The Short Coat Podcast

Research takes time, so what's a realistic outcome for the summer research student? Pipette LeGogettuer (not her real name) wrote in to ask for our input on her summer research plans. Not only is she struggling to come up with a project idea but she has very specific hopes for her outcome--first authorship. Is that realistic? How can she find a project and someone who will sponsor her in their lab? Don't worry, Pipette! Miranda Schene, Danial Syed, Art Thanupakorn, and Mahek Shahid--most of whom have done summer research themselves--have got your answers! And Dave puts the crew through another of his 'educational' activities, a role playing scenario set in an operating room 100 years in the FYOOOTURE! This Week in Medical News: In Romania this past December a patient undergoing surgery for her pancreatic cancer caught fire during her operation. And a study in JAMA Internal Medicine has found that old habits die hard, at least when it comes to giving pelvic exams and pap smears to young women and girls.

On a previous episode, Mason LaMarche discussed a college friend who had a habit of sketching his bowel movements. On this episode, his friend defends his artistic endeavor, while another LaMarche friend writes in with a question about mind over matter. And the gang--Mason, and M2s Emma Barr, Nick Lind, and Sahaana Arumugam--tastes some treats from another land. What does that have to do with med school? I don't know, cultural competency? This Week in Medical News: JAMA's case study on frontotemporal dementia has implications for us in the Carver College of Medicine's Writing and Humanities Program. And Harvard geneticist George Church is creating a dating app to match people based on genetic compatibility...in other words, eugenics? We Want to Hear From You: What question do you have about med school, the application process, or your love life? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. We love questions! The post Bonus Episode: The Lost Pre-Christmas Show appeared first on The Sho

This episode comes out the day after Christmas, and is recorded the week before, so we're exploring what some describe as "the most wonderful time of the year," and what others describe as Thursday. Given that recording date, in a bit of time travel Hillary O'Brien, Laura Quast, Jenna Johnson, and LJ Agostinelli share what they want to will have gotten (because time travel is confusing for grammarians) for Christmas. LJ shares her recent experience defending her thesis, Kylie Miller stops by with her cat Mowgli, the gang tries Turkish treats, and Dave forces them to take a pop quiz on Christmas according to unreliable internet sources. This Week in Medical News American patients turn to internet black markets to trade, barter, and sell their medicines and medical supplies because that's how great our system of healthcare is. And get ready for home epigenetic testing. The post Happy Holidays! appeared first on The Short Coat Podcast.

On this bonus episode of The Short Coat, we hear from Dr. John Mrachek. Dr. Mrachek is an anesthesiologist of 17 years who reached out to us at Iowa because he'd long felt a wedge being driven between doctors and their patients. He said that wedge, made of mouse clicks, political meddling, insurance middlemen, patient satisfaction surveys, and annoying electronic health records--was disconnecting physicians from their purpose. And that missing sense of purpose, he fears, is leading them to burn out. It's contributing to a frightening problem: physician suicide. Modern medicine, he says, is in peril. Among the solutions, Dr. Mrachek feels, is to encourage physicians and students to take inventory of their most memorable patient stories. He argues that this will return to them that lost connection to their work. This talk, given to our first- and second-year medical students and the first he'd given on the topic, is the the beginning of his mission to spread that idea. We Want to Hear From You: what are y

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? Plus, with the news from our own University of Iowa that surgeons often prepare for surgery by watching YouTube, Dave subjects Dr. Gray and his co-hosts to a YouTube-based health topics pop quiz. This Week in Medical News: The decline of rural emergency rooms has gone so far as to create a new kind of telemedicine. Crazymothers (no, that's not a slur, that's what they call themselves) want us to stop calling them anti-vaxxers. And month-long birth control may become achievabl

A question from listener Blake--do we use Anki or Brainscape for studying?--led to a discussion of the various tools and techniques Aline Sandouk (MD/PhD student), Nick Lind, Madeline Cusimano, and Mason LaMarche (all M2s) use to shove medical knowledge into their brains. And the co-hosts get some practice with their patient communication skills using questions posed by Yahoo! Answers users. This Week in Medical News: MIT wants pics of your poop to train their artificial intelligence with, which is not at all a problem. Hiccups could be a way of teaching babies how to monitor their breathing, an activity that is partially under voluntary control. And the vaping sickness epidemic continues. We Want to Hear From You: What are your favorite study apps and tools? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Do all three! The post Study Tips, Annoying Hics, and Fat Cloud Rips appeared first on The Short Coat Podcast.

FYI, there's new merch for charity (stickers!) at at theshortcoat.com/store! Happy Thanksgiving, bishes! It's Thanksgiving Day in the United States of America, and as we 'muricans collapse on our sofas replete with turkey with all the trimmings, let us give thanks that M1s Nathen Spitz and Morgan Kennedy, and MD/PhD student Aline Sandouk are here to discuss auto brewery syndrome (or how to be a guilt-free Thanksgiving Day day-drinker if you want your life ruined for years by a real zebra of an illness). And the gang tries to string together arbitrary medical words into illnesses and breakthrough treatments. This Week in Medical News: trauma surgeons at the University of Maryland let the world know that they're the first in the US to put patients in suspended animation. And Dave doesn't understand at all why media outlets are giving a seemingly minor development in aging research--we share some of the features of an important cell replication enzyme with plants, woot!--"breakthrough" status. We Want to Hear

Good intentions are everywhere. Good behavior...well, that's more complicated. Such is the case with microaggressions, the term coined by Harvard University psychiatrist Chester Pierce in 1970 to describe minor yet hurtful comments. Pierce's original definition encompassed statements aimed at African Americans, but of course one can accidentally or purposefully put down any minority individual--women, LGBTQ+ individuals, non-white ethnicities, and more. Unfortunately, nearly 50 years after Dr. Pierce proposed the term, microaggressions are still a thing. Dave admits to his sins, and M1s Sahaanna Arumagam and Nathen Spitz, along with SCP intern Joel Horne discuss how to prepare for the inevitability of witnessing, experiencing, and committing microaggressions. Plus, can this week's co-hosts diagnose their weird patients' quirks? This Week in Medical News: Speaking of good intentions gone awry, hospitals are relying on AI algorithms to direct extra treatment at those who need it, except the AI thinks wea

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 Kelsey Adler--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 Kelsey, Jessica, and Irene? How do relationships suffer and flourish when one of you has ADHD? What are the myths about ADHD that need busting? How can a learning specialist help? And how can medical schools support its students who need th

Today's show features multiple screams, so don't freak out. Because it's Halloweeeeeeeen! Co-hosts Hillary O'Brien, Jenna Johnson, Elizabeth Shirazi, and newbie Erica Noyes (all M1s) tell their scary med student stories for your entertainment. And Short Coat MD Wannabe has a serious question about her future, as her post-bacc program is proving harder than expected. This Week in Medical News: Mortician YouTuber Caitlin Doughty, of Ask a Mortician, is doing good work to change how America fears death and draw the curtain back from its mysteries. Some undergrad has the amazing job of making little cars for rats to drive around in. And a haunted wheelchair is terrifying security guards in Chandigarh, India. We Want to Hear From You: What's the scariest thing to ever happen to you? Call us at 347-SHORTCT to tell us in your own words! The post Spooky Med Student Stories! appeared first on The Short Coat Podcast.

Second year students Abby Fyfe, Mason LaMarche, and Madeline Cusimano offer their advice to first-year Morgan Kennedy, who confesses that she's feeling the burn of being an M1. And Mason discusses the opportunities he's had to present his undergraduate work at conferences, a good way to stand out from other pre-medical applicants. And it doesn't have to be bench or clinical science, either, as Mason demonstrates. Plus, Dave pretends to be a medical educator with a game he calls MegaBattle. Can his co-hosts help their professors defeat a variety of creatures with strange powers? This Week in Medical News: A Venezuelan telenovela is being chopped up and overdubbed to deliver public health messages in Africa. Migrant children detained in the US are battling preventable diseases as Customs and Border Patrol throws up their hands at the complexity of offering vaccinations to that population. And a childhood cancer drug--the only on that exists--is in short supply in the US because it's hard for Pfizer to t

Short Coat Scribbleson Wordsonpaper (not his real name) wrote a paper for one of his classes, and was told it'd be worth putting it out there for publication. But where, and how? So we asked Writing and Humanities Program Director (and SCP exec producer) Cate Dicharry to give some guidance. Scribbleson's second question, about the lifestyle factors that medical students weigh when making a specialty choice, was a great one for co-hosts Mackenzie Walhof, Miranda Schene, and Abby Fyfe to dig into. Plus Dave puts on his ten-gallon perfesser hat, offering up a pop quiz on the 2019 Ig Nobel prize winners. This Week in Medical News: what happens when you want to study pregnancy and other women's health issues? Yeah, your research proposal gets rejected because you didn't include men among your subjects. And an Oregon doctor finds out that he has 17 kids he didn't know about from his time in medical school. We Want to Hear From You: What factors are you weighing to make your specialty choice? Call us at 347

Two questions this week from Short Coats! Listener Luis wrote in to ask what books co-hosts Hillary O'Brien, Kylie Miller, Emma Barr and newbie Sahaana Arumugam consulted to find their paths. And Mia wrote to theshortcoats@gmail.com to find out more about MS/DO or MS/MD programs and what they look for in their applicants. And can we find patient-care uses for weird proverbs? No, we can't. But it was fun to try. This Week in Medical News. This week Dave learned about "The Husband Stitch" much to his disgust. North Dakota physicians no longer have to lie to their patients about drug-induced abortions; and long-ignored African DNA is finding its way into gene banks courtesy of a Nigerian health tech startup. We Want to Hear From You. What's going on in your world? We like stories, so call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, or send your questions or comments to theshortcoats@gmail.com! The post A Stitch In Time Saves Swine. appeared first on The Short Coat Podcast.

Fourth-year students David Rudolph and Chandini Reddi join co-hosts Brendan George and LJ Agistonelli to answer listener Krista's question--a self-confessed "loud mouth" with radical thoughts about how she'd like to practice medicine one day. Can she bring those ideals to life, or will she be drummed out of medicine. Are there other, related careers that might allow her to achieve her goals even better? We've got you, Krista! Plus, Dave asks David and Chandini what they learned from watching their Medical Student Performance Evaluation take shape before it gets sent off to residency programs they're applying to. This Week in Medical News: Weill Cornell joins the list of schools offering med school for free (to some). Napping is good for you, up to a point. And skeletons aren't just scary during Halloween--they seem to be part of the fight-or-flight response in a rather big way. We Want to Hear From You: so, how are you? Tell us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gma

A cliche, of course, but true. Because without the nurses (and other people) doing their jobs to help the doctor, the doctor can't do nuthin'--no IVs, no regular BP checks, no comfortable patients, no monitoring while they're home sleeping, no nothing. Listener Amber stops by to ask what med students learn about nurses and how to work with them, and of course M4s Hillary O'Brien and Kylie Miller and new M1 co-hosts Jessica De Haan and Greta Becker are happy to help. And Fifi Trixiebell returns, craving med school war stories. Also, Hillary and Kylie discuss the residency personal statements they wrote and where they sought help. Do you have war stories to share? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime to tell us. We'll play them for Fifi (and whoever else is listening). The post Get to Know the Nurse, Save Yourself from Grief appeared first on The Short Coat Podcast.

Co-host and MD/PhD student Miranda Schene is a woman who has obviously been raised well. So when her mother, Ginny, wrote to theshortcoats@gmail.com asking about the surprises med school had in store for this week's gang, Dave--who also loves his mother--couldn't very well say no! M1 Nathan Spitz and M2 Jenna Mullins, along with new co-host M1 Bryn Myers join in to give Mama Ginny the deets. Plus Dave asks if his co-hosts can find and supply doctors' testimonials for some As-Seen-On-TV products. This Week in Medical News: The plight of a Colorado prisoner sheds more light on the abysmal healthcare incarcerated mothers-to-be get. And some interesting case studies show why it might not be a good idea to keep roosters in your backyard if you have varicose veins; and what a diet of chips, fries, and sausages can do to your eyes. We Want to Hear From You! What are your favorite case studies? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Facebook group, or email theshortcoats@gmail.com. Dave can't get enough

Some of the most important contributions to knowledge have come at a terrible price. The BBC featured a story on their site about an anatomy atlas that was created by a Nazi doctor, and the images within are those of hundreds of dissected political prisoners. The very conditions in Hitler's concentration camps may have been among the reasons why these illustrations are so detailed. It is a terrible piece of work. This book, now out of print for decades, is still on the shelves of surgeons and consulted (if rather furtively) when they run out of other options. But we have to ask--can its vast utility outweigh it's evil origins? Short Coats, we'd love to hear your thoughts. Plus the gang visits Yahoo! Answers to practice their patient-communication skills, sort of. Pharmaceutical giants Johnson & Johnson and Purdue Pharma were both in the news recently as opioid manufacturers who will be paying millions for their roles in the opioid epidemic. And a study suggests intermittent fasting (a religious practice

Elders are not just sickly adults. Ours is an aging society, and as the populations skews older, medicine has begun to realize that treating elder patients isn't the same as treating adults or children. Treating the conditions of older people means that clinicians have to understand them in ways that go beyond diseases and drugs. Hence, the science of geriatrics. Dr. Louise Aronson is a geriatrician and the author of Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life (Bloomsbury 2019). It's a beautifully written book the focuses on the stories of our elders and what they can teach us about their needs both biological and psychological. Among the things co-hosts Miranda Schene, Emma Barr, Mason LaMarche and Nick Lind learned: Older people respond in unpredictable ways to medications. Often the work of a geriatrician is to 'deprescribe' medicines that are hurting them. Never undervalue the things that are important to elders just because they aren't medicines or procedures. If the patie

Ceremonies are important. If you're like Dave, you think they're a bit of a pain--you have to dress up and keep a straight face. But as a bit of (lengthy) symbolism, they do have their place, and the White Coat Ceremony is no exception. Maddie Mix and Aline Sandouk reflect on their White Coat Ceremonies and what it meant to them to be standing up in front of those they admired, respected, and loved, and promised to essentially selflessly give their lives to medicine in return for admiration, respect, and love of their own. Of course, since Aline got kicked out of Cedar Rapids' Paramount Theater for using her cell phone by a very angry usher, I guess that respect and love she can expect from others will only go so far. It makes a good story, though, and was totally offset by a bit of feedback she got from a listener. Remember--you can send questions or feedback to theshortcoats@gmail.com! We love it! This Week in Medical News: Another month, another new organ no one's EVER noticed before. Ebola gets a

Brandon Bacalzo and Angeline Vanle join the team as incoming medical students. Luckily for them they have the chance to put questions about med school to M2 Nick Lind and M3 Brady Campbell, including how to find the new study habits they'll need to succeed. Ethical objections to a controversial practice in medical education have been simmering for a while, so we discuss how medical students should prepare for potential dilemmas that may occur during their training. And Dave is snared by clickbait yet again--because who wouldn't want to know more about how tickling elders could keep them young? And are there other kinds of stimulation we should study to cure disease? Artificial intelligence is always fun, so we try out an app that measures your stress level, pulse, and (one-day) your blood pressure just by looking at your face. We Want to Hear From You: What are (were) you thinking about when you started medical school? Did your hopes and fears pan out? Call us at 347-SHORTCT anytime, visit our Faceboo