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

By The Students of the University of Iowa Carver College of MedicineScience Medicine Health & Fitness Education Life Sciences

The Short Coat (Audio): An Inside Look at Getting Into and Getting Through Medical School episodes

April 24, 2025 Medicine Can Cure TB—But Humanity Won’t
Tuberculosis is curable. We just don’t care enough to cure it. That’s the premise behind John Green’s book, Everything Is Tuberculosis (https://everythingistb.com/). In this episode, M1s Zach Grissom, Kate Timboe, and Tyler Pollock, and Srishti Mathur consider that premise, and what it says about humanity’s stubborn failure to solve a solvable problem. They unpack how cultural narratives, like romanticizing TB, stigmatizing the poor, path dependency, and greed have fueled inequities that keep TB deadly across the globe. The group reflects on Henry Rider’s story, which serves as the emotional spine of the book, and how John Green’s storytelling approach hits harder than raw data ever could.
From an emphasis on short-term thinking to postcolonial infrastructure (built to extract, not connect), the book dissects the history and systems that allow TB to persist even when we can easily cure it. The crew also talks about what medical education could look like if it centered stories instead of slide decks—and why Green thinks Mario Kart might be the best metaphor for how humanity could achieve global health equity.
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
1 hr 5 min
April 17, 2025 How Med Students Redefine Ability and Success
Everyone knows med school is hard. For some, it’s even harder. Dave Etler hosts a raw conversation with med students M1 Emily Baniewicz, M3 Jeff Goddard, PA 1 Chloe Kepros, and M3 Madeline Ungs about the reality of navigating disability during medical training. With insights from Jenna Ladd, PhD, CCOM’s recently hired accessibility specialist, they dig into accommodations that range from extra time to simply having a chair. The group shares stories of advocating for themselves while trying to keep up in a system not designed with their bodies or brains in mind. They discuss how their chronic illnesses, anxiety, and invisible disabilities show up in pre-clinical courses and clinical clerkships, why getting help can feel like a confession, and why pushing for equity isn’t about advantage over others — it’s about access. Also, yes, someone did pass out during shadowing. And while some may say a disability means they don’t belong here, the fact is, medicine needs them.
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
1 hr 3 min
April 10, 2025 From Fire Hose to Final Decision–How Med Students Choose Careers
All of med school leads up to one moment: Match Day. But how do get there? Dave Etler sits down with graduating M4s Mallory Kallish (surgery), Matt Engelken (OB/gyn), Jacob Lamb (radiology), and Will Sai (famiy medicine) to unpack the uncertainty and pressure around choosing a medical specialty. They share how they landed their matches—not through sudden epiphanies, but through trial, error, and sometimes vibes. We hear about emotional rotations, mentors who came through clutch, and interview seasons fueled by spreadsheets or sheer gut instinct. And yes, we talk about the infamous stereotypes: are you “too nice” for surgery, or “too male” for OB? Also in this episode: the hidden power of palliative care, how to survive pre-clinical burnout, why some specialties get unfairly labeled “dead ends,” and what it means to feel like you belong in a specialty—even if you don’t fit the mold.
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
1 hr 14 min
April 03, 2025 She Got Into Med School… But Now She’s Not Sure
Turning down that med school acceptance might cost more than you think. Listener “my initials are ARM” got into medical school—cue the confetti—but now that reality’s set in, she’s not feeling great about her only acceptance. The school is small, expensive, and far from home. Should she go anyway or risk reapplying in hopes of a better fit next year? MD/PhD students Michael Arrington, Shruthi Kondaboina, Jessica Smith, and M1 Maria Schapfel weigh the real costs of walking away from an acceptance, from the red flags admissions committees look for to the gamble of getting in again. They get honest about finances, family, and the very unsexy truth about how much the campus “vibe” actually matters. Plus, what to say if you do it anyway. Bonus: the MD/PhD students dish about why they took that road, while Maria counters with why MD is better for her.
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
1 hr 9 min
March 27, 2025 If you’re asking, you might be the a**hole (Recess Rehash)
Life’s grey areas, offered up for internet discussion! Sometimes, you need someone to tell you if you’ve crossed the line. That’s why Reddit’s Am I The A**hole subreddit exists. M2 Holly Hemann brought some med-school themed samples for MD/PhD students Miranda Schene, Faith Prochaska, and PA2 Julie Vuong to react to. How compatible is MMA fighting and med school? Is it okay to get a secret horse? And isn’t an Eagle Scout the same as a doctor when you get right down to it? Let’s talk about all that!
From the discussion:
Admissions: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/10sjyd2/aita_for_almost_ruining_a_friends_med_school/
Scope of Practice: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/emu7yf/aita_i_said_my_husband_shouldnt_try_to_help_sick/
The clinical years: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/gf82i0/aita_for_letting_medical_students_observe_when_im/
Financial aid: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/ofmggp/aita_for_not_telling_my_bf_i_took_out_student/
Career uncertainty: https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/comments/clj8p5/aita_for_accepting_a_1_year_medical_school/
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].
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
1 hr 10 min
March 20, 2025 Prescribing Meet-ups Instead of Meds…it seems to work!
Can Art, Nature, and Community Replace Pills? What if doctors prescribed a painting class instead of or alongside pills? Journalist Julia Hotz, author of The Connection Cure, joins M3 Jeff Goddard, and MD/PhD student Riley Behan-Bush to discuss social prescribing, a growing healthcare movement that treats patients with art, nature, movement, and community rather than just medication. We look at the barriers to making this idea work in the U.S., from insurance hurdles to physician overwork to healthcare’s obsession with quick fixes. But the UK’s social prescribing model reduced ER visits by up to 50%, and it acknowledges loneliness might be as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Can medical students lead the charge toward healthcare that actually reduces physicians’ moral injury?
More about our guest:
https://www.hotzthoughts.com/
https://www.socialprescribing.co/
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Connection-Cure/Julia-Hotz/9781668030332
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
58 min
March 13, 2025 Medfluencers and Patient Education: Helpful or Risky?
How future doctors are navigating social media’s impact on public education. How can a well-meaning medfluencer be sure they’re actually helping? M1 Zach Grissom, M2 Fallon Jung, M3 Jeff Goddard, and M4 Matt Engelken sit down with third-year DO student Nik Bletnitsky to discuss the role of social media in medical education. Current and Future doctors are increasingly using these platforms to share medical knowledge—but, even if you’re careful to offer the best information, what are the hidden dangers?
The conversation covers the sometimes blurry line between education, misinformation, and contradicting someone’s doctor’s advice. How disclaimers work (or don’t), and why the Dunning-Kruger effect can turn a curious patient into an overconfident self-diagnoser.
Should doctors be influencers? Can patients trust what they see online? And is it possible to make medical knowledge accessible without accidentally making things worse?
More about our guest:
@nikbletnitsky https://www.tiktok.com/@nikbletnitsky
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
1 hr 6 min
March 06, 2025 Demand to Be Called ‘Doctor,’ or Let It Slide (AITA)?
Reddit’s “Am I the Asshole?” makes us question everything. It showcases the best and worst in people—and this week, we’re analyzing some choice cases through the lens of med school. M1s Srishti Mathur, Sahana Sarin, Maria Schapfel, and Mahaasrei Ghosh debate whether people in these scenarios are truly in the wrong or just victims of someone having a very bad day. We break down the pressure on pre-meds and med students to do research, the value of publications, and the “gunner” mentality. Is bench research a necessary evil, or are pre-meds wasting their time? When is it appropriate to insist on being called ‘Doctor?’ Is it okay to go nuclear to take someone down a notch when they need it? Is a degree in design and marketing as important as an MD? It’s a chaotic mix of ethics, egos, and existential crises—so strap in.
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
1 hr 7 min
February 27, 2025 Slap Some Moldy Bread On It: Blechardy!
They might know the citric acid cycle, but do med students know what ancient doctors used for pain relief, or the shape of wombat poop? Join us for Blechardy! the trivia game show that involves a certain amount of suffering! Contestants answer medical and pop culture questions—but with potentially disgusting jellybeans that make any actual knowledge meaningless.
This week’s medical student co-hosts: M3 Jeff Goddard, and M1s Cara Arrasmith, Tyler Pollock, and Keeley Carney, with quizmaster Audra King, battle through ancient medicine facts, Iowa trivia, and the weirdest animal knowledge. Who will emerge victorious, and who will regret every bite? We don’t even know, and we were there!
Along the way, we discuss podcast rivalries (should we start fake beef with Joe Rogan?) and the questionable benefits of coffee beans digested by animals. Come for the trivia, stay for the suffering.
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
53 min
February 20, 2025 4 Writers Explain How Telling Stories Makes Better Doctors
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 -- https://medicine.uiowa.edu/md/sites/medicine.uiowa.edu.md/files/wysiwyg_uploads/Balancing%20Act.pdf
Carol Scott-Conner: Beachcombings, A Few Small Moments, Creative Writing for Clinicians -- https://www.amazon.com/stores/Carol-E.-H.-Scott-Conner/author/B001IOBO70
Katie Runde: The Shore: A Novel -- https://a.co/d/e9HUwm8
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
1 hr 4 min

About The Short Coat (Audio): An Inside Look at Getting Into and Getting Through Medical School

From the publisher's feed

The HONEST guide to medical school, featuring real students from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine–skip this show if you’d rather not know (and hate laughter)!