Tag Archives: advice for medical students

The Genetic Engineering Debate isn’t as Easy as You Think

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How straightforward is any discussion about genetic engineering?

  • M1 Jeff talks with M3 Ananya, MD/PhD student Riley, and M3 AJ about the nuances of genetic engineering, a scientific pursuit that not everyone agrees should happen.
  • Despite that view, it seems likely that genetic engineering has been, is, and will be an increasingly available tool in medicine’s arsenal as our understanding of genetics increases.
  • But first, we answer Listener Helina’s question: what should she be thinking about when picking medical school electives?

We Want to Hear From You: YOUR VOICE MATTERS!

No matter where you fall on any spectrum, we want your thoughts on our show.  Do you agree or disagree with something we said today?  Did you hear something really helpful?  Are we delivering a podcast you want to keep listening to?  We’ll be sure your ideas are heard by all–leave a message at 347-SHORTCT (347-746-7828) and we’ll put your message in a future episode (use *67 to be an “Unknown caller”).

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Advice For Incoming Medical Students–Friends, Studying, Specialties, And More!

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Some things all students should know when entering medical school

  • Riley, Sahaana, Nicole, and newbie Mao discuss their answers to questions that incoming students often ask about medical school
  • How do you find friends? Should you date classmates? How do you find your specialty? What kind of living situation works best?
  • In the news: a medical student is suspended for allegedly retaliating against a patient with an extra needlestick; and we try to replicate the latest science from Tik Tok. Yes, it’s the Hanger Reflex.

We Want to Hear From You: YOUR VOICE MATTERS!

No matter where you fall on any spectrum, we want your thoughts on our show.  Do you agree or disagree with something we said today?  Did you hear something really helpful?  Are we delivering a podcast you want to keep listening to?  We’ll be sure your ideas are heard by all–leave a message at 347-SHORTCT (347-746-7828) and we’ll put your message in a future episode (use *67 to be an “Unknown caller”).

We want to know more about you: Take the Listener Survey

Continue reading Advice For Incoming Medical Students–Friends, Studying, Specialties, And More!

Lessons from the Wards: what Future Residents Need to Know (Ft. Dr. Abbey hardy-Fairbanks)

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TL;DR

  • Abbey Hardy-Fairbanks is an OB/Gyn who often works with expectant moms who use drugs.
  • Future resident MDs: this episode features some of the many things she’s learned about meeting patients where they are, practicing medicine without judgement, and understanding what she and her clients can and cannot accomplish in the moment.
  • Approaching patients with an open heart from the first moment, even when their lives are outside society’s mainstream or approval, can mean the difference between losing them for good and them coming back to see anyone for more help.

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!
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Continue reading Lessons from the Wards: what Future Residents Need to Know (Ft. Dr. Abbey hardy-Fairbanks)

Recess Rehash: When Life Is Getting In the Way of Med School: the Value of the Tactical Retreat.

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Save Your Resources to Fight Another Day

TL;DR

  • Medical school is all-consuming, but sometimes you need to take time to deal with the slings and arrows of life.
  • Don’t be afraid that you’ll jeopardize your career by taking a leave during medical school. Better to do it before your situation causes harm to your test scores or grades.
  • A Brown University study finds that schools are failing in their diversity goals for admitting URMs.

We’re on a holiday break, but we’ll be back next week. Until then, enjoy this rerun.

Poking around on Reddit’s r/medschool, Dave found a rather desperate message from an M3 who’s life is collapsing around him–death, marriage troubles, family illnesses, and all at the same time. so much so that Dave fears their progress might suffer. Is it time for what a military commander might call a “tactical retreat?” Note: Dave isn’t really sure of the technical definition of a tactical retreat, but let’s just say it’s about stepping back and conserving your resources until the situation becomes more favorable to your goals. It’s a metaphor, go with it.

And co-hosts Aline Sandouk (MD/PhD), Nicole Hines (M1), AJ Chowdhury (M1), and Miranda Schene (MD/PhD) discuss the disappointing news that medical schools have made negative progress in attaining diversity goals for students underrepresented in medicine, despite years of effort.

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 Recess Rehash: When Life Is Getting In the Way of Med School: the Value of the Tactical Retreat.

When Life Is Getting In the Way of Med School: the Value of the Tactical Retreat.

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Save Your Resources to Fight Another Day

TL;DR

  • Medical school is all-consuming, but sometimes you need to take time to deal with the slings and arrows of life.
  • Don’t be afraid that you’ll jeopardize your career by taking a leave during medical school. Better to do it before your situation causes harm to your test scores or grades.
  • A Brown University study finds that schools are failing in their diversity goals for admitting URMs.

Poking around on Reddit’s r/medschool, Dave found a rather desperate message from an M3 who’s life is collapsing around him–death, marriage troubles, family illnesses, and all at the same time. so much so that Dave fears their progress might suffer. Is it time for what a military commander might call a “tactical retreat?” Note: Dave isn’t really sure of the technical definition of a tactical retreat, but let’s just say it’s about stepping back and conserving your resources until the situation becomes more favorable to your goals. It’s a metaphor, go with it.

And co-hosts Aline Sandouk (MD/PhD), Nicole Hines (M1), AJ Chowdhury (M1), and Miranda Schene (MD/PhD) discuss the disappointing news that medical schools have made negative progress in attaining diversity goals for students underrepresented in medicine, despite years of effort.

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 When Life Is Getting In the Way of Med School: the Value of the Tactical Retreat.

Do These Things to Manage Your New M1 Life

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Study, but also make friends, join in, do things that give you joy, and keep being you!

salivary glands photo
Photo by Internet Archive Book Images

Listener Joseph starts medical school soon, and wants to know how to manage his new life as an M1.  Luckily Kylie Miller, Kalyn Campbell, Marisa Evers, and Erica Henderson (all veteran med students) can help, Joseph–bottom line, studying is paramount, but there are keys to success you need to remember.

Plus, we visit Yahoo Answers for some real-life health questions, including a couple that got Dave thinking about his own embarrassing problems.


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You care about others, or you wouldn’t be into this medicine thing. Our #merchforgood program lets you to give to our charity of the semester and get something for yourself at the same time!

This Week in Medical News

Radiologists have begun to re-think something they’ve been doing to protect patients since the 1950s. The NIH and many others aren’t doing what they’re required to do with their research data, leaving important data unreported.  And for the first time, drug company executives have been sentenced to jail time for their roles in opioid addiction.

We Want to Hear From You

Got a burning question for us about med school, being a doctor, or literally anything else? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.  Do all three!

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Getting there from here, a novel recipe, and future projects

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Drawing by Annie Rempel.

[We’re now available on Spotify and RadioPublic!]

Co-hosts Tim Maxwell, Aline Sandouk, Annie Rempel, and Mackenzie Walhof confront pictures of their younger selves and offer themselves the advice they should have gotten at the start of their med school journeys. Listener Darius asks us for the best options to progress from his current work as an EMT-B/paramedic to medical school–among our suggestions is to check out the AAMC’s list of post-baccalaureate programs, including Iowa State University’s excellent but reasonably-priced option.  Dave offers up his own Recipe for Med School Success–a concoction he’s pretty sure no-one has ever thought of, but which his skeptical co-hosts end up enjoying–and promises an e-book with them all!  Submit yours to be part of it and get it free!

Annie also tells us about her recent arts-and-medicine exhibit at The Examined Life Conference, called Snapshots.  A follow-up to her Stanford Honors in the Arts show, it’s a series of drawings and interviews offering “realistic glimpses into the inspirational life stories of those affected by Huntington’s Disease.”

We Want to Hear From You

What’s your favorite weird snack? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.  Do all three!

Continue reading Getting there from here, a novel recipe, and future projects

Medicine and the Arts? They get along just fine.

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This week, a bit of a departure from our usual format.  M2 Eric Wilson files a report on how medicine and the humanities, and specifically writing, are interacting with each other in ways that not long go would have seemed unlikely.  Medical schools either have or are beginning to embrace the humanities as a way to build empathy and reflect on how medicine is practiced.  Our own Carver College of Medicine, part of ‘The Writing University‘, was naturally among the first to celebrate the fit between writing and medicine by establishing a Writing and Humanities Program for its students.  
Serena Fox, Louise Aronson, and Rachel Hammer

If you’re pre-med, a medical student, or a doc yourself, and you’ve been trying to reconcile a love for writing and art with a love for medicine and science, Eric’s interviews with poet and critical care doc Serena Fox, geriatrician and fiction writer Louise Aronson, and Mayo Clinic med student Rachel Hammer will give you some comfort.  As they each prepared to visit Iowa for the eighth annual Examined Life Conference, they talked about what writing offers them in their practice of medicine.

Listen to Episode 032: Medicine and the Arts? They get along just fine..

Listen to more great shows for medical students on The Vocalis Podcast Network.

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.