Short Coat co-hosts Brian Young (M1), Jeff Goddard (M2), and Fallon Jung (M1) discussed the challenges and experiences of medical school, including personal anecdotes about coping with stress, the demands of the curriculum, maintaining emotional well-being, the significance of peer support, and the importance of learning from both academic and personal experiences. Brian talked about a student-led initiative, Nets for Nets, aimed at providing mosquito nets to a community in Southern Mexico, illustrating the blend of medical education with social responsibility. Also, Dave shows his co-hosts pairs of images he got an AI to make, and his co-hosts try to work out which is the most like their actual medical school experiences thus far.

Bringing the healthcare pieces together

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We Want to Hear From You: YOUR VOICE MATTERS!

What you get away with as an undergrad won’t serve you in med school. M2s Jacob and Maddie, M4 Mason and new co-host PA2 Mark take us through how they changed their study habits from undergrad through the clinical years. Dave reads an old German folktale about how to become a doctor. Hint: it’s harder today, and involves much less mansplaining, but there’s at least one feature that still exists from antiquity.

Dave declared this recording day to be “Effort Free Friday,” as it was officially Thanksgiving Break! That didn’t stop M1 Jeff Goddard from describing a recent meeting of the AMA Students Section that offered an object lesson on how policy is (or in this case, isn’t) made. Among many other topics, some students wanted the AMA to declare a position on the current Israel-Hamas war. In the end, the AMA declined to do so, perhaps deciding that it didn’t have the political capital on a divisive issue that could threaten its ability to participate in other conversations it has a more direct role in. Co-hosts M2 Happy Kumar, MD/PhD student Faith Goddard, and MD/PhD student Riley Behan Bush talk about their personal efforts to understand this compilated issue. And, In the spirit of the tenets of Effort Free Friday, Dave dragged Alex Trebot out from the AI closet to host a trivia contest.

A recent MedPage Today editorial shines a light on four traits that are crucial for every resident. These elements aren’t traditionally taught, but are key for future doctors. They encompass selflessness, optimism, personal responsibility, and a hunger for personal meaning. M4 Alex Belzer, who’s currently interviewing, and M2s Hend Al-Kaylani and Eric Vallin break them down, exploring how each can enhance both personal and professional interactions. And a New York Times editorial video tackles a darker side of medical practice – violence against emergency medicine providers. The challenges faced chuck yet another curveball into the complex reality of a physician’s work-life, the erosion of human connection in healthcare, and the necessity to spark change.

Dr. Michael Graham, a seasoned Nuclear Medicine practitioner and professor at the University of Iowa, reached out to us recently because at a national level his specialty is experiencing a shortage of new residents. The reasons for this include a less-than-perfect fit with the way it’s traditionally been lumped into radiology, a field with some parallels but some important training differences. M1 Fallon Jung, PA1s Olivia Quinby and Noah Vasquez, and M2 Jeff Goddard talk with Dr. Graham about how the field has evolved and changed the dynamics of patient care and medical practice.

We have GOT to get it together. What’s the best way to navigate a fragmented healthcare system? How are patients both the victims and unwitting custodians of their own medical stories? And can primary care address gaps in long-term cancer treatment? We had a fun conversation with Dr. Ilana Yurkiewicz, the author of ‘Fragmented, A Doctor’s Quest to Piece Together American Healthcare.’ Jeff, Fallon, AJ, and Alex walked away not only enlightened about the gaps in the contemporary healthcare system but also the importance of primary care and specialists working together to build patient relationships and keep clinical information flowing.

Dave’s been seeing a lot of videos on social media that suggest “You might have if you [trait or behavior that most people have or do to some degree]. Which is great–it’s always nice to know that you are not alone, that your experience is not unique. But how should physicians work with a social media self-diagnosis? There may some day be a vaccine against fentanyl, meant to protect against overdoses. This is great news, if it works out, because people die from fentanyl overdose every day. Who will get it, what affect it will have on anesthesia, and the parallels to how people view HPV vaccines will among the things we’ll be watching. And Dave has co-hosts Jeff, Jacqueline, Faith, and Riley practice their doctoring on each other.

Do docs and patients mean the same thing when they talk about ‘health?’ Fallon, Sri, Radha, and Kait discuss the concept of ‘health.’ What does healthy mean to our patients? What does it mean to physicians? The definition has changed over time–from freedom from disease to a more self-actualizing concept of thriving in one’s circumstances. Even the normal body temp of 37 degrees C is changing! Is nothing sacred?

As tuberculosis is on the rise once again in this country, it remains *the* cause of death around the world. But thanks to fans of the famous vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green, the world has some additional tools to fight a disease which we've been able to cure for decades, lacking only the will to do it. And Dave tells what he learned this week about Katalin Karikó, the Hungarian-born researcher who, despite being cast aside as a crank in the 1980s, received the Nobel Prize in 2023 for 40+ years of work that saved millions of lives in just a couple short years--and which is now about to revolutionize medicine.