Tag Archives: Noah Wick

Monkeypox: a National Health Emergency

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Have we learned anything from HIV or COVID?

  • M4 Nathen, M2s Noah and Shana, and MD/PhD student Aline discuss the new epidemic of “Monkeypox,” and try to discern if our country has learned anything about how to respond to emerging diseases.
  • A BMC Medical Education journal article shines some light on the best (and worst) study techniques med students use to drink from the firehose.
  • Dave asks his co-hosts to celebrate an incoming class of med students by PIMPing each other…while wearing mouth spreaders.

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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Stop Gatekeeping “Doctor.”

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Yes, you will (did) work hard to get your MD, but others have doctorates, too.  Lighten up.

  • Noah (M2), Ariele (PA2), Nicole (M2), and Miranda (MSTP) discuss the impulse many MDs and MDs-to-be have to gatekeep the word “doctor” when advanced practice providers use it.
  • PhDs, DNPs, AuDs and many more also have doctorates. Instead of worrying about who worked harder to get it, better perhaps to support each other and not worry about who deserves to call themselves a doctor.
  • The American Board of Radiology did something crazy–they told programs their trainees will get a bunch of leave for birthing and non-birthing parents to care for their newborns.
  • Noah and Ariele try the third hand experiment. Tik Tok science for the win? Or is it social pseudoscience?

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 Stop Gatekeeping “Doctor.”

Ableism in Medicine Often Forces Learners to Advocate For Themselves

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We live in a world that still believes the disabled are a danger to patient safety

TL;DR

  • An injury during medical school or residency can temporarily or permanently alter one’s career prospects and trajectory.
  • Even serious disabilities don’t have to be career-enders. But in many cases, it’s up to the injured to counter the ableism that still exists in medicine.
  • What unionizing residents might accomplish, and why it might be needed even in today’s graduate medical education paradigm.

Bluebell (not her real name) called The Short Coat Listener Line as she is recovering from an injury; her injury isn’t serious, but it got her thinking–in what ways would an injury, temporary or permanent, alter a medical student’s career trajectory? M3s Brandon Bacalzo and Nathen Spitz, M2 Lola Lozano, and M1 Noah Wick discuss what has happened to people they know who’ve faced this situation, some ideas on protecting their livelihoods from the effects of a permanent disability, and how ableism may continue to exist in medicine and medical education.

The crew also offers some thoughts following Match Day 2022, Brandon’s newfound responsibilities as a father, and the possibilities of unionizing residents.

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

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Low MCAT Ruins Listener’s Med School Plans. Or Does It?

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Med schools denied this listener’s application, so he worries his low-and-not-improving MCAT will mean he’ll have to settle for a non-research career

TL;DR

  • “Cuddles” worries that he can’t be a research MD if he doesn’t get into an allopathic med school due to his low MCAT. But is that really the problem?
  • Can osteopaths be academic (research) physicians?
  • Dave gives his co-hosts a pop quiz on old time remedies after learning chimps may be practicing folk medicine.
reject photo

Listener “Cuddles” seems to be panicking after he didn’t get in to any of the medical schools he applied to. He’s worried that if he can’t get in to an MD school attached to an academic health center he won’t be able to fulfill his dream of doing medical research. He fears he might have to “settle” for a DO school to get in anywhere with his low MCAT score. M1s Matt Engelken, Noah Wick, Mallory Kallish, and M4 Nick Lind try to talk Cuddles down from his panicky state.

Dave also wants to take these fancy physicians down a peg after reading in the New York Times that chimps have been found practicing folk medicine. Who’s to say that they won’t develop vaccines and MRI machines in the future, and topple doctors from their lofty place atop the medical heap? So Dave makes them take a pop quiz on folk medicine.

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 Low MCAT Ruins Listener’s Med School Plans. Or Does It?

BEST JOBS FOR A FUTURE MD/PHD STUDENT, and Turkey Day Shenannigans

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Any job can be a good premed job, but what about for the future physician scientist?

TL;DR

  • Happy Thanksgiving!
  • We discuss the MD/PhD life, and the jobs that will prepare a hopeful MD/PhD student while also giving the admissions committees something to love.
  • We diss Thanksgiving while still loving it, including a special Turkey Day pop quiz.

Happy Thanksgiving! Now, settle down, we don’t mean to poop on anyone’s holiday traditions, but we are going to make fun of Thanksgiving and acknowledge it’s teensy little problems. Also, MD/PhD student Riley Behan, M1s Noah Wick and Matt Engelken, and PA1 Ethan Ksiazek are also going to help listener Stephanie with her questions about the MD/PhD life, and what kinds of pre-med jobs will be helpful to prepare her. And Dave delivers a pop quiz on Thanksgiving history. Then we’re going to do what Americans do and fill ourselves with carbs and then wish we hadn’t to celebrate.

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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Is Medicine the Squid Game?

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Are there parallels between medicine and Squid Game?

TL;DR

  • The experience of job hunting for a residency position is unlike any other.
  • It’s way easier to donate bone marrow than many think.
  • Dave stuffs the episode with Squid Game references in the hopes that various algorithms love us.

This episode is sponsored by Enso Rings, makers of soft, safe, attractive silicone rings. Listeners get 10% off rings at EnsoRings.com using promo code SHORT!

MD/PhD student Aline Sandouk, M1 Noah Wick, and M4s Madeline Cusimano and Abby Fyfe have their souls crushed this week by Dave’s suggestion that the Netflix smash hit Squid Game has some parallels with medicine and medical education. See, Dave read a listicle by Rebecca Richardson in McSweeny’s comparing the features of the game to academic job-hunting, and it seemed a little…familiar.

But first, the crew takes a look at recent developments in Madeline’s and Abby’s own job hunt, and we learn about bone marrow donation as that’s also something Madeline’s preparing for.

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 Is Medicine the Squid Game?

The Obscure Document Residency Programs Use to Decide If You’re Worthy

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The Medical Student Performance Evaluation (or dean’s letter) will be sent to all your potential employers. Let’s talk about what’s in it!

TL;DR

  • You may have heard of the dean’s letter. It’s sent to all residency programs, one of the things they’ll use to choose who to invite for an interview. But do you know what’s in it…and that it’s creation begins on your first day of med school?
  • YouTube announces blanket ban on vaccine misinformation, and axes the biggest misinformation peddlers.
  • Can The Short Coats pass the 2021 IgNobel Prize Winners Quiz?

Today’s episode is sponsored by Panacea Financial, a division of Primis, Member FDIC. Check out their PRN Personal Loans to help cover board exams or application costs, with decisions in as little as 24 hours and great interest rates!

To Dave, it sometimes feels like the process of medical education is as complex and opaque as the actual medical knowledge it works to impart to students. In this elaborate system, absolute transparency is difficult to achieve, but there’s one thing Dave thinks students should keep in the backs of their heads from day one: the medical student performance evaluation (MSPE, or ‘dean’s letter’). That’s because this document will be sent to all their future employers, including their residency programs. And those programs will use it (and other data applicants and colleges supply) to decide whether to invite you for an interview. Yet Dave has the impression that many don’t even know what’s in this important document–which includes comments from residents and attendings on their personal qualities and performance–until just before they begin to apply for residency! That’s a problem for some students who, upon reading it for the first time, find that there’s a pattern of behavior that they should have addressed long ago. Dave discusses what all students need to know about this important document.

Also, the 2021 IgNobel Prizes for improbable research have been awarded; YouTube bans all vaccine misinformation and the peddlers of bogus vax claims; and California begins using a controversial–but effective!–technique to help people who use drugs kick the habit: paying them to stay sober.

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 The Obscure Document Residency Programs Use to Decide If You’re Worthy

Married Applicants: What Do Schools Think?

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Applying to med school together might be easier than couples think

TL;DR

  • Married couples applying to a school together are really a bonus for schools, all other factors being equal.
  • We discuss Niki Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s testicles. Because that’s a thing we do now.
  • Wiki How has interesting illustrations–can we guess the article?

This episode is sponsored by Enso Rings, makers of soft, safe, attractive silicone rings. Listeners get 10% off rings at EnsoRings.com using promo code SHORT!

Taylor and his wife are going to apply to Ivy League med school Brown University together. But they’re worried that it’s a lot to expect that schools will accept both of them as a package deal. But we think it might not be as difficult for schools to do as Taylor might assume. MD/PhD student Aline Sandouk, M2 Elvire Nguepnang, M1 Noah Wick, and M4 Mackenzie Walhof–along with our admissions director–have some encouraging thoughts for those looking to start their journey as a couple.

Also, we talk about Niki Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s testicles, the CDC’s approval of booster shots for Pfizer (and it’s director’s unilateral decision to include frontline workers as eligible), and Dave quizzes the crew to see if they can figure out what the Wiki How article is based on some accompanying illustrations.

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 Married Applicants: What Do Schools Think?