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Short Coat Podcast

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.
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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!

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Short Coat Podcast

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

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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!

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Short Coat Podcast

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

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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.
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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?

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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.
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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?”

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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

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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!

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Short Coat Podcast

The Coming Physician Exodus: Why Doctors May Leave the Profession Soon (Recess Rehash)

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COVID taught many employees what their employees think of them. Doctors are no different.

TL;DR

  • Most people don’t see themselves as partners in success, but as hired hands. Doctors are employees, too, and have similar issues with their employers!
  • 30% of administrators reported losing physicians during the pandemic. Either an exit from healthcare or a mass shift of physicians from low-engagement jobs to higher engagement positions may have already begun.
  • We discuss what a great job for a doctor might look like.

We’ll be back next week with a new episode. Meanwhile, as COVID continues to wreak havoc in healthcare, it seems like a good time to revisit this topic. Enjoy.

In this episode future physicians M2 Nicole Hines, and MD/PhD students Miranda Schene, Aline Sandouk and newcomer Riley Behan are on hand to talk about “employee engagement,” the idea that workers–and physicians are workers, remember–feel best utilized and appreciated when they are partners rather than cogs in the success of their employers.

And while many physicians have experienced job dissatisfaction and burnout, COVID seems to have taught some docs that they no longer have to put up with that. As employers of all kinds struggle to bring disengaged workers back to their dissatisfying, low-paying jobs, a white paper from a physician recruiter ominously suggests that doctors are also re-thinking their work as employees.

With that in mind, Dave asks his co-hosts what, for them, might be the features of a job that they could feel engaged with, like a partner in success?

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 Coming Physician Exodus: Why Doctors May Leave the Profession Soon (Recess Rehash) →
Short Coat Podcast

Recess Rehash: When Life Is Getting In the Way of Med School: the Value of the Tactical Retreat.

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Save Your Resources to Fight Another Day

TL;DR

  • Medical school is all-consuming, but sometimes you need to take time to deal with the slings and arrows of life.
  • Don’t be afraid that you’ll jeopardize your career by taking a leave during medical school. Better to do it before your situation causes harm to your test scores or grades.
  • A Brown University study finds that schools are failing in their diversity goals for admitting URMs.

We’re on a holiday break, but we’ll be back next week. Until then, enjoy this rerun.

Poking around on Reddit’s r/medschool, Dave found a rather desperate message from an M3 who’s life is collapsing around him–death, marriage troubles, family illnesses, and all at the same time. so much so that Dave fears their progress might suffer. Is it time for what a military commander might call a “tactical retreat?” Note: Dave isn’t really sure of the technical definition of a tactical retreat, but let’s just say it’s about stepping back and conserving your resources until the situation becomes more favorable to your goals. It’s a metaphor, go with it.

And co-hosts Aline Sandouk (MD/PhD), Nicole Hines (M1), AJ Chowdhury (M1), and Miranda Schene (MD/PhD) discuss the disappointing news that medical schools have made negative progress in attaining diversity goals for students underrepresented in medicine, despite years of effort.

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 Recess Rehash: When Life Is Getting In the Way of Med School: the Value of the Tactical Retreat. →
Short Coat Podcast

Academic vs. Community MDs: Who Has It Better? Ft. Santa Claus

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Among the many choices med students make is between community medicine and academic medicine.

TL;DR

  • Doctors who practice community medicine make more than academic physicians (sometimes lots more).
  • As it often does, the question of which to choose depends on which aspect of each you can live without.
  • The co-hosts also visit with Santa, because Dave’s been naughty, to answer pop quiz questions on holiday crimes.
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Santa Claus is on hand for this episode to help listener Josh with his dilemma: which life should Josh choose, that of a community physician or an academic physician? As M4 Emma Barr, M1 Matt Engelken, MD/PhD student Aline Sandouk, and M4 Madeline Cusimano see it, there’s lots to consider. For instance, do you want to teach and do research? Do you want to make a lot of money? What kind of patient population do you want to work with?

Plus, Santa gives the co-hosts a pop quiz on weird holiday crimes.

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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Short Coat Podcast

Finding Meaningful Research Opportunities

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You can ‘do’ research in med school or undergrad, but no one’s going to just give you the opportunity

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TL;DR

  • If you want to be an author on a publication, you’ve got to be open with your lab about your goals.
  • Go into research with the aim of improving your skills, and know exactly what skills you want to work on.
  • Some kinds of research are easier to do and get published in medical school.

“Friederick” (not his real name) wanted to know more about how to get good research positions in undergrad and medical school. But what does ‘good’ mean in that context? MD/PhD students Miranda Schene and Riley Behan, M1 Grant Stalker, and M4 Emma Barr have thoughts on how to look for an opportunity to publish, how best to understand the job of being an research assistant, and how to approach the principle investigator with your goals.

Riley discusses her impending nuptuals, and how she’s been thinking about a COVID wedding in late 2021, and the gang practices delivering bad news–diseases that Dave generated on some website–with Emma as the instructor.

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 Finding Meaningful Research Opportunities →