If reading makes better docs, these guys will be incredible.

What if the cure for doctor-speak was actually just… reading more books? This week M1s Anna Royer, Sophia Hueser, Gwen Sewell, and Ellie Johnson have a genuinely great conversation about what it means to be a reader in med school. They dig into audiobooks vs reading brain research (turns out your brain basically doesn’t care, per a possibly unvetted Instagram-posted study that may or may not have been published in JAMA), why narrative medicine is big in medical education, and how the habit of losing yourself in someone else’s story might be the best training you can get for actually understanding their patients. If you’re a pre-med or pre-PA student wondering whether your English minor or your tattered copy of When Breath Becomes Air has any business being on your application, this episode will make you feel very seen.

The crew also gets into something that doesn’t come up nearly enough in medical education: the real stakes of clinical documentation language and substance use disorder stigma. For example, writing “patient denies alcohol use” versus “patient reports no alcohol use” is not a small stylistic choice — it’s the kind of thing that shapes how the next provider sees a real human being, and now that patients can read their own notes, the pressure is on in a whole new way. Plus the group shares their full reading lists across good books, fun books, and smart books, and makes a genuinely compelling case for why reading and empathy in medicine aren’t soft skills — they’re the whole job. Grab your books for medical students TBR list and hit play.

Episode credits:

Producer: Ellie Johnson

Co-hosts: Anna Royer, Gwen Sewell, Sophia Hueser

The views and opinions expressed on this podcast belong solely to the individuals who share them. They do not represent the positions of the University of Iowa, the Carver College of Medicine, or the State of Iowa. All discussions are intended for entertainment purposes only and should not be taken as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Nothing said on this podcast should be used to diagnose, treat, or prevent any medical condition. Always seek qualified professional guidance for personal decisions.

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