The Short Coat: An Inside Look at Getting Into and Getting Through Medical School
The longest running med school podcast, The Short Coat features a variety cast of medical students from the University of Iowa, offering is a brutally honest look at medicine, med school, and what life is like here at the margins of medicine. Skip this show if you'd prefer not to know and hate laughter.
Our opinions and those of guests are definitely not those of the University of Iowa, the state of Iowa, or anyone else. Try not to get your stethoscope in a twist about it!
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 58 minutes
- Episodes
- 411
- Years Active
- 2018 - 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…
01:04:07 |
Thu 24 Apr 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…
01:02:07 |
Thu 17 Apr 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…
01:13:58 |
Thu 10 Apr 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 …
01:08:15 |
Thu 03 Apr 2025
If you’re asking, you might be the a**hole (Recess Rehash)
[Because of Spring Break, instead of a new episode you can enjoy this re-run! If NPR can do it, so can we. We’ll be back next week.]
Life’s grey areas, offered up for internet discussion
Some…
01:09:10 |
Thu 27 Mar 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…
00:57:18 |
Thu 20 Mar 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, an…
01:05:59 |
Thu 13 Mar 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 Mathu…
01:06:40 |
Thu 06 Mar 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 cer…
00:52:51 |
Thu 27 Feb 2025
4 Writers Explain How Telling Stories Makes Better Doctors
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. Ca…
01:03:01 |
Thu 20 Feb 2025
First Semester Med School: What Worked, What Failed, and How We Fixed It.
Anki? Lecture notes? Study groups? Med students spill the truth about what actually works. First semester of med school is like eating a never-ending stack of pancakes—it’s fast, overwhelming, and it…
01:05:47 |
Thu 13 Feb 2025
Into the Deep End: Surviving Our First Clinical Rotations (Tips and Tricks!)
What happens when medical students trade books for the chaos of real patient care? They spent months and months learning medicine from books. Then suddenly, they were thrown into hospitals with real …
01:03:31 |
Thu 06 Feb 2025
When Your Partner is in Med School… What You Need to Know
In this episode, host Dave Etler has been (kidnapped? It's unclear) and replaced by his grumpy brother Dominic Etler, MD, Harvard, Class of '96. Confused M1s Megan Perry, Jay Miller, Cara Arrasmith, …
00:52:56 |
Thu 30 Jan 2025
The Secret to Getting Better Health Care: Be Different
Do Patients Have to Perform to Be Taken Seriously in Medicine? How does "respectability politics" play out in healthcare, and specifically, pain management? PA1 Chloe Kepros, M1 Zach Grissom, M1 Sri…
00:57:19 |
Thu 23 Jan 2025
Placentas, Prostates, and Purple Goggles
The rollercoaster of medical school transitions is hitting some peaks, from the first nerve-wracking days of clerkships to the unglamorous realities of OB-GYN rotations. M3 Elvire Nguepnang, M2 Gizzy…
01:01:49 |
Thu 16 Jan 2025
Shocking betrayals, sure fire blindness, niche community drama (Recess Rehash)
It’s a freestyle episode…can’t we just have a rambling conversation? Sometimes it’s nice to just sit down and have a rambling conversation. That’s this episode, with MD/PhD students Madi Wahlen and …
01:05:09 |
Thu 09 Jan 2025
New MD and PA Students: Why Medicine? (Recess Rehash)
Med Students discuss their “Why Medicine?” answers. Dave welcomes newly minted medical and PA students at the Carver College of Medicine to share their first-week experiences and the challenges of ad…
00:48:53 |
Thu 02 Jan 2025
Stay or Run, Back from the Brink, Allopath v. Osteopath: Answering Listener Questions!
5 listener questions ANSWERED! Dave Etler is joined by co-hosts MD/PhD student Riley Behan-Bush, and M1s Zach Elias and Demir Tuken, and M3 Hend Al-Kaylani to tackle a backlog of listener questions. …
01:06:11 |
Thu 26 Dec 2024
Don’t Drop Your Hobbies, Doc!
You need things to keep you grounded, so keep those hobbies going, or find some. We've said it before, we'll say it again: studying medicine will consume everything if you let it...so don't let it. …
01:01:24 |
Thu 19 Dec 2024
Dark Humor in Medicine, Family Expectations, and The Inviolable “Zone”
Once again, we decide who's the asshole. Dave is joined MD/PhD students Riley Behan-Bush and Miranda Schene, M3 Jeff Goddard, PA2 Julie Vuong, and M2 Holly Hemann for yet another AITA episode on humo…
01:06:28 |
Thu 12 Dec 2024
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