Audio

Short Coat Podcast

Med Schools Hate When Students Have Jobs. Some People Take the Risk Anyway.

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:38 — 50.9MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Perhaps no school would recommend working during med school, but plenty of people do it.  

TL;DR

  • Sometimes, you just don’t want to take that extra loan money.  One option: a part time job.
  • But that is risky–the time you devote to that job could have been spent on studying, and perhaps could decrease your chances at those competitive residency programs.
  • But there are medical students who make the choice to work, and some jobs might even help your chances.
reject photo

Eliza wrote to us at theshortcoats@gmail.com because, as an older, married medical student with a young child in an expensive city, she wondered what our thoughts were on students who work during medical school.  We invited her on the show so M3 Nathen Spitz, M4s Abby Fyfe and Nick Lind, and M1 Grant Stalker could find out more about her choice to work as a therapeutic yoga teacher, and discuss some of the equity issues surrounding work during medical school.  And Nathen offers some ideas about paying jobs that can actually be a benefit to medical students in their academic lives.

We also discuss the Biden administration’s new mental health-focused initiatives, especially those focused on healthcare workers, as outlined in the president’s state of the union address. 

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 Med Schools Hate When Students Have Jobs. Some People Take the Risk Anyway. →
Short Coat Podcast

Rushing to Med School means Missed Opportunities (RECESS REHASH)

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 50:46 — 46.5MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

The gods of podcasting smote our recording session last week, but at least we can enjoy this rerun. Luckily, it’s a good one!

Taking your time may actually be better for your career than rushing through it

TL;DR

  • Rushing to med school may be a good idea, but there is a danger of missing experiences that make you a better student and a better doctor. But if you’re going to do it…go hard.
  • Nutrition is well covered in the med school curriculum, but there’s a lot we don’t understand.
  • Falling off a tall stack of milk crates on purpose has questionable health benefits.

Listener (and graduating high-school senior) Stephanie called 347-SHORTCT to ask about her plans to finish undergrad in 2 years and start med school at 19. While her actual question was how she could get everything done, our question was what would she miss out on that might inform and educate her about her medicine dreams? MD/PhD students Miranda Schene and Riley Behan, M2 Eric Boeshart, and M1 Zach Shepard discuss the cons.

Another listener, Varsha, wants to know how much nutrition is covered in med school; and Dave points out a study that claims a hot dog reduces your life expectancy by 36 minutes. One more thing that reduces life expectancy: the milk crate challenge.

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 Rushing to Med School means Missed Opportunities (RECESS REHASH) →
Short Coat Podcast

Sociaizing and Studying: How do Med Students Do It?

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:59 — 47.6MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Med students are usually intentional about everything, even the balance between social and school

TL;DR

  • The M4s are picking their favorite residency programs in the hopes that they love the next phase of their training. We discuss the factors they’re weighing now that interviews are done.
  • A listener about to start med school wants to know how students study, and how they also have social lives when studying is so intense.
reject photo

Listener Sunrise Warghost called the Short Coat Listener Line (347-SHORTCT) because she’ll start school in the fall, and is wondering about the study techniques and mental habits medical students use to crush it in medical school. M4s Emma Bar, NIck Lind, and Madeline Cusimano, and M3 Nathen Spitz help with the tips and tricks they’ve discovered. And they also offer their methods for maintaining a social life as well, both within and outside the cloistered world of medical school.

But first, a discussion from the M4s on the factors they’re weighing as they nail down which residency programs they would like to train at next year, because like everything else in their lives, intentionality is key.

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 Sociaizing and Studying: How do Med Students Do It? →
Short Coat Podcast

The Trainees Who Don’t Fit the Med Ed Mission

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:14 — 41.4MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Should medical education make a larger space for trainees who don’t want to see patients? 

TL;DR

  • Medical schools’ mission is to create doctors that treat patients. In that context, the options provided for trainees who don’t see that as their own mission may be limited.
  • However, those options do exist–should schools acknowledge them?  Should schools promote those options to their students?
  • Listener Nicole asks what prerequisites she can take at a community college, if any. 

Even during medical school, Alison Yarp, MD, felt as though her personal career goals didn’t reflect those of the school she intended–she did not want to see patients and practice individual medicine! But she was in med school already. She wanted to be in medicine, but given how much blood, sweat, and tears she’d already spent on that, how could she change directions? What would she even change directions toward? Eventually, she settled on psychiatry…and hoped it would be right for her.

Following her intern year, Dr. Yarp resigned from her psychiatry residency and seek a new path. It was then that she decided to build MARCo Community, a private and exclusive social network for trainees of any level who don’t feel like they fit with the typical medical education narrative.

Dr. Yarp got lucky this past year. She found a new specialty that fit her goals nicely, and sought a new match in a residency she hadn’t been aware of during medical school–preventive medicine. M1s Matt Engelken, Tracy Chen, Grant Stalker, and Alec Hanson talked with her about the difficulties of finding a career in medicine when the path fully acknowledged by medical education is narrower than what actually exists.

Also, can Listener Nicole do any of her prerequisites for medical school at a community college?

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 Trainees Who Don’t Fit the Med Ed Mission →
Short Coat Podcast

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

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:51 — 39.2MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

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? →
Short Coat Podcast

Pre-med Advisors Don’t Know Everything: Recovering after Dismissal

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:03 — 59.6MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Don’t let negative feedback from an advisor cause you to self-scuttle your med school dreams!

TL;DR

  • Listener Valerie’s pre-med advisor still haunts her years later, despite a stellar recovery from academic disaster.
  • We got hammered by anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers on our Instagram. Will our response get the same result?
  • The co-hosts and Dave celebrate the upcoming Valentines Day observance–can we guess what our SOs and parents think of us, Newlywed Game style?

Listener Valerie was dismissed from college long ago, and was told by her pre-med advisor as a result she’d never get into a medical school. Years later, she’s recovered nicely, with great grades and a Master’s degree, as well as valuable work experience; but her advisor’s statement has prevented her from pursuing the med school path. How should she address the disaster now that she’s ready to apply? Who should people listen to if not pre-med advisor’s? Is it hopeless? M1 Matt Engelken, M3 Ananya Munjal, M3 Nathen Spitz, and M4 Emma Barr have good news for Valerie.

And with Valentines Day coming up, Dave asked his co-hosts’ family and friends to send in answers to questions about them–some of the answers proved surprising!

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 Pre-med Advisors Don’t Know Everything: Recovering after Dismissal →
Short Coat Podcast

MUSICIANS TAKE A STAND ON SPOTIFY/ROGAN. WILL that FIGHT HEALTH MISINFO?

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:00:58 — 55.8MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Standing up against health misinformation is great, but will it help people understand?

TL;DR

  • Folk rock god Neil Young and others have removed their music from Spotify, which hosts Joe Rogan’s controversial podcast over his COVID and vaccine discussions with deniers.
  • Does that actually accomplish anything, or is it too late to win over the hesitant?
  • We play Kiss, Marry, Kill: Medical Specialties Edition.
reject photo

Some very famous musicians have told their labels to pull their catalogs from Spotify over it’s hosting of Joe Rogan’s podcast, which often includes discussions with vaccine and COVID deniers. This has renewed the discussion over Internet media’s role in shaping public discourse on important life-and-death topics. But M2 Eric Boeshart, M1 Mallory Kallish, M3 Ananya Munjal, and MD/PhD student Riley Behan-Bush aren’t convinced that it’ll persuade many to adopt a more expert-influenced approach to their health. (Note: we discussed this prior to Rogan’s response, in which he promised to include more experts on his show).

The crew also plays a game of Kiss, Marry, Kill: Medical Specialties edition.

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 MUSICIANS TAKE A STAND ON SPOTIFY/ROGAN. WILL that FIGHT HEALTH MISINFO? →
Short Coat Podcast

Why Med Learners are Asked to “Reflect,” And What Does It Even Mean?

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:35 — 50.0MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

How students should think about reflection when the word isn’t always well-defined.

TL;DR

  • Whether it’s a class assignment, a personal statement, or a scholarship essay, students are often commanded to reflect on their experiences.
  • Reflection is can be a useful part of understanding what you are becoming. But what that means and how to do it are frequently not well defined.
  • Our M4 co-hosts discuss whether their fears about the residency application process were well-founded or just wheel spinning.
reject photo

Listener Empirica Soberface (not her real name) called in to ask us about reflection–something medical learners are often asked to do during their education–saying that it doesn’t come naturally to her. So Dave invited Cate Dicharry, the director of the Writing and Humanities Program here at the Carver College of Medicine, to come on and give us her thoughts on this common assignment. M4s Emma Barr and Madeline Cusimano, M3 Ananya Munjal, and MD/PhD student Riley Behan-Bush are on hand to supply some of their ideas on how best to process what it is they’ve been becoming.

Emma and Madeline also discuss the fears they had about interviewing for their future residency jobs, the anxiety that many senior medical students are feeling right now, and whether their fears were realized or proven to be wheel-spinning.

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 Why Med Learners are Asked to “Reflect,” And What Does It Even Mean? →
Short Coat Podcast

The Question All Future Applicants should Ask: “What Will Help Me Grow?”

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 51:28 — 47.1MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Growth requires embracing unfamiliar and even scary situations.

TL;DR

  • Listener Riley wants some suggestions on experiences that will help him grow while he pursues his path to medicine.
  • We discuss some comments from YouTube on female urologists and male patients.
  • That leads to a discussion on why hospitals default to environments for adult patients which are downright hostile.

This week we start with a listener question. Riley’s about to apply to medical school after a winding path from high school dropout to welder to biochemist. He’s wondering if we can give him advice on activities that will help him to grow. Such a great way to put that question, and M4 Emma Barr, M3 Maddie Wahlen, M4 Abby Fyfe, and new co-host Jacob Hansen are on hand to offer some ideas.

Also, we discuss some comments we got on a previous episode’s YouTube video featuring urologist and men’s health specialist Amy Pearlman on the fear and shame some men feel when they think about seeing a female urologist. For instance: why do doctors make their patients wait for them surrounded by gross anatomy models and posters???

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 Question All Future Applicants should Ask: “What Will Help Me Grow?” →
Short Coat Podcast

Overcoming Your Undergrad Apathy Now that You’re Applying to Medical School

Audio
Share

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:01:46 — 56.5MB)

Subscribe: Spotify | RSS | More

Good news: medical schools don’t just want perfect people!

TL;DR

  • If your undergraduate studies in a different field lacked a certain enthusiasm but you’ve now decided to pursue medicine, it can be difficult to know where you’ll stand with admissions committees.
  • Fortunately, adcomms don’t just look for perfect grades and unwavering and early certainty from med school candidates on their path to medicine.
  • We discuss a great way to fill a hole in what your school teaches–create a course on the subject!

Listener Abby is thinking about taking the prereqs for medical school, but worries that her trajectory thus far isn’t distinguished enough.  Is she setting herself up for the poor house and failure? Hear the words of encouragement and wisdom we have for Abby, featuring MD/PhD student Aline Sandouk, M4 Madeline Cusimano, M4 Emma Barr, and M4 Abby Fyfe.

We also discuss the course on Sexual Violence that Aline and her team of enthusiastic partners developed and delivered this past fall to medical students interested in learning the signs of sexual assault and the roles that students and residents can play in getting help for victims. 

And we compose the voicemail greeting you’ll hear if you call our SCP Listener Line at 347-SHORTCT, and we discuss Aline’s impending return to medical school as she looks forward to completing her PhD.

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 Overcoming Your Undergrad Apathy Now that You’re Applying to Medical School →