Tag Archives: Keenan Laraway

Night Float: Finding Mentors, Being a Mentor

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Mentorship–both giving and receiving–is a crucial part of being a resident

Keenan Laraway, MD
Keenan Laraway, MD

Short Coat Podcast veteran Keenan Laraway, MD (CCOM ’15, Internal Medicine), returns to the microphone to give his insights into one of the most important parts of residency–finding and being a mentor.  As you listen, note how much credit he gives to his mentors for their influence on him, and how much emphasis he gives to teaching medical students himself.  Medical residency (and undergraduate medical education, partially) operates on an apprenticeship model, in which the experience and advice of one’s colleagues is integral to one’s own development.  Seeking out those relationships is therefore vital.

Helpful links

AAMC Careers in Medicine – Careers in medicine is a resource designed to assist medical students in choosing a specialty and navigating the residency match process in a strategic way.

We Want to Hear From You

Do you have mentors to whom you turn for advice and example? Tell us about them at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.

Continue reading Night Float: Finding Mentors, Being a Mentor

Recess Rehash: 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

 

 

 

 

 

[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.

Won’t you leave us a review? iTunes | Stitcher

Continue reading Recess Rehash: Nick’s Post Apocalyptic Harem

Nick’s Post Apocalyptic Harem

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end of the world photo
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.

Won’t you leave us a review? iTunes | Stitcher

Continue reading Nick’s Post Apocalyptic Harem

Keenan’s Final Rant

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We need validation. Leave a review: iTunes | Stitcher
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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?

Continue reading Keenan’s Final Rant

Shakes on a Plane

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Mr. Speaker, when you’re done with your call… Photo by DonkeyHotey

Miriam Murray and Keenan Laraway bring us tales from their residency interview trail, including Keenan’s real-life “is there a doctor in the house” moment during his flight from Washington to Chicago, with a guest appearance by John Boehner. Continue reading Shakes on a Plane

Is Total Transparency the Best Medicine?

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Oh, how knife for you. Photo by PunkJr

This week, Dave begs listeners for reviews at Stitcher and iTunes, because he craves validation.  And a listener tip (thanks, Twitter’s @Brady_Campbell) led Cole Cheney, Keenan Laraway, Matt Maves and Greg Woods to a discussion of one doctor’s campaign to get her colleagues to embrace total transparency–financial relationships with drug companies, personal values, the works.  Could it lead to more trusting doctor-patient relationship, or is it completely unworkable? And why did the mere suggestion of such a thing inspire such a vitriolic backlash from her colleagues?   Continue reading Is Total Transparency the Best Medicine?

What Keenan Can’t Say.

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Photo by gagilas

Keenan Laraway struggles to comprehend the rules on what you can say on a podcast, while the M1s suffer through their Anatomy and Biochem exams.  Also, Matt Maves, Emily Reynolds, and Holly Van Den Beldt discuss the connection between healthcare staff, hand hygiene, and peer pressure; why parents feed their kids unhealthy foods (hint: it’s not because they don’t know what healthy food is); where superbugs may be hiding in hospitals, and what they’re doing while they’re skulking about; and some questionable dreaming research.

Episode 046: What Keenan Can’t Say.

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.

Orientation Week!

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Compulsory #1 (SUCCESS!), by Jason Epping (Flickr)

This week, first-year medical student Corbin Weaver joins the team, and gives Keenan Laraway the low-down on her orientation week experiences.  We discuss the alleged shady medical theories of Dr. Henry Heimlich (of the eponymous maneuver), a 6-year-old’s MAGEC spine correction treatment, Walmart’s desire to be your primary care doc’s office, and a device that might just revolutionize the transportation of (and therefore the whole process of transplanting) donor organs.

Listen to Episode 041: Orientation Week!.

 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.

Junk Science

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Junk science dominates our thoughts in this episode, our first recording in front of a live studio audience (the Introduction to Medical Education at Iowa students who were kind enough to join us).  Cole Cheney, Alison Pletch, Keenan Laraway, and Eric Wilson talked about Dr. Mehmet Oz’s recent troubles, including a New York M3 who asked the AMA and the NY Medical Association to step in.  Also, Cole drops some new research knowledge on us about why pot makes people paranoid (hint–having a researcher stand over you asking you if you’re paranoid might be another known cause of paranoia), and The Egyptian Army says it has cured HIV and hepatitis, or so they claim, using a simple point and shoot device that detects AND purifies the blood.   But it needs a leeeeetle more testing…

Listen to Episode 037: Junk Science.
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.

‘Fake Patients’ and Students: a Meeting of the Minds

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Few students like exams.  That probably wasn’t close-to-mind when, in 1999, the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which accredits medical colleges, decreed that the Carver College of Medicine would incorporate clinical skills assessment into the curriculum.  Then, in 2004, the National Board of Medical Examiners began using the Step II Clinical Skills test as part of the United States Medical Licensing Examination.  This Step, one of the three that seeks to ensure students are becoming competent doctors, required students to demonstrate their clinical skills on live actors.  These actors played standardized roles so that the examination results would be meaningful.

So it was that the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, and MD programs across the country, created the Performance-Based Assessment Program.  The PBA program was charged with preparing third-year students for this new exam. They did this the exact same way the NBME did it: by hiring actors to portray patients with various complaints to test what third- and fourth-year students had learned about interviewing such patients.

Since then the program has grown tremendously.  Now they don’t just test medical students, but they teach them as well.  Things like general physical exam skills, PE skills specific to male and female patients, communication skills, and a lot more.

On this episode, students Cole Cheney, Senuri Jayatilleka, Michael Zhang, and Keenan Laraway joined simulated patients JC Luxton and Mary Nell Jackson meet for a little debate and an exchange of views on their roles as students and ‘fake patients.’ 

Listen to Episode 026 – Who Are These People, Anyway? Simulated Patients and 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.