The Short Coat

Dylan Todd joins the team, along with Aline Sandouk, Marc Toral, and Cory Christensen to talk about magic. Specifically, whether there is a role for it in medicine. How far should we go in accepting the unknown as valid in treating sick people and in medical research? Complementary medicine, the placebo effects, cochlear implants (for some), many drugs...all (maybe) work but we don't always know why or how. Also, we discuss how data from fitness wearables have been used in court recently as evidence. Meanwhile, Facebook thinks Marc is into endurance tickling contests, and Aline and her partner seem to be down with that.

Denise Martinez, MD, is the Assistant Dean for Cultural Affairs and Diversity Initiatives, and as such it may be fitting that she and her husband are foodies with a special interest in ethnic foods. She and her husband (Mark G on Yelp) have traveled all over Iowa (and the world) becoming Yelp superstars. She talks with Melissa Palma about food, ethnic food, traveling for food, reviewing food on Yelp, and food.

Senuri Jayatilleka and Eric Wilson have clawed their way to the surface of the M3-year waters to take a breath, and are ready to update Lisa Wehr on what they're doing (and have been told they should do) to prepare for their fourth year ('the promised land') and matching. Time off, here they come! They share what they've learned about presenting patients, and the role the white coat plays in their education (hint: never let them see you sweat). Also, Northwestern's bioethics journal published a recent issue entitled "Bad Girls," which included an essay about a Syracuse professor's experience there in the late 70s (at the age of 18) when he became paralyzed. See, he alleged that there were nurses who...erm...contributed to the male patients' rehab in a very...uh...specific way. We speculate on the power issues that were at play 37 years ago, what the author (now in his 50s) intended for us to get out of his experience and his essay, and where he went wrong.

This time, Kaci McCleary, Lisa Wehr, and Cory Christensen are joined by CCOM alumna Yolanda Villalvazo to talk about what it's like to have your doctor call you 'old' at 39. Two terms are used for moms over 35: 'geriatric OB patient,' and 'advanced maternal age.' How does that affect moms? How does it affect moms who are physicians, and what are the tensions then between doctor-mom and doctor? What decisions can and should be made to avoid over-medicalizing pregnancy and birth? And, as a Latina, how have Yolanda's cultural ideas on pregnancy factored in to her thoughts on maternity?

We've been bandying about the topic of professionalism recently, and perhaps we're not the only ones.  Kaci McCleary, Alison Pletch, and Eugene Velednitsky caught an episode of the Inside Stories podcast which featured a medical student who is in trouble with his med school's administration for what he might characterize as his activism and honesty (but which his administration might characterize as his propensity to express his opinions unprofessionally).  Consider listening to Joji's story before you listen to our show (link below), but given our recent focus on the topic, we decided to chime in on Joji's disillusionment.

This time, Mark Toral, John Pienta, Kaci McCleary and Nick Sparr discuss Medical Student Performance Evaluations and Dave's problem: if you're looking for it to be a recommendation, that's not going to happen; but the good news is that when you start your clinical rotations, you are already starting to write your own MSPE through the comments you get, so we discuss how to get good comments and how to learn from the formative ones. We debate Mt. Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine ongoing program that guarantees admission to college sophomores who have good grades and are humanities majors, no MCAT required. And Nick describes one of his medschool interviews in which he laid out his plans for an end-of-the-world harem.

Melissa Palma met former transplant surgeon Hani Elkadi in the clinic, and when they got to talking  she realized she couldn't keep him to herself. Kaci McCleary, John Pienta, and Nick Sparr join her for a discussion of his youth in the middle east, the choices (or lack thereof) that led him along the winding road of life.   Dr. Elkadi discusses the role of technology and how it's changed medicine both for the better and the worse, shares stories from his medical training, the role of volunteering in medical training, and the trap specialists sometimes fall into when trying to treat patients.

This time, Lisa Wehr, Aline Sandouk, Keenan Laraway, and John Pienta have a wide ranging discussion on evaluations and med school's fascination with data (and how poorly written evaluations lead to poor data); weather social media's emotional content is a true reflection of reality; and Dave's desire to have the opportunity to decide for himself that having a lot of money will not make him happy. And as Keenan's time in medical school draws to a close, and he has nothing to lose, he decides to get something off his chest--are students who are disagreeable really deserve to be tarred with the "unprofessional" brush?

Melissa Palma wanted to find out more about the professors students love (and curse) so dearly, so she started a new series we're calling The Secret Lives of CCOM Professors with a student favorite, Peter Rubenstein, PhD. Ruby, as he is known (but don't tell him, he doesn't know), has been at the Carver College of Medicine teaching biochemistry for a long time, and has seen a few different curricula come and go.  But it's his passion for teaching and his accessibility to the students that makes him a favorite.  That and his penchant for putting biochemistry to music.

Dave returns from his vacation at Disney World in sunny Florida, and recaps for Suri Jayatilleka, John Pienta, and Cole Cheney his fascination with how Disney takes your money and makes you love it.  How does that relate to medicine?  Who cares, it's fun! And Suri Jayatilleka is puzzled by her surgery shelf exam, which seemed to have few questions on actual surgery. 

This time, Dave is on vacation, but John Pienta, Aline Sandouk, Cole Cheney, and Kaci McCleary didn't let that stop them. Thanks to Intern Cory, they were able to carry on without him (*sniff*). Kaci and Aline review their first year: was it fun? I bet you know the answer to that one. How did it change them? What did they discover during the experience? How did they cope? What choices did they make, and how did that affect their well-being? And John and Cole clue them on what they'll face next year.

Fourth-year students David Janssen and Lindsay Knake recently arrived home to Iowa from Guatemala, where, along with anesthesiologist David Swanson, they participated in the Miles of Smiles Team (MOST) cleft palate repair medical mission.  Team leader and former UI otolaryngologist Dr. John Canady joined us to discuss what it's like to do a 'short term' medical mission each year for more than 10 years in a country where the needs are great and the resources aren't. How are medical missions different for medical students from, say, a clerkship?  What's Guatemala like to live in, both as a citizen and as a visitor?  Who can medical missionaries help, and how do they decide?  What are the ethical considerations that are navigated in short-term medical missions?  Are medical missionaries welcomed with open arms?  Why is going on such a mission a better idea than waiting around to hear your match results? Find out on this week's show!

Our show this time was record in front of a remarkably appreciative audience at The Examined Life Conference, and it was a lot of fun.  We talked with several presenters from the conference, including Gabriel Ledger an emergency physician who became a filmmaker when he decided he wanted to find out more about the patients he'd encountered in the ER.  We spoke with Emily White, an Iowa undergrad who has been doing research on Dignity Therapy and who no doubt has a bright future in medicine.  Toni Becker is a speech language pathology grad student whose portraiture and interviews of people with disabilities remind us of their significance.  Susan Ball is associate director of the New York Presbyterian's AIDS care center, and shared with us her experiences as a physician at the start of the AIDS epidemic.

The blogosphere is full of science misinformation, and lately Food Babe has been getting an earful for her contributions to that steaming pile of nonsense.  If you don't know her, you should because she's on a mission to teach people how to eat 'like the Food Babe' because she knows what she's doing--and those people she's teaching are your patients.  Is her heart in the right place--she just wants people to know what they're eating--despite her lack of scientific knowledge, and does that make it okay?

What would you do if you were the Dean of a medical school?  Heck, how would you even get to be a dean, anyway?  What are the priorities of the person in charge of it all?  It's a long road, and a lot of hard, deliberate work to get to the top spot; and there's not that many top spots available.  Fortune 500 CEOs are a dime a dozen, but there are only a relative handful of dean positions out there.  For this episode, Cole Cheney interviewed our own Dean Deb Schwinn to find out the answers to those questions and more, and Zhi Xiong, Greg Woods, and Corey Christensen pitched in with their reactions.