chingdom.

Recorded in the Nude

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Photo by half alive – soo zzzz

This time, Dave is on vacation, but John Pienta, Aline Sandouk, Cole Cheney, and Kaci McCleary didn’t let that stop them. Thanks to Intern Cory, they were able to carry on without him (*sniff*). Kaci and Aline review their first year: was it fun? I bet you know the answer to that one. How did it change them? What did they discover during the experience? How did they cope? What choices did they make, and how did that affect their well-being? And John and Cole clue them on what they’ll face next year.
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Miles of Smiles

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Guatemalan balloon animals are just as therapeutic as US ones. Photo by David Janssen. Used with permission.

Fourth-year students David Janssen and Lindsey Knake recently arrived home to Iowa from Guatemala, where, along with anesthesiologist David Swanson, they participated in the Miles of Smiles Team (MOST) cleft palate repair medical mission.  Team leader and former UI otolaryngologist Dr. John Canady joined us to discuss what it’s like to do a ‘short term’ medical mission each year for more than 10 years in a country where the needs are great and the resources aren’t.

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The Examined Life Conference

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elcOur show this time was record in front of a remarkably appreciative audience at The Examined Life Conference, and it was a lot of fun.  We talked with several presenters from the conference, including Gabriel Ledger an emergency physician who became a filmmaker when he decided he wanted to find out more about the patients he’d encountered in the ER.  We spoke with Emily White, an Iowa undergrad who has been doing research on Dignity Therapy and who no doubt has a bright future in medicine.  Toni Becker is a speech language pathology grad student whose portraiture and interviews of people with disabilities remind us of their significance.  Susan Ball is associate director of the New York Presbyterian’s AIDS care center, and shared with us her experiences as a physician at the start of the AIDS epidemic.
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