Tag Archives: Martin Rosenfeld

Future Summer Health Professionals, Revisited

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CCOM’s Summer Program for Future Health Professionals Was a Success.

cholera photo
Photo by Ryan Somma

While Dave was on vacation, Teneme Konne got together with some folks we talked to back in July, pre-health students in UI’s Summer Health Professions Education Program (SHPEP), a program that offers minority students and others access to mentorship and insight into future health careers. Yasmine Rose, Kristine Pham, Gil Osuna-Leon and Martin Rosenfeld came back, along with program administrator Nicole Keating, and shared with us the progress they made, what they learned, and where they’re going to take their newfound confidence in their health career choices.  Also, are Iowans really the rudest drivers?  And Yasmine is passionate about her rant on the hypocrisy of  environmentalists that eat meat.

In Medical News…

Last year, the United Nations admitted–after five years of denials–that it did play a role in Haiti’s cholera outbreak following the 2010 earthquake there.  Epidemiologists believe that the outbreak originated in a UN peacekeeping camp with poor sanitation,  and probably from a UN soldier who’d brought the disease from Nepal.  The UN has a lot at stake here, and the gang looks at the situation and what they feel the UN has as its responsibilities and risks in dealing with an outbreak that has sickened 770,000 Haitians and killed 9,200.

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Crushing It with Mental Illness During Med School

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[We’re re-releasing this episode because when it was first posted the file was screwed up.  Enjoy!]

Much like America, doctors are afraid of mental illness.

mental illness photo
Photo by darcyadelaide

Physicians are no better than the rest of us at dealing with mental illness, even as they work valiantly to get their patients to recognize and get treatment for their conditions. As society becomes more open about ‘mood disorders,’  it is still common for MDs to reject treatment for depression, substance abuse disorders, anxiety, and more…and physicians and medical students are literally killing themselves–America loses 300 to 400 doctors every year to suicide.  Our co-hosts this week, Zeynep Demir, Innie Kim, Jason Lewis, and Kaci McCleary all have experienced their own disorders, and have formed a CCOM chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.  Still in it’s infancy, they’ll be working to destigmatize mental illness among physicians, residents, and medical students in the hope that those who suffer can be saved and become what they always wanted to be: effective, compassionate, and healthy physicians.

We want to hear from you.

Do you suffer from a mental illness, and worry about your future as a physician? We’d love to hear your story, anonymously if that’s what you’d prefer.  Call us at 347-SHORTCT any time, and email theshortcoats@gmail.com.

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Harry Potter and the Suddenly Bald Litigant

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What do you do when you’re pulled in too many directions?

Yer a wizard, ‘arry!

The world of work, and medical school, is often about adjusting for a number of “top” priorities.   Dave’s been having one of those weeks where his work is pulling him in several directions at once, and thought to ask his co-hosts Erin Pasaski, Patrick Brau, Elizabeth Shirazi, and Kaci McCleary what techniques they use when they, inevitably, find themselves struggling to manage all of the important tasks med school throws at them.

Also, since the CCOM Writing and Humanities Program exists to bring art into the lives of busy med students, Dave went out and bought playdough so his co-hosts could flex their sculpting skills on common patient complaints.  Visit our Facebook page for the gallery!

This Week’s Medical News…

Speaking of priorities, Ars Technica takes note of the FDA’s somewhat lackadaisical interest in surveilling the cosmetics and hair care industry, and why that should probably change.  Will flu shots (and other vaccination injections) soon be replaced by a tiny bed of nails?  And Dave warns medical students not to study with their phones in the same room.

We want to hear from you.

If you have something to say or a question to ask, and think we are the best people to do so, who are we to question your judgement? Call us at 347-SHORTCT any time, and email theshortcoats@gmail.com.

Continue reading Harry Potter and the Suddenly Bald Litigant

Medical Education’s Underrepresented Minorities Challenge

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Most Med Schools Prize Minorities…but they can be hard to find.

lend a hand photo
Photo by creativedc

This week, Teneme Konne introduced Dave to some students participating in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/AAMC venture, the Summer Health Professions Education Program, which has as it’s aim to strengthen the academic proficiency and career development of minorities and prepare them to apply, matriculate, and succeed in healthcare professional education.  Yasmine Rose, Kristine Pham, Gil Osuna-Leon and Martin Rosenfeld talk about how students of ethnicities underrepresented in medicine need this kind of mentorship from people who have faced, fought, and vanquished the same challenges they’ll face on their path to medical school.

This Week’s Medical News

Of particular relevance to this week’s topic: even in Canada, some folks just can’t wrap their tiny heads around the existence of black doctors.  And while it’s tempting to take heart in the outrage expressed by many after a woman refused to have her child looked at by a black physician, our guests point out why that would be a mistake.

We want to hear from you

If you have something to say or a question to ask, and think we are the best people to do so, who are we to question your judgement? Call us at 347-SHORTCT any time, and email theshortcoats@gmail.com.

Continue reading Medical Education’s Underrepresented Minorities Challenge