The Short Coat

Prince has left the building, so The Short Coats take a moment to eulogize the Purple One. Listener Rayhaan is looking for advice on preparing for the dreaded multiple mini interview, and of course we have ideas for him to consider. Of course, some wackadoos think that if only he'd begun preparing for medical school in high school, perhaps he'd have it in the bag. And if you're worried that the over 40 crowd are too addled to work more than 25 hours a week, you're not alone--the University of Melbourne has the research to back it up.

As Alison Pletch and Deep Bhatt prepare to leave CCOM and begin residency, they share with Kaci McCleary and Corbin Weaver their thoughts on leaving Iowa and beginning their new chapters. LIstener Todd calls the Short Coat Hotline with a question on studying for the MCAT. We aren't much impressed by a study that says people view scientists as trustworthy murderers. Iowa's Board of Medicine considers a ban on conversion therapies. And are docs shrinking 'tumors' by deciding they don't get paid enough to remove them?

From inner-city Oakland, Cali to medical school; that's an unlikely journey. Unlikely because inner city poor kids don't even hear about opportunities, never mind have access to them. UI med student Terrence Wong was one of those kids, but he eventually found an advantage that most such children don't have: a mentor. Today he's not just a medical student, but he's a startup founder. His company, MedMentor, is about to launch its app to connect those who need mentorship to those who can provide it. Dave and Terrence spoke about his journey, how he deals with critique, why he's doing it, and how he manages the crazy med student slash startup life.

Today's show features empathy--having too much or too little, or what happens when it's switched on very suddenly. Aline Sandouk, Marc Toral, Amy Young, and Kaci McCleary discuss an autistic man whose ability to sense the feelings of others is activated suddenly; why ignoring what others think might help you win at life; and how incorrect beliefs about the biology of black people can lead you to misinterpret their pain just when they need you most. Plus a listener's plight gives us an opportunity to empathize with the lack of Short Coat Podcast episodes for her to listen to...and provide a solution.

The understanding of the twin epidemics of obesity and diabetes is changing. The "calories in, calories out" model is giving way, faster and faster, to a more nuanced view. The brain, molecular medicine, hormonal differences, and genetics are all coming into play as we consider this new paradigm. Drs. Dale Abel and Miguel Lopez are two researchers--one in Iowa, one in Spain--working to advance the science of these world-wide epidemics, and Taz Khalid, Aline Sandouk, and Eric Wilson want to know: where is this train headed?

Listener Oscar's having the pre-med/post-acceptance jitters; luckily Aline, Marc, Dylan, and Lisa are on hand to offer some advice on this all-too-common case of impostor syndrome. Plus, now that Match Week has concluded, we discuss what the Match 2016 stats reveal, and ask ourselves what options exist for those who don't match. And we play One-Word Medicine--can the good doctor treat an embarrassing problem in the emergency room?

Are board exams a waste of resources? Is electrocution an antidote to boredom? This week we discuss the petition, created by medical students at Harvard, to zap the USMLE Step 2 exam, and opine on whether it (and other such exams) actually accomplish anything. Next, according to one study, people are happier self-administering electrical shocks than they are being alone with their thoughts. And we once again visit Yahoo! Answers Health to practice patient education.

Listener Mitch writes in to ask what this week's co-hosts (Tony Rosenberg, Alex Volkmar, Rob Humble, and Nicole Morrow) wish they knew before they got to medical school. What should Mitch think about debt? Seeking honors? Voluntourism? And with the news that an artificial fingertip was successfully wired to an amputee's nerves allowing him to detect rough and smooth surfaces, Dave decides it's time to test the amazing sense of touch. This may or may not be an excuse for Dave to get his co-hosts to wear bags on their heads. Speaking of touching, the CDC and Consumer Reports isn't real happy with hospitals and their C. diff infection rates. Not. At. All. West Virginia lawmakers get excited (and pretty nauseous) about a new law there allowing the consumption of raw milk. The first US uterus transplant took place, and failed. And, health app makers tend to play fast-and-loose with the health data they collect, lacking things like robust privacy policies.

Kaci McCleary, Dylan Todd, Amy Young and Corbin Weaver are on hand this time to talk about the two-week specialty rotations, like Ophthalmology and Radiology.  You see, as Kaci entered her clinical clerkships, she had four of these short rotations in a row, and found herself hating them.  They seemed like a waste of time, and weren't offering her much in the way of hands-on experience.  While her experience isn't universal, we thought some might question the utility of these short rotations, especially if one isn't going into a specialty but is more focused on primary care.  Fortunately, there's some hope on the horizon in the form of instant learning through brain stimulation.  Will future med students even need two-weekers?  This leads us into a discussion on the place of rebellion in medical school.  Does medicine need people who buck the system?   How should someone who sees herself as firmly outside the box react when they're surrounded by it?

Corbin Weaver visits the local grocery store to hear a presentation on pelvic floor disorders, part of the store's health outreach efforts, and marvels at the fact that A) many people seem to have a very foggy notion of anogenital functions, and B) that some also seem to have no inhibitions about bringing up embarrassing bodily foibles in a room full of strangers. Also, Dave points out that sometimes medical research reaches into the past to 'discover' ancient remedies that actually work. So Corbin, Mark Moubarek, Alex Volkmar, and new host Erin Renfrew sample and evaluate some folk- and old-timey prescriptions to see if they have any merit, aside from causing very bad breath and wet, salty feet.

Social psychologist Amy Cuddy's well known TED talk discusses the utility of 'power poses,' and medical students are always looking for ways to feel more powerful.  So Dave challenges Ellie Ginn, Tony Rosenberg, Marc Toral, and Mark Moubarek to give them a try.  Zika remains a force for making people crazy, and Brazil has banned the use of a larvicide incorrectly linked with  Monsanto as a result of a report from a group of Argentinian physicians who advocate for the ban of insecticides.  Tony suggests a better option: mosquito-mesh body suits.  In fact, he's full of ideas, including replacing the traditional family-medicine feces chart, used to help patients discuss their poop with their doctors, with plastinated specimens; and he's considering launching a company that offers fecal transplants from specimens provided by celebrities and sports figures. Also, Wake Forest researchers have 3D printed implantable body parts, including muscle, bone, and cartilage.    A hospital in California has it's data hacked and held hostage, and it pays up $17,000 to get it back. And a certain ambitious 18-year-old, of whom we spoke in Episode 063, is back in the news for opening a clinic and practicing medicine without a license.

Mark Mubarek, Amy Young, Rob Humble and Corbin Weaver are here to discuss the AMA's policy to support the ban on direct to consumer advertising of drugs and implantable devices, and how such advertising makes the doctor-patient relationship complicated. Will drug companies retaliate by advocating for bans on advertising doctors and hospitals to patients.  Researchers in the UK may be about to get the green light to edit the genes of human embryos seeking answers to why some miscarriages happen.  Are we approaching the slippery slope? A neurologist wonders why Ted Cruz's face is so unsettling.  And we note with interest a number of recent public health news stories in which officials suggest that women have the primary role in undesirable health consequences, including Zika/microcephaly and alcohol-related unwanted pregnancies; now South Africa has chimed in by tying scholarships for young women to virginity in order to prevent the spread of HIV. And Dave forces everyone to practice their clinical skills by answering random people's "health" questions from the Internet.

Zika has been in the news, if you haven't noticed, as a neglected tropical disease which has been linked to a frightening surge in birth defects in Central and South America. The response to Zika is going to depend upon the science--which is very much up in the air--along with economic and cultural factors. Chief among those are huge income disparities, population complexities, and limits on access to family planning options. On today's episode, Ellie Ginn, Marielle Meurice, Kevo Rivera, and Jessica Walters meet up with one of the researchers who is fighting this bug. Dr. Selma Jeronimo isn't a household name in the US, but she is becoming one in her home country of Brazil. She is the director of the Institute of Tropical Medicine of Rio Grande do Norte, and a professor of biochemistry and medicine at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Natal. Her job is investigating Brazil's endemic diseases. With Zika spread to more than 20 countries including the United States, along with its links to microcephaly, we took advantage of her faculty appointment at the University of Iowa and her long-time collaborations with Iowa faculty and students, to have her on the show.

What can medical students and residents do to keep their chins up during their training? That's what listener Ross--who has noticed the contrast between his happy med student co-workers and his crabby resident co-workers--wants to know. John Pienta, Gabe Lancaster, Jake O'Brien, and Matt Becker consider the question and the advice we gathered from residents. Also, with the news this week that Hawkeye alumnus and former NFL player Tyler Sash, who passed away in September, was a victim of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, Jason Lewis joins in to examine the implications. Is football a worthy pass-time or is it a killer of young men? When parents ask their doctors for a sports physical, should their doctors be thinking about the risks? And when docs see kids with injuries caused by their participation in sports, do they need to consider their obligations as mandatory reporters of child abuse?

Dr. Paul Farmer is sort of the rock god of global health.  He’s an incredibly busy and influential guy, so when he flew in from Liberia to spend the entire day here with us at the Carver College of Medicine, it wasn’t easy to keep the stars from our eyes.  Of course, he’s a physician, but he’s also a medical anthropologist, chief of Brigham and Women’s Division of Global Health Equity, professor of medicine at Harvard, and the UN Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Community Based Medicine and Lessons from Haiti.  One of the things you notice about Dr. Farmer is that although he’s clearly a celebrity in his field, it doesn’t dampen his enthusiasm, idealism, and the pleasure he takes in meeting students who share his passion for understanding and changing how healthcare is delivered to the world’s neediest people. What’s more, he’s the founding director of Partners in Health, an international non-profit that provides direct healthcare services, research, and advocacy to the sick and impoverished around the world in places like Liberia, Haiti, and here in the US.  So, yes, he has things to do. All of which is to say that it’s a particular honor that Petra Hahn, Katie Ryken, Josh Bleicher, Jordan Harbaugh Williams, and Greg Yungtum got to chat with him for this week’s show to explore the differences between charity, development and liberation medicine; it’s Dr. Farmer’s emphasis on the latter, and his view that the poor deserve preferential treatment, that makes him such a force in global health. We need validation. Leave a review: iTunes | Stitcher [huge_it_gallery id=”65″] Listen to more great shows for medical students on The Vocalis Podcast Network. The opinions expressed in this feed and podcast are not those of the University of Iowa or the Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine; nor do they reflect the views of anyone other than the people who expressed them.