MD/PhD students Michelle and Aline, PA2 Alice, and M2 Jacob discuss the pros and cons of their use of social media, including…
…who the heck gets to decide what is “professional,” and does anyone even know what that means?
Listener Alyssa joins the crew to discuss her question: how can she discuss the challenges she experienced during undergrad without sounding whiney (even if her challenges would sure have made Dave whine a bit).
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”).
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!
Serving Your Patients Shouldn’t Just Happen in the Office
TL;DR
Urologist Amy Pearlman has built her practice upon the opportunities offered by YouTube, Twitter, and Tik Tok.
The one question no one asks themselves that can help you decide on your future specialty: what can’t you live without?
Medical school does not teach you how to be a doctor. That’s what residency and fellowships are for.
Dr. Amy Pearlman is a urologist who operates a men’s health clinic at the University of Iowa. Co-hosts AJ Chowdhury (M1) and Aline Sandouk (MD/PhD) suggested her as a guest on the show, and boy is he glad he listened. Dr. Pearlman has so much to offer students on everything from offering patients value before they even arrive for their in-office visit, picking a specialty, and why men need a provider that focuses on their needs just as women do.
AJ and Aline join M3 Mason LaMarche and M4 Zach Tully for a fantastic conversation with Dr. Pearlman that could change the way you think about your future medical career.
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!
[Happy Holidays! Dave is on vacation, but here’s a re-run to tide you over. We’ll be back with new episodes starting 1/16]
We on The Short Coat Podcast like to encourage people to follow their med school dreams in spite of whatever apparent obstacles stand in the way. So when we found out that Jessica McCabe, host of the popular YouTube channel How to ADHD, was coming to the University of Iowa, we were excited to get her on the show. And with co-hosts Irene Morcuende and LA–both successful medical students and ADHD brains–on hand along with CCOM learning specialist Chia-Wen Moon to prove that this obstacle can be just another bump in the road. You may be surprised to hear how those with ADHD brains–and the groups they work in–can actually benefit from their atypical thought processes.
But what kinds of effects does ADHD have in med school? What techniques have worked for LA, Jessica, and Irene? How do relationships suffer and flourish when one of you has ADHD? What does a learning specialist do? And how can medical schools support its students who need help? All questions we discuss for you, Short Coats!
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!
The amazing Dr. Ryan Gray, host of quite a few of the pre-med focused podcasts over at mededmedia.com (of which we, of course, are a member), joins Maddie Mix, Hillary O’Brien, Nick Lind, and Kyle Kinder as guest co-host! Which is good, because we start with a rather difficult topic: should the parents of a profoundly disabled child–who will never be able to care for herself in even the most basic of ways–be allowed to ‘freeze’ her development so that she remains physically six years old if it will enable them care for her at home?
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!
We on The Short Coat Podcast like to encourage people to follow their med school dreams in spite of whatever apparent obstacles stand in the way. So when we found out that Jessica McCabe, host of the popular YouTube channel How to ADHD, was coming to the University of Iowa, we were excited to get her on the show. And with co-hosts Irene Morcuende and LA–both successful medical students and ADHD brains–on hand along with CCOM learning specialist Chia-Wen Moon to prove that this obstacle can be just another bump in the road. You may be surprised to hear how those with ADHD brains–and the groups they work in–can actually benefit from their atypical thought processes.
But what kinds of effects does ADHD have in med school? What techniques have worked for LA, Jessica, and Irene? How do relationships suffer and flourish when one of you has ADHD? What does a learning specialist do? And how can medical schools support its students who need help? All questions we discuss for you, Short Coats!
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!
Listener Amari returns to ask Aline Sandouk, Jayden Bowen, Tony Rosenberg and Mark Moubarek–what do they think of med school YouTubers? Is it advisable to broadcast your life during med school in an age when everything you do online has a permanent risk associated with it? Of course, there are some recommendations for residency program directors in searching social media for candidates’ info.
Next up, Jordan is looking for advice on great pre-med activities that will teach him as well as look great on his application. And Richard is both shy and working in a lab, and he’s worried that it will be difficult for him to make connections with doctors for things like shadowing.
We Want to Hear From You
Have you ever regretted your social media footprint professionally? What pre-med activities would you recommend to Jordan? How can Richard break out of his shell? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three!
Fresh from winter break, Kaci McCleary, Tony Rosenberg, Mark Moubarek, and new co-host Teneme Konne bring us up to date on their activities during their time off. We hear from co-host Amy Young as she sends in her (surprising?) thoughts on the Grand Canyon. Meanwhile, the good old mesentery might get a well deserved promotion, from fatty membrane that gets in the way during abdominal surgery but conveniently holds your spleen to full blown organ…so long as you’re an Irish researcher. Sadly, recent extra-legal efforts to replace fatally flawed mitochondria in human ova with healthy ones might prove to be worthless (and worse). France declares everyone an organ donor, unless you opt out (you jerk). And Dave takes everyone on a tour of the murky world of autonomous sensory meridian response on YouTube. Will we jump on the ASMR bandwagon, or wipe the warm condensation off our ears and sit this one out?
John Pienta, Levi Endelman, Kylie Miller, and Adam Erwood get to answer some probing questions: what’s the first thing a student wants to know upon starting a new clerkship? What’s the most important skill they’ve ever learned? And what medical specialty should Vladimir Putin pursue? Also–helpful tip for medical students–if you want to perform the best you can, science says you just need to be reminded that one day you will be worm food. And men seem to be having trouble with the idea of having minor procedures and experiencing side effects in exchange for the privilege of having sex without certain undesirable consequences like babies. And we discuss the apparent YouTube trend of DIY braces made by 13-year-olds from wires, superglue, and rubber bands. If you can ignore the risks of your face falling off, it’s a real money saver!
