Dave rewards his podcasters with a tasty treat. Though this may be a new definition of the words ‘tasty’ and ‘treat’ of which Marc Toral, Dylan Todd, Emily White, and newbie Alex Volkmar were previously unaware. And as a special bonus, we offer lots of lovely lip smacking sounds for our listeners. Continue reading A Tasty Treat→
Dylan Todd, Marc Toral, Eric Wilson are on hand to give advice to caller Todd, who is just beginning his journey from community college to medical school. Is the advice we give any good? Well, we tried, and that’s all that counts. Also, we discuss researchers’ discovery that it’s possible to cause hallucinations just by staring into someone else’s eyes for 10 minutes. Try it! Don’t be weird, get permission first; maybe even start by introducing yourself. Continue reading Advice for the Young At Heart→
Christina Sloan, Marc Toral, Dylan Todd, and Eric Elliott are all in the Medical Scientist Training Program, which recently enjoyed a retreat in which they explored the intersections between medicine and science fiction to look at where medical science has been and where it’s going. Jenna calls in with a question about what the spouse of a future medical student can do to support them during their studies. We inadequately explore the question, since only Christina is in an actual relationship with another human.
From the vibrant Boulware Learning Community, Kaci McCleary, Aline Sandouk, Dylan Todd, and Lisa Wehr discuss Yelp’s new hospital reviews and ProPublica’s Surgeon Scorecard. And we talk about why science and science facts fail to persuade people to believe the truth. Are emotional appeals better used than facts to teach people about medical truths? Is scientific fact as irrelevant now for most people as it was in the early part of the 20th century? Continue reading Science Works, But Who Cares?→
The Annals of Internal Medicine published an editorial from a medical educator admitting and highlighting the fact that there are objectionable people in medicine, and showing how the hierarchical nature of medicine leads otherwise well-meaning students to play along with racism, sexism, and harassment. One can argue that no-one should ever play along, but in order to not be taken off guard by those who have control over your life, you must have a plan for bad behavior. Corbin Weaver and newbies Tony Rosenberg, Nicole Westergaard, and Emily White toss around some ideas.
Kaci McCleary, Cory Christensen and Tae Kim are excited to experience Iowa State Fair food, which is arguably responsible for a large percentage of Iowa’s dead people. Enjoy your nacho balls and other crunchy spheres, bacon and brisket explosions, and fried food-that-used-to-be-good-for-you-until-they-fried-it on a stick. We also talk about The Atlantic’s article about what babies undergrads are about touchy subjects, which just annoys Kaci, who thinks this is a media-manufactured trend.
Listener Brett leaves us a voicemail in the hopes he’ll receive a Starbucks gift card, and he wins, so we play his message (apparently recorded from the scene of a horrific car accident). Brett, don’t forget to send us an address to which we can send your reward, and we hope your injuries heal up nicely.
[Today’s episode is a rerun, brought to you by Dave’s vacation. Enjoy!]
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.
A discussion on StudentDoctor.net made Dave wonder if Kaci McCleary, Alison Pletch and John Pienta are truly prepared for life as a doctor. Are their significant others prepared? What are the right expectations in terms of money, time, love, raising children, and all the folderol that comes along with living the dream.
The commitment required for medical school is well known. But what do you find out about this commitment out only after you’ve begun? Should you stop untying your shoes to save time? Will your ethics be challenged during medical school? Is it best to invest in a crockpot? Will you doubt your choice to come to medical school? Find out how Lisa Wehr, Kaci McCleary, and Nick Sparr have dealt with these inevitable questions on this week’s show. And we announce our voicemail contest, in which you, dear listener, can win a Starbucks gift card.