The Short Coat: An Inside Look at Getting Into and Getting Through Medical School

4 Writers Explain How Telling Stories Makes Better Doctors


Listen Later

Writing helps doctors understand their patients—and themselves—better.

There are many reasons healthcare professionals write: to process trauma, build empathy, or simply because stories demand to be told. This week we’ve got a thought-provoking conversation with Dr. Carol Scott-Conner, a surgeon, poet, and editor of The Examined Life Journal; Katie Runde, a novelist exploring themes of love and loss; Jeff Goddard, an M3 medical student and soon-to-be-published author; and Linda Peng, a speculative fiction writer and Bowman Prize-winning author. They discuss the challenges of writing about real patients while maintaining ethical boundaries, the impact of narrative medicine on medical education, and why residency often leaves little time for self-reflection even though that’s where it can be most helpful. Plus, they break down the blurred line between fiction and lived experience in writing and whether good storytelling requires personal experience. No matter why doctors, patients, and medical students write, it’s a powerful tool that can sooth some of healthcare’s most difficult problems where the participants’ humanity and the system come together.

Written by our guests:
  • Linda Peng: Balancing Act
  • Carol Scott-Conner: Beachcombings, A Few Small Moments, Creative Writing for Clinicians
  • Katie Runde: The Shore: A Novel
  • We Want to Hear From You: YOUR VOICE MATTERS!

    We welcome your feedback, listener questions, and shower thoughts. Do you agree or disagree with something we said today? Did you hear something really helpful? Can we answer a question for you? Are we delivering a podcast you want to keep listening to? Let us know at https://theshortcoat.com/tellus and we’ll put your message in a future episode. Or email [email protected].

    The Short Coat Podcast is FeedSpot’s Top Iowa Student Podcast, and its Top Iowa Medical Podcast!  Thanks for listening!

    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 [email protected]. 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

       

      ...more
      View all episodesView all episodes
      Download on the App Store

      The Short Coat: An Inside Look at Getting Into and Getting Through Medical SchoolBy Dave Etler and the Students of the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine

      • 4.7
      • 4.7
      • 4.7
      • 4.7
      • 4.7

      4.7

      301 ratings


      More shows like The Short Coat: An Inside Look at Getting Into and Getting Through Medical School

      View all
      Radiolab by WNYC Studios

      Radiolab

      43,925 Listeners

      This American Life by This American Life

      This American Life

      90,380 Listeners

      The Premed Years by Ryan Gray

      The Premed Years

      1,257 Listeners

      Death, Sex & Money by Slate Podcasts

      Death, Sex & Money

      7,712 Listeners

      AFP: American Family Physician Podcast by American Academy of Family Physicians

      AFP: American Family Physician Podcast

      695 Listeners

      OldPreMeds Podcast by Ryan Gray

      OldPreMeds Podcast

      149 Listeners

      Code Switch by NPR

      Code Switch

      14,516 Listeners

      Specialty Stories by Ryan Gray

      Specialty Stories

      209 Listeners

      White Coat Investor Podcast by Dr. Jim Dahle of the White Coat Investor

      White Coat Investor Podcast

      2,415 Listeners

      The Curbsiders Internal Medicine Podcast by The Curbsiders Internal Medicine Podcast

      The Curbsiders Internal Medicine Podcast

      3,312 Listeners

      Straight A Nursing: Study for nursing school exams & NCLEX by Maureen Osuna, MSN, RN - Nursing school educator, author, and nursing student enthusiast.

      Straight A Nursing: Study for nursing school exams & NCLEX

      1,230 Listeners

      Ologies with Alie Ward by Alie Ward

      Ologies with Alie Ward

      23,310 Listeners

      Ask Dr. Gray: Premed Q&A by Ryan Gray

      Ask Dr. Gray: Premed Q&A

      76 Listeners

      The Nocturnists by The Nocturnists

      The Nocturnists

      586 Listeners

      The Clinical Problem Solvers by The Clinical Problem Solvers

      The Clinical Problem Solvers

      506 Listeners

      MCAT Basics (from MedSchoolCoach) by MedSchoolCoach

      MCAT Basics (from MedSchoolCoach)

      585 Listeners

      The Curious Clinicians by The Curious Clinicians

      The Curious Clinicians

      365 Listeners

      How to Be Patient by Human Content

      How to Be Patient

      44 Listeners