Recently, the University of Iowa was lucky enough to get a visit from Dr. Paul Farmer. Farmer, a medical anthropologist and physician, is a founding director of Partners In Health, an international nonprofit organization that provides direct health care services and has undertaken research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty. Dr. Farmer is the Chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School; chief of the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; and the United Nations deputy special envoy for Haiti, under Special Envoy Bill Clinton.

Farmer and his colleagues in the United States and in Haiti, Peru, Russia, Rwanda, Lesotho and Malawi have pioneered novel community-based treatment strategies that demonstrate the delivery of high-quality health care in resource-poor settings.

The medical students were able to get some time with Dr. Farmer for a little Q&A on the challenges he and Partners in Health face when working in such settings.

Listen: Delivering High-Quality Healthcare in Poor Countries, With Dr. Paul Farmer

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.

Short Coat Podcast

A New Semester

August 26, 2011 Dave Etler

Classes have just started again at the college, and that means a new class of students has joined us for what promises to be a whirlwind of a semester. Over the next few weeks, students will be adjusting to the new demands placed on them by this intense experience we call medical school. We’ll hear from some first years, who we caught up with during the college’s Annual Student Organization Fair, about their concerns about their new lives. Then, we’ll take note of the sizable portion of medical students who might not have studied the sciences before. How will they get through the massive amounts of very unfamiliar information heaped upon them? We gathered together a group of these so-called non-traditional students to talk about their experiences coming into medical school. Finally, we’ll hear a new feature on the show—the Medical Student Government update. Photo by Rosefirerising

Listen: http://podcast.uiowa.edu/com/osa/009ANewSemester.mp3

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.

Short Coat Podcast

Off the Hook On the Cheap

May 23, 2011 Dave Etler

–>

Medical school is expensive, as everyone knows. The Association of American Medical Colleges tells us that annual tuition and fees at state medical schools in 2010-2011 averaged $25,000 for in-state residents and $48,000 for non-residents. Out of state residents at private medical schools paid even more, and these figures don’t include living expenses and housing.

Fortunately, there are lots of sources of financial aid available; but it’s important to take care with your discretionary spending while you’re in medical school so that you don’t graduate with unmanageable debt. Which brings up the question: how can you have live your life and have fun while you’re in medical school? In this episode of The Short Coat, financial aid counselor Penny Rembolt talks with students Molly Calabria, Priyanka Rao, Tyler Gunn, and Will Zeitler about their methods for saving money while having a good time in medical school.

Listen: Episode 008: Off the Hook On the Cheap

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.

Short Coat Podcast

Medic Mobile brings Technology to Healthcare in Developing Countries

March 30, 2011 Dave Etler

Josh Nesbit is the executive director of Medic Mobile, a mobile technology company that looks for ways to connect and coordinate health systems with mobile networks. In other words, they use open-source and readily available technology to, as they say on their website http://medicmobile.org, create connected, coordinated health systems that save more lives. Second Year medical student Asitha Jayawardena spoke with Josh recently about what Medic Mobile does.

Listen: Episode 007: Medic Mobile brings Technology to Healthcare in Developing Countries

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.

Short Coat Podcast

Distinction tracks – a way to keep your outside interests alive

February 22, 2011 Dave Etler

Medical school is all about science, right? That’s true, but a healthy percentage of med students come from non-science backgrounds. Philosophy, art, English, education and foreign language majors, to name a few.

Opportunities do exist within one’s medical education to pursue those interests. Many schools, including the Carver College of Medicine, offer four tracks, allowing students to get recognition for research, humanities, teaching and/or service. Recently, we sat down with a group of students and track directors to hear more about how tracks work and how they can benefit students.

Listen: Episode 006: Distinction Tracks – a way to keep your outside interests alive

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.

Short Coat Podcast

How Drug Companies Influence Doctors

February 14, 2011 Dave Etler

Drug companies save lives and improve the quality of those lives. But these business are also trying to profit from their activities. Second-year med student Amy Young talks with PharmedOut director and founder Adriane Fugh-Berman, MD, about the tactics drug companies use when selling pharmaceuticals to doctors. According to her, drug companies are using some pretty sneaky tactics to exert subtle pressure on doctors, who in many cases aren’t aware of how those methods influence their subscribing habits.

Listen: Episode 005: How Drug Companies Influence Doctors

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.

Short Coat Podcast

Relationships in Medical School.

November 15, 2010 Dave Etler

This time, a show that happened sort of accidentally. We usually like to have more than one segment per show, but our recording of our advice column, The Short Couch with Natalie Ramirez, kind of…went long. More importantly, thanks to guests Jenna LeRoy, Derreck Fenchel and Jeff Cagley and Shortcoats host Jane Viner, it went kind of hilarious. So we decided it was a show all by itself.

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.

Short Coat Podcast

Cadavers and Counseling

September 3, 2010 Dave Etler

This time, the Short Coats talk to Anatomy and Cell Biology Professors about using donated bodies as learning tools, Paul Christine talks with a few folks about the research projects they presented at Medical Student Research Day, and Natalie Ramirez and friends inaugurate The Short Couch, dispensing sorely needed advice to their fellow students.

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.

Short Coat Podcast

Introducing: The Short Couch!

September 3, 2010 Dave Etler

The Short Coat presents The Short Couch with Natalie:

Med school is a challenge, a character building exercise, and sometimes, just a 4-year suck-filled existence. Whatever you wanna call it, it’s definitely not a time to go it alone. My friends, this is when we outta call in the reserves. The generations of med students and fully pimped doctors who’ve already made their way to residency somehow. So, don’t reinvent the wheel! Send the Short Couch your problems, and we will get you solutions! Or at least some decently thought-out suggestions from those who have been there.

But seriously, we welcome your questions, problems, or whatever you’ve got concerning life in medical school. Not just academics, but all of it. Want to see how others have handled serious long distance relationships or coming to terms with “just passing”? Well, call us at (347) SHORT-CT (that’s (347) 746 7828)—and if you want us to obfuscate your voice we can do that if you tell us to—or email us at theshortcoats@gmail.com, or come yell it at Jason and David in 1193 MERF. We’ll find people to talk. We have our ways.

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.

Short Coat Podcast

Orientation Week

August 20, 2010 Dave Etler

As the Carver College of Medicine inducts another class of medical students, we look at the role of our Learning Communities, some things that students wish they’d known when they entered medical school, a countdown of medically themed songs, and some info about a few of our student organizations.

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.