Compassion fatigue is a problem for many practitioners. In medicine, some of the needs are so great, and the resources are often so finite. Aline Sandouk, John Pienta, Rob Humble, and Kaci McCleary discuss what happens when caring itself becomes a limited resource, the reasons empathy can dwindle, ways to cultivate it, and the role that compassion can play in caring for oneself. We also learn what monks and nuns are teaching us about how compassion manifests positivity and even neural plasticity. Continue reading Compassion Isn’t Easy→
Just hours before a new crop of medical students are to be welcomed into the world of medicine, Kaci McCleary, John Pienta, Aline Sandouk, Mark Moubarek, and Lisa Wehr confront one of the most uncomfortable topics in medical education: resident and student suicide. Among doctors, suicide rates are much higher than among the general population. The long hours, high pressure (from both one’s internal monologue and from outside sources) to succeed, fear of public humiliation regarding one’s shortcomings, isolation, inadequate supervision, the stigma against mental illness, the career penalties faced by those who admit to unwellness, and more, all contribute to the problem. Institutions also have a difficult time addressing incidents of physician suicide effectively, as they try to walk a tightrope strung between respect for the privacy of the deceased, the needs of colleague survivors to talk about it, the desire to avoid adverse publicity. Meanwhile, the work does not stop. The only breaks are a moment of silence, a visit with a grief counselor, or an “open forum” to discuss one’s feelings.
Fortunately, the culture may be changing to allow for more discussion, prevention, transparency. Institutions like the University of Iowa and Harvard University are adding counseling capacity, student groups to support struggling peers, and a greater openness to acknowledging without shaming the fact of mental illness among physicians.
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; nor do they reflect the views of anyone other than the people who expressed them. If you have feedback on anything you hear on the show, positive or not, let us know.
Do you, dear students, have tons of money? No? Weird. Luckily, Joe Saul-Sehy of the Stacking Benjamins podcast joins us on the show this week. Joe was a financial advisor for many years, he was known as the Money Man on WXYZ-TV in Detroit, and he’s a financial contributor in a bunch of places around the print and web news media. He and his wife Cheryl, a pediatrician, have gone through all the stages that pre-meds and med students go through. So we asked him to join us to talk about the strategies they employed to claw their way back from med school debt, educating yourself about how money works, having fun with managing your money, and why it’s particularly important for doctors to understand money. Joe’s got plenty of information, resources and ‘fintech’ apps to recommend for succeeding in this area that many people (never mind med students) have not adequately explored.
Kaci’s gift to Dave, which, after he is fired for being subversive, he will cherish.
Listeners, we’d like to know something about you. Post a photo of your listening environment anywhere you can use #shortcoatpeeps. Just watch those reflective surfaces, m’kay?
Russo and Rob Humble marked the end of their first year on today’s show with Kaci McCleary, with a look back on what they’ve learned about being a medical student that they didn’t know on the way in. We clear the docket with a couple listener questions that have been hanging fire, starting with listener Claire who writes in to ask: when it comes to choosing a medical school, is a prestigious school somehow better than the others? Do they open doors for their graduates, and is sacrificing oneself to the gods of hard work in favor of those opportunities a good idea? We are, of course, happy to advise her. Another listener question, from Jennifer, asked about the career opportunities available to MDs who also have a Master’s of Public Health degree. Again, happy to help!
Mad Dr. Stroheim was widely considered a very trustworthy murderer. Photo by glen edelson
Deep Bhatt and Alison Pletch are on their way out of medical school, and reflect on what they’ve been thinking about as they prepare to leave Iowa. And Kaci McCleary and Corbin Weaver help them answer listener Todd’s question about the better MCAT study guides and courses, how to get a discount on those courses, and whether it’s a good idea to start studying for the test even as he begins community college.
Poor lister Erin. She writes to let us know she can’t find the first 44 episodes of the show, now that she’s listened to all eighty(!) of those available on iTunes. We explain how she can fill the sad hole in her life this tragedy has left. Dave’s shower thoughts lead Aline Sandouk, Amy Young, Marc Toral and Kaci McCleary to discuss the utility of giving not a single feldercarb what people think of you. On the flip side, an article in the New York Times offers a peek at what can happen if you go from not caring (or even knowing) what people think to caring all too much, when transcranial magnetic stimulation suddenly enables an autistic man to understand what others are thinking of him. Continue reading Sudden Empathy, Too Much Empathy, and A Lack of Empathy→
Kaci McCleary, Dylan Todd, Amy Young and Corbin Weaver are on hand this time to talk about the two-week specialty rotations, like Ophthalmology and Radiology. You see, as Kaci entered her clinical clerkships, she had four of these short rotations in a row, and found herself hating them. They seemed like a waste of time, and weren’t offering her much in the way of hands-on experience. While her experience isn’t universal, we thought some might question the utility of these short rotations, especially if one isn’t going into a specialty but is more focused on primary care. Fortunately, there’s some hope on the horizon in the form of instant learning through brain stimulation. Will future med students even need two-weekers? This leads us into a discussion on the place of rebellion in medical school. Does medicine need people who buck the system? How should someone who sees herself as firmly outside the box react when they’re surrounded by it?
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; nor do they reflect the views of anyone other than the people who expressed them. If you have feedback on anything you hear on the show, positive or not, let us know.
Cole Cheney returns from our state capital, where he’s been doing his clerkships at our kind-of satellite campus (more about this program specifically is here, if you’re interested). He and Kaci McCleary, John Pienta, and Rachel Schenkel talk about the differences between doing rotations in a teaching hospital and doing them in a community hospital. For example, how are community hospital patients different? And in that setting, what does it really mean if your patient is non-compliant? Cole reveals that he’s ‘afraid’ he’s going to love psychiatry and wants to know: are other students also wary of the specialty? We talk about the downsides of the field, as well as the rather big professional and caregiving upsides. Continue reading Losing the white coat, psych fears, and Internet questions answered→
Second-years Kaci McCleary, Marc Toral, Corbin Weaver, and Aline Sandouk are about to finish their didactic studies in the curriculum and embark on their clinical clerkships! At long last, they get to work with patients. Among the questions they face: is it better to put yourself out there during clerkships? Or keep your head down? And are they nervous? Maybe a little, but there was plenty of health news this week to distract themselves with, including a Harvard study that provides evidence that one’s stress and one’s health may be unrelated.
Even though Dave’s in NYC, he still finds a way to call it in (pun intended) for a show with Kaci McCleary, Corbin Weaver, John Pienta, and Jason Lewis. We discuss the possibility that most medical abstracts are at best wishful thinking and at worst fraudulent. And speaking of research, physicians get it together to petition congress to start treating gun violence as a fundable research topic for the CDC. Continue reading Guns and Research→
An honest guide to the amazing and intense world of medical school.
