The Short Coat

The importance of getting your head outside of medical school. Lots of people have hobbies, and perhaps many of those people use them to step outside their day-to-day lives for a while for a peaceful break. Is there time for a hobby or three in medical school? M3s AJ and Alex, M1 Hend, and MD/PhD student Sam say there absolutely is! In fact, it’s possible the importance of finding time for your outside interests is greater in medical school than any other time!

Burnout is the wrong word for what’s ailing healthcare workers. The term burnout doesn’t really cover what happens to physicians and others in healthcare. Dr. Wendy Dean and others are coming around to the idea that what’s really happening is moral injury–what happens when you want to do the right thing but aren’t allowed to do it. M1s Jeff, Faith, and Linda visit with Dr. Dean to talk about moral injury, what people are doing about it, and what still needs to be done. Her book, If I Betray These Words, is available everywhere, and is a great read for anyone interested in knowing why their doctor can’t just do what’s right for their patient.

Some stories from history that remind us medicine has come a long way. Podcaster Ryan Nanni, of the Shutdown Fullcast, joins M2 Matt, M1 Jeff, Md/PhD student Riley, and Communities Director Cody to talk about some ‘fun’ stories from history. For example, how did a man named “Doctor” (his first name) probably kill President Garfield? And what was the dumbest, most dangerous marathon in Olympics history? Plus, the disease that helped make the cowboy hat a thing.

The beginning of the 20th century brought huge changes to medicine; we’re still trying to cope with them. Special guest Dr. Adam Rodman, visits with M1s Jeff, Faith, and Linda and PA1 Kelsey, to talk about “path dependency,” the idea that a complex system (like medical education) is almost impossible to change without starting over. The path we have taken to today constrains what we can do tomorrow. We discuss the founding of medical education as we know it today and how that has created an academic medicine system that values facts, science, and publication more than things like equity, empathy, and work-life balance. The good news is that very dedicated people are working to make the sorely needed adjustments to these areas and more…without burning it all down and starting again.

M1 Hend invited David Kozishek, a chaplain at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, to talk with M3 AJ, M1 Jeff and new co-host M1 Ervina to talk about the role of chaplains on the healthcare team. David also helps the co-hosts discuss the role that religion may play in their lives as future physicians, the tensions and compatibilities between evidence and faith, and how they might respond when their own beliefs may in conflict with standard practices. We'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode--does religion play a big part of your life? How would you respond to the scenarios we talked about? What questions do you have about the connections between faith and healthcare?

The process of “doing research” is a methodical slog. AJ has finished up some interventional radiology research and gotten it published recently. He and Daniel, Jeff, and Mallory–who’ve all been down that road–walk Dave through the research process, step by step. The crew discusses how they’ve found a problem to examine, done the background lit searches, gotten approval from the ethics watchdogs, collected data, written it up, and submitted the finished research to a journal. Plus, Dave gives everyone a pop quiz on the latest fascinating research from some random website he found–research you can USE, though you might want to ask someone before you start sniffing their pits. 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 do more things on… Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theshortcoat YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theshortcoat You deserve to be happy and healthy. If you’re struggling with racism, harassment, hate, your mental health, or some other crisis, visit http://theshortcoat.com/help, and send additions to the resources there to theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love you. Music provided by Argofox. License: bit.ly/CCAttribution DOCTOR VOX – Heatstroke: youtu.be/j1n1zlxzyRE Catmosphere – Candy-Coloured Sky: youtu.be/AZjYZ8Kjgs8 ; Hexalyte – Wandering Hours: youtu.be/FOAo2zsYnvA;

Recognizing good advice and discarding the bad is part of the admissions process. Aline has finished her PhD! She walks Jeff, Riley, and AJ through what defending a dissertation is like, and looks back on some of the things she’s learned about herself and about science. And, bad advice is like a leaky umbrella that lets you down when you need it most. So how do you recognize good advice and distinguish it from bad advice when you’re applying to medical school?

The ownership of firearms is a uniquely American right, and for some, a uniquely American problem. Gun deaths recently passed motor vehicle accidents as the most common cause of death for children (for certain demographic definitions of the word). Jeff, Miranda, Kelsey, and Dave discuss what public health and physicians have to offer that could mitigate gun violence without abridging the right to bear arms.

Questions lead to experimentation, which leads to evidence, allowing for conclusions, and then--voila!--practice. Equipoise was a new word for Dave, Mitch, Nathen and Riley. Jeff explains that it describes a state of equilibrium at which debate on a topic is no longer required, and factuality has effectively been achieved. But in science, that state has time and again been upset by new ideas and evidence that initially seem wrong. So, who decides whether the debate is remains open, or has gone on long enough?

Dr. and Lady G have a new podcast! Will and Kristin Flanary, better known as Dr. and Lady Glaucomflecken, visit with The Short Coats to talk about their new podcast, Knock Knock, Hi! AJ, Madi, Zay, Jacob, and Hend talk with the Flanarys about the value of satirizing medicine–a surprisingly universal source of workplace comedy–an its ability to humanize physicians. Kristin discusses her experiences as co-survivor of everything Dr. Flanary has put her through, like cancer (twice), a midnight cardiac arrest, and–shudder–medical school.

Med students got jobs, and most are even happy about it. Match week, when senior medical students select/are selected for their post-graduation jobs as junior residents, was for CCOM a success. That doesn’t mean it isn’t nerve-wracking for all involved. M1 Jeff, MD/PhD students Faith and Daniel, and M2 Jacob look at the nationwide stats and find room for optimism about their own future prospects. And Dave asks his co-hosts provocative questions to get them to fall in love with him. It didn’t work.

Med students are smart, but how much useless info can they spout? It’s Spring Break, so we’re taking a break from our usual content to bring you a trivia contest featuring M4 Emerald, MD/PhD students Riley and Faith, and CCOM Learning Communities Coordinator Cody. Dave created a trivia bot using chatGPT, and to ratchet up the tension, he poured some shots of mysterious and probably unpleasant liquids to punish his co-hosts’ wrong answers. Happily for his co-hosts, it didn’t work out well for Dave.

Med School is a Transformative Experience. PA 1 Kelsey, M1 Faith, M3 Rick, and M4 Ananya talk about the changes they've seen in themselves since arriving at medical school. No matter how prepared you are, there are some things about being a medical student that can’t be understood until you are one…and until you’re almost done with medical school. Listener Cathy, a registered nutritionist dietician, wants to go to medical school after 25 years in healthcare…but her physician friends think she’s crazy. Should she trust her gut, or the people ‘living the dream?’

The things everyone gets wrong about medicine and medical education: Your family and friends, maybe even students themselves before they got to med school, have some weird ideas about doctors and medical school. No matter where these ideas come from--medical dramas, social media, movies--chances are you'll find yourself explaining them or falling for them. M4s Mason and Talia, and M1s Jeff and Trent discuss the myths and misunderstandings they’ve heard about their world. Also, stories of medical students embarrassing themselves. It’s part of learning, but also cringe. 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 do more things on… Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theshortcoat YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theshortcoat You deserve to be happy and healthy. If you’re struggling with racism, harassment, hate, your mental health, or some other crisis, visit http://theshortcoat.com/help, and send additions to the resources there to theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love you. Music provided by Argofox. License: bit.ly/CCAttribution DOCTOR VOX – Heatstroke: youtu.be/j1n1zlxzyRE Catmosphere – Candy-Coloured Sky: youtu.be/AZjYZ8Kjgs8 ; Hexalyte – Wandering Hours: youtu.be/FOAo2zsYnvA;

How medical students keep from going nuts while programs and schools decide they’re worthy. This is the season of uncertainty, as both pre-meds and med ask themselves, “will they let me in?” It’s out of their hands, but M4 Mason, M3 Ananya Munjal, and M1s Jeff and Faith have some experience to draw upon to keep you from going nuts. Also, we discuss the revolt underway as medical schools around the country back away from the US News and World Reports rankings.

UVA med students create app to find AnKing flashcards for you. M3s AJ and Ananya, and M4 Mason get a visit from the medical student creators of the machine-learning app NovaCards.ai. Shane Chambers and Jordan Bagnall (and their co-founder Charbel Marche) found themselves spending tons of time finding AnKing flashcards to learn pre-clinical medicine, so they did what any modern medical student with AI-building chops does: get a computer to do it for them, automagically! NovaCards is especially useful during pre-clinical courses, but Shane also talks about how he’s been using it himself during clinicals–and you can join the fun for free. We also discuss the state of (and barriers to) the use of artificial intelligence in medicine.

How straightforward is any discussion about genetic engineering? M1 Jeff talks with M3 Ananya, MD/PhD student Riley, and M3 AJ about the nuances of genetic engineering, a scientific pursuit that not everyone agrees should happen. Despite that view, it seems likely that genetic engineering has been, is, and will be an increasingly available tool in medicine’s arsenal as our understanding of genetics increases. But first, we answer Listener Helina’s question: what should she be thinking about when picking medical school electives?

Without trust, medicine doesn’t work. M4 Nathan, M1s Trent and Leon, and MD/PhD student Aline talk about the nature of trust–what it really means, how we trust ourselves and others, and what it means when it’s lost. Trust is, after all, the thing that makes much of society possible–it’s the belief that people do not only what’s in their own interest, but what’s in the best interest of other people. Medicine is a perfect domain to explore trust, given what doctors ask of patients and what patients ask of doctors.

Decisions made at the end of life are among the most complicated. M1 Jeff, M3 Ananya, and MD/PhD students Riley and Miranda discuss what they’re taught about the ethics surrounding death. What are the physician’s responsibilities? How do they balance the patient’s wishes, the family’s desires, the directive to do no harm and to provide the best possible care, and the need to ensure that such considerations are supplied to any and all patients. Add in the myriad cultural and religious beliefs that doctors, patients, and families have, and you get quite a difficult set of calculations to ponder.

Three Medical Students’ perspectives on their first med school semester. Co-hosts Hend, Brian, and Leon are on hand to discuss the things they learned in first semester about medical school, including how their own understanding of it has changed. What is medical school like in those first, rather intense few months? Did they adjust to the (much) faster pace? Did they learn the language of medicine? Have they found their people? Also, helping people recover from addiction just became easier, and some good news on the mental health of first-year interns. 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 do more things on… Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theshortcoat YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/theshortcoat You deserve to be happy and healthy. If you’re struggling with racism, harassment, hate, your mental health, or some other crisis, visit http://theshortcoat.com/help, and send additions to the resources there to theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love you. Music provided by Argofox. License: bit.ly/CCAttribution DOCTOR VOX – Heatstroke: youtu.be/j1n1zlxzyRE Catmosphere – Candy-Coloured Sky: youtu.be/AZjYZ8Kjgs8 ; Hexalyte – Wandering Hours: youtu.be/FOAo2zsYnvA;