Local coverage: Opportunities for third year students in Des Moines

This episode introduces students to the Des Moines Area Medical Education Consortium's group of hospitals,  and the unique opportunities available to third-year students at the Carver College of Medicine who can take advantage of a year-long rotation in Iowa's capital city.  Dr. Steven Craig, the executive director of the DM Consortium, talks with Natalie Ramirez about what the benefits and opportunities exist for M3s in our state's capital city.

Listen now: Opportunities for Third-Year Students in Des Moines.

Episode 021: Match Day!

The Haugsdals compare their match results.

This week, we talk about Match Day, the big day when medical students find out what they'll be doing for the next few years after graduation.  It's a big deal, and to help us make sense of it, CCOM Registrar Damien Ihrig and fourth-years Jaclyn and Michael Haugsdal and Natalie Ramirez sit down to hash it out.  It's both magical and stressful, but at the end you have a job that you love...hopefully.

Listen now to Episode 021: Match Day!

Episode 018: David Oshinksy, PhD, and Polio: An American Story

Polio patients in iron lungs in 1952. Photo: Wikipedia

Today Natalie Ramirez, Zhi Xiong, Mgbechi Erondu and Dave Etler got to hang out with a real Pulitzer winner (!) and a nice man, David Oshinsky, PhD. He is the author of Polio: An American Story. From the papers of Jonas Salk, Albert Sabin, and other key players, Dr. Oshinsky records the U.S. public health crisis of polio and the search for a cure in the early 1950s, a frightening time for all Americans.
Dr. Oshinsky taught 20th century U.S. political and cultural history at Rutgers University before moving to the University of Texas at Austin. His other works include A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy and Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice.

He has a lot to say about one of the greatest public health threats of the 20th Century, what it took to bring it down, and why the fight isn’t over.

Listen to Episode 018: David Oshinksy and Polio: An American Story

Special thanks to Michael Welsh, MD, and the members of the 2012 Distinguished Mentor Award committee for the opportunity!

Dealing with Med Student Stress

A 2006 review of studies on medical student psychological distress suggests that its common for medical students to experience depression and anxiety, more so than in the general population or those in the later years of medical training.  Hello, Captain Obvious.  As our new medical students finish up their first full week of medical school, student Natalie Ramirez and University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics psychiatrist Jodi Tate join us to talk about the stress that medical students face as they begin medical school, and what they can do to take the edge off.  

Listen:  The Short Couch: Dealing with Medical Student Stress