It is not the same as radiology! But believe it or not, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In this episode, we talk about how radiation therapy works, when it is indicated, what treatments look like for patients, and how to generally counsel them about short- and long-term side effects of radiation. At some point in your career you will definitely care for a patient who is getting radiation therapy. Tune in to learn the basics!
Jun 28, 2023•39 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Do you have trouble answering questions about urinary incontinence? There are so many different types, and it can be difficult to diagnose and treat. If so, tune into our latest episode hosted by MS4 Xia Liu on the different types of urinary incontinence. He’ll review the etiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment to help you answer these questions correctly, and more importantly help patients with this very common problem!
Jun 19, 2023•28 min•Season 3Ep. 8
In this short but sweet review on skin cancer, MS3 Julia May reviews the most common types of skin cancer, including their presentation, clinical features, and diagnosis. Tune in to review just how exactly these pesky tumors are tested on the boards.
Jan 18, 2023•17 min•Season 3Ep. 7
In this episode, our newest team members and MS3s Laurel Parker and Kylie Schmitt review the primary and secondary disorders of hemostasis. They’ll talk about the steps and goals of primary and secondary hemostasis, and then get into the nitty gritty of various bleeding disorders. If you have a hard time remembering how bleeding time, platelet count, PT, and PTT are affected by all these disorders, this episode is for you!
Nov 06, 2022•39 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Myasthenia gravis and Lambert Eaton syndrome are two neuromuscular disorders that are commonly tested but can be easily confused due to their similar presentations. In this episode, medical student Divya Patel reviews the separate pathophysiology and presentation of each disease so that you can tell the difference on any exam!
Jun 05, 2022•18 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Aditi Kothari is back to host a thorough review of ascites – how to evaluate, diagnose, and manage ascites from various causes. If you don’t remember how to calculate SAAG, this episode is for you. After tuning in to this episode, you’ll definitely have a belly full of knowledge. Get it?
Apr 10, 2022•31 min•Season 3Ep. 4
What’s the most common type of brain tumor? What’s the most common type of primary brain tumor? In this episode, our newest team member Oliver Mui reviews the presentation and pathophysiology of common brain tumors, including GBM, meningioma, schwannoma, ependymoma, and more. Tune in for a thorough, question-based review of this important USMLE topic!
Mar 27, 2022•26 min•Season 3Ep. 3
Board examiners love to test on cancer drugs, because they’re a great way to connect complex disease presentations to basic biochemical mechanisms and the phases of the cell cycle. In this episode, we’ll review various classes of cancer drugs, their mechanisms, and important adverse effects so that you can build a foundation on which to tackle USMLE level questions surrounding this topic.
Mar 21, 2022•35 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Do you have trouble hearing and interpreting heart sounds? Systolic vs. diastolic murmurs, S3 vs. S4 gallops? In this episode, we’ll review strategies on how to listen to common heart sounds so you’re no longer intimidated by this topic on board questions or rounds. This episode pairs well with our Season 2 episode on Valvular Heart Diseases, which delves deeper into the physiology of common heart murmurs. Welcome to Season 3 of the podcast!
Mar 13, 2022•37 min•Season 3Ep. 1
We’re celebrating our season finale through a collaboration with hosts of a medical humanities podcast, What Brings You in Today! Leigh Burman & Mayra Betancourt Ponce host an interactive episode on bacterial endocarditis, reviewing the pathophysiology, presentation, and management of both acute and subacute presentations of bacterial endocarditis. Tune in for a thorough review of this highly tested topic, and definitely check out the WBYIT podcast for an entertaining and enriching study bre...
Dec 19, 2021•38 min•Season 2Ep. 30
Electrolyte repletion is a rather well-known task typically assigned to medicine and surgery interns on a patient’s primary team. The specifics surrounding dose and formulation are things you will quickly pick up on the job, but as a medical student it is probably more valuable to understand the importance of managing electrolytes, as well as the consequences of dysregulated electrolyte levels. In this episode we review exactly that, covering the ins and outs of potassium, magnesium, phosphorus,...
Dec 12, 2021•46 min•Season 2Ep. 29
Cardiac arrest can be a harrowing phenomenon to witness both within and outside of a hospital. Advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) is a set of clinical guidelines used in managing cardiac arrest. Most residency programs will introduce their trainees to the basics of ACLS, but even as a medical student it is very important to understand the purpose of ACLS and the elements involved in delivering life-saving care. The goal of this episode is to review the components of the ACLS algorithm and disc...
Nov 28, 2021•51 min•Season 2Ep. 28
Join us for a review of some commonly seen and commonly tested biliary and pancreatic disorders. MS4 Anisha Reddy navigates through some representative vignettes, making sure to highlight key concepts and clinical pearls throughout the episode. This topic is a staple for your GI content review!
Nov 21, 2021•35 min•Season 2Ep. 27
If you have a hard time remembering all the hormones as they pertain to menstruation and pregnancy, this episode is a perfect review for you. MS4 Julie Eggleton hosts this comprehensive overview of reproductive physiology in an engaging, Q&A format.
Sep 27, 2021•27 min•Season 2Ep. 26
Anisha Reddy is back to host an enlightening episode on the physiology of bilirubin and many of the related disorders! Do you ever get confused by any of the following? Breast milk vs. breast feeding jaundice? Dubin-Johnson vs. Crigler-Najjar? Primary biliary vs. sclerosing cholangitis? This is your time to clarify and solidify these concepts.
Sep 12, 2021•27 min•Season 2Ep. 25
Our newest team member Drashti Patel hosts a brief but comprehensive episode reviewing pleural effusions, a commonly encountered phenomenon in practice and on tests. If you’d like to solidify concepts such as Light’s Criteria for transudative vs. exudative effusions, this episode is made for you!
Sep 06, 2021•17 min•Season 2Ep. 24
Sepsis is another bread-and-butter topic in medicine, and it is guaranteed to appear on boards as well in the hospital. Patients with sepsis are sick and have the potential to quickly decompensate, so timely and thorough management is key. In this episode, we’ll review the diagnostic criteria for sepsis and discuss strategies for management of sepsis. Let’s make sepsis less scary so you feel confident on your next encounter!
Aug 29, 2021•30 min•Season 2Ep. 23
We are so excited to introduce the Clinical Concepts series! In these episodes, we’re taking our content review up a level so that material is geared more towards clinical rotations and the Step 2 exam. With Clinical Concepts, we’ll focus more on diagnostic and treatment strategies for various disease processes, while integrating basic concepts from Anatomy and Physiology when applicable. Tune into our first episode on atrial fibrillation to review how atrial fibrillation presents, how it is dia...
Aug 15, 2021•32 min•Season 2Ep. 22
Cardiac pathophysiology can be one of the hardest topics to master in medical school. We’re lucky to have MS4 Anisha Reddy help out in this area by reviewing some of the basics of valvular heart disease. We’ll present lots of vignettes, provide some pearls, and cover these diseases the way they are tested on boards.
Aug 08, 2021•31 min•Season 2Ep. 21
Prostate Cancer is the most common cancer (that’s not skin cancer) in men. In this episode, MS3 Gary Price reviews the diagnosis, pathophysiology, characteristics, and treatment of prostate cancer. Parts of this review transcend the scope of Step 1, but don’t worry because we’ll be sure to hone in on what’s important for the boards while giving you a comprehensive overview of the topic.
Jun 20, 2021•46 min•Season 2Ep. 20
MS3 Tiana DiMasi is back to host an episode reviewing some of the most common neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s, frontotemporal dementia, Lewy body dementia, vascular dementia, and more. We’ll also cover some common medical conditions that can masquerade as neurodegenerative disorders. Get excited for a thorough review!
Jun 13, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 19
Opioids are very important in clinical practice because of their crucial use and frequent abuse. The topic is difficult to understand, but can be easily mastered once conceptually understood. In this episode, MS4 Aditi Kothari provides an overview of opioids, including their mechanisms, uses, adverse effects, and management of abuse. As always, we will ask several questions along the way to reinforce important concepts.
Jun 06, 2021•19 min•Season 2Ep. 18
Step 1 Season is among us! This episode is meant to provide a little motivation and perspective for anyone who needs it in the days and weeks leading up to the exam.
May 30, 2021•16 min•Season 2Ep. 17
MS4 Waneeza Mughees is back with an episode on gynecological malignancies! In this episode, we’ll review several topics including molar pregnancies, choriocarcinoma, as well as ovarian, vaginal, vulvar, and breast tumors. We’ll be reviewing questions in a case-based, Q&A format, so get ready to participate!
May 23, 2021•26 min•Season 2Ep. 16
Future Neurosurgeon & current MS4 Lohit Velagapudi dissects the topic of stroke in an easy, fun, and approachable way. We’ll talk through the pathophysiology of stroke, and then cover commonly tested stroke syndromes based on their location, blood supply, and clinical presentation. This topic is definitely a brainy one, but nothing we can’t handle with a step by step approach and some fun mnemonics.
May 16, 2021•35 min•Season 2Ep. 15
Placental disorders all sound similar and can be really confusing. In this episode, hosted by MS3 Waneeza Mughees, we will break down placental abruption, placenta accreta, vasa previa, and placenta previa with the high-yield buzzwords for each so you can get these right every time on your exams and in practice!
May 09, 2021•13 min•Season 2Ep. 14
Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis are relatively common in patients, and they pop up frequently on the boards! There are a lot of specific findings associated with each Crohn’s and UC, and there are also a lot of overlapping findings. The two diseases can be easily confused, and it’s really important to be able to distinguish the two. In this episode, we’ll try to do just that with both silly mnemonics and some physiological explanations. As always, it’s all about understanding concepts and...
May 02, 2021•33 min•Season 2Ep. 13
Cirrhosis is such a cool topic (if your definition of cool = highly nerdy) because damage to the liver has systemic effects that involve nearly every organ. In this episode, we’ll review the pathophysiology of cirrhosis and how this relates to physical exam and lab findings, as well as some common complications of cirrhosis that you should be aware of. We won’t cover everything as this is a very broad topic with so many possible sequelae, but if you’re studying cirrhosis, at least know this!...
Apr 25, 2021•37 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Do you remember anything about renal physiology? We hope so! But just in case you’d like a review, in this episode we’ll cover the basics of the nephron in the context of diuretic drug actions. We’ll touch on the mechanisms, adverse effects, and uses of the major classes of diuretic agents. This will be a big picture overview of a quite complex and intricate topic, but hopefully you’ll take away some key points that help you not just for the test, but also in clinical practice.
Apr 18, 2021•30 min•Season 2Ep. 11
There’s at least 20 different types of vasculitis. We won’t go through all of them, but we’ll definitely hit some of the most common ones which you should be familiar with for the boards and the wards. As always, it’s about having a good mental map to organize the diseases into different classes. We’ll classify vasculitis based on small, medium, and large vessel diseases and try to help ingrain concepts with some silly mnemonics and a rapid-fire review at the end. Don’t worry if it doesn’t stick...
Apr 11, 2021•35 min•Season 2Ep. 10
