Tag Archives: Step 1

Short Coat Podcast

What Does “Perfect” Mean in Med School?

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Why perfect isn’t always the goal

Listener Noah wrote to us from the UK asking–among other things–how he could flourish when he starts medical school. One statement caught our eye, however: that he was determined to do everything right the first time. M4s Matt Engelken, Chirayu Shukla, Happy Kumar, and Jacob Lam discuss their perspective on how that’s not necessarily the right goal to aim for.

Then listener Tiffany, a med student herself, asked the boys how they prepared for the Step 1 licensing exam. That word “licensing,” it turns out, is important–as a pass/fail exam, this isn’t like most exams, where the goal is to get as close to perfection as is possible. Instead, the idea is to demonstrate your general knowledge and pass without losing your mind.

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Short Coat Podcast

The Sheriff is Watching, Ft. Bryan Carmody, MD (Recess Rehash)

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The Sheriff of Sodium investigates the current state and future of medical training

[We’re taking a vacation for a couple weeks, so while we rest and recharge enjoy this rerun!]

  • If you’ve wondered how well the system that trains future doctors works, or about what factors really determine which medical students get into the most competitive residency programs, this episode is for you.
  • M1 Fallon Jung, M2 Jeff Goddard, and M4 AJ Chowdhury get deep into these issues with a very special guest – Dr. Brian Carmody, known on his blog and YouTube channel as “The Sheriff of Sodium.”
  • Dr. Carmody, a pediatric nephrologist by training, closely analyzes and shares data-driven perspectives on medical education, pulling on threads to understand whether the current medical training system is truly functional, fair, and efficient, examining factors like student debt burdens, physician shortages projections, and the utility of metrics like Step 1 and Step 2 scores.
  • Like any good sheriff, Dr. Carmody is skeptical, especially about ideas like future physician shortages, and how schools report residency match outcomes.

More about our guest:

We Want to Hear From You: YOUR VOICE MATTERS!

We welcome your feedback, listener questions, and shower thoughts.  Do you agree or disagree with something we said today?  Did you hear something really helpful?  Can we answer a question for you? Are we delivering a podcast you want to keep listening to?  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”). Or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.

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Short Coat Podcast

The Sheriff is Watching, Ft. Bryan Carmody, MD

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:15 — 48.8MB)

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The Sheriff of Sodium investigates the current state and future of medical training

  • If you’ve wondered how well the system that trains future doctors works, or about what factors really determine which medical students get into the most competitive residency programs, this episode is for you.
  • M1 Fallon Jung, M2 Jeff Goddard, and M4 AJ Chowdhury get deep into these issues with a very special guest – Dr. Brian Carmody, known on his blog and YouTube channel as “The Sheriff of Sodium.”
  • Dr. Carmody, a pediatric nephrologist by training, closely analyzes and shares data-driven perspectives on medical education, pulling on threads to understand whether the current medical training system is truly functional, fair, and efficient, examining factors like student debt burdens, physician shortages projections, and the utility of metrics like Step 1 and Step 2 scores.
  • Like any good sheriff, Dr. Carmody is skeptical, especially about ideas like future physician shortages, and how schools report residency match outcomes.

More about our guest:

We Want to Hear From You: YOUR VOICE MATTERS!

We welcome your feedback, listener questions, and shower thoughts.  Do you agree or disagree with something we said today?  Did you hear something really helpful?  Can we answer a question for you? Are we delivering a podcast you want to keep listening to?  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”). Or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.

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

We do more things on…

Continue reading The Sheriff is Watching, Ft. Bryan Carmody, MD →
Short Coat Podcast

Bias, Baby Heads, and Memes

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Understanding others begins with asking questions.

  • M3 Jacob Hansen, and M1s Taryn O’Brien, Alex Nigg, and Fallon Jung consider recent studies highlighting the ineffectiveness of traditional implicit bias training and the disparities in medical care for children of color.
  • Jacob successfully finished Step 1 and the co-hosts tap him for some of his insights from clinical rotations, particularly learning he won’t be pursuing a career in surgery.
  • Dave tries to understand an important aspect of med student culture using his Gen X brain: memes, including their potential as educational tools.

We Want to Hear From You: YOUR VOICE MATTERS!

We welcome your feedback, listener questions, and shower thoughts.  Do you agree or disagree with something we said today?  Did you hear something really helpful?  Can we answer a question for you? Are we delivering a podcast you want to keep listening to?  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”). Or email theshortcoats@gmail.com.

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Step 1 is Pass/Fail. Now what???

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explosion photo
Photo by ˙Cаvin 〄

Does making Step 1 pass/fail change everything?

The news that the USMLE changed the all-important Step 1 exam–which many residency programs have been using improperly to stratify applicants and which can affect one’s specialty choice–to pass/fail starting in 2022-ish caused quite a bit of shock and consternation last week.  Sure, some celebrated the change as a victory, but there’s just one liiiiiittle problem: the more competitive residency programs feel they need some standardized measure to base their choices on.

Several listeners wrote in with questions on the change, and the underlying concerns those questions addressed was the uncertainty left in the wake of this change–to wit, “what am I to aim for if there is no three-digit score I can point to as a mark of excellence?”  Though the powers-that-be are essentially responding, “we’re working on it, we’ll get back to you on that,” there are some possibilities to consider.   And we shall, with the help of M4 Matt Wilson, MD/PhD students Aline Sandouk and Hannah Van Ert, and M1 Nathen Spitz.

Special thanks to listener Terrified Chihuahua and everyone who reached out with questions on this sudden shift in the medical education landscape!

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What are your thoughts on how a pass/fail Step 1 score will change medical education and the residency application process? Did we miss anything? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com!

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Short Coat Podcast

Why Come to the US for Residency When Turkey has Pet Parks?

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istanbul photoTurkish listener Ali would like to come to the US for residency and to practice medicine someday, so he wrote to us to ask us what we knew about how that works.  Co-host Nadia Wahba happened to visit Turkey a while back and blew our minds by letting us in on a little secret: that in the city she visited, there are public parks full of well-cared-for pets you can visit and play with.

Also, Dave subjects the gang–which also includes MD/PhD student Miranda Schene, M2 Jenna Mullins, and M3 Brendan George–to a game of Great Minds Think Alike: Med School Edition.

Buy Our Merch and Give At The Same Time

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

A Florida resident calls the cops after they receive what the suspect is a box of Novel Coronavirus (now named Covid-19 by science) from China.  And how an AI alerted some agencies and businesses early to the pandemic, before it blew up and just a day after a now-deceased Chinese ophthalmologist tried to warn his med school classmates.

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How are you? Tell us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com!  We love you.

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Short Coat Podcast

When Balloon Animals Attack

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balloon-monkey
Photo by Cory Christensen

In his former life, co-host Mark Moubarek was a children’s entertainer. So in a stroke of genius, Dave decides to have him make balloon animals for Aline Sandouk, Marc Toral, and Rob Humble. On an audio podcast.  But it’s okay because it’s summer! Or, read another way, Dave had nothing prepared for the show, and so we’re free styling.  Not a plan in the world.  We talk about eating bugs, the television programs we were allowed to watch as children, Dave’s impending trip to the Podcast Movement conference, and how he’d love to some day do a presentation on what podcasting can do for medicine. Also, Aline’s had a physical transformation after she took Step 1, and we observe the phenomenon of scientists with out of control eyebrows.

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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.
Short Coat Podcast

Abolishing Step 2, Self-Electrocution to Treat Boredom, and More Answers to Internet Questions

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standardized patient photo
What is that, a mariachi band? Photo by University of Michigan MSIS

Recording on the eve of match day, Marc Toral, Amy Young, Matt Becker and new co-host Taz Khalid discuss a petition by Harvard medical students to abolish the USMLE’s Step 2 clinical skills exam as it’s too expensive, ineffective, and a waste of effort. Among our team, however, opinions vary.  And why no discussion on abolishing Step 1 (the test of basic science knowledge and concepts) on similar grounds?
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