We’re kicking off spooky season by exploring fear in medicine. In this episode, Dr. Helen Salisbury shares her essay titled “Reasons to be Fearful.” She also talks with us about different sources of fear health care providers face, the many ways in which fear presents itself in medicine, and what we can do to address fear in ourselves and others.
In this episode, we explore extracurriculars in medical school by chatting with leaders of two student organizations at UW SMPH, Scrubs Addressing the Firearm Epidemic (SAFE) and PRIDE in Healthcare. We chat about their work, why it’s important to them, and how they balance it with medical education.
To kick off Season 3 of What Brings You In Today , we are exploring hobbies and extracurriculars in medical school. In this episode, we talk to Mallory, Megan, and Sarah about their hobby of rock climbing, and to Sammie about her hobby of painting Disney silhouettes. We discuss the foundations of their hobbies, the challenges of maintaining them throughout their medical training, the fulfillment that they provide, and the connections they inspire.
Happy Pride Month! In this episode, we talk with Micah Larson (they/them), a recently graduated medical student from UWSMPH about their experiences in medical school. We explore the highs and lows of medical school, the challenges and joys of being a queer person in medicine, and hopes for the future. If you're interested in resources for LGBTQ+ folks both in and outside of medicine, check out: World Professional Association for Transgender Healthcare ( www.wpath.org ) UCSF Transgender Care ( ww...
Stories help us better connect with patients, build community with our peers, and process our own experiences in healthcare. In this episode, we continue our exploration of story-telling in medicine by talking with Thor Ringler, a writer who works for the My Life, My Story project at the Madison VA. He discusses the scope and logistics of the program, reflects on the richness these stories provide to patient experiences and care, and even shares two stories from real patients.
Stories are fundamental to what it means to be human and to be human in medicine. Stories help us understand our patients, find community amongst our peers, and make sense of the challenges and joys of being in medicine. A few weeks ago, the power of stories was put on display at the Night of Storytelling, a live storytelling event organized by the Gold Humanism Honor Society at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. At this event, we heard compelling stories from six ...
In our second episode this month, we continue our conversation about alternative career paths in medicine. We had the pleasure of talking with Greg Raupp, a third year medical student at University of Wisconsin SMPH who trained as a social worker and joined the National Guard prior to starting medical school. He discusses his motivations for pursuing medical training, experiences with transitioning back into a student role, and lessons learned along the way. He also reflects on his ideal career ...
In this episode exploring alternative paths in medicine, we had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Seema Yasmin, an Emmy-award winning journalist, author, medical doctor, and professor. We discussed her multifaceted career and all the transition points she encountered along the way. She covers her journey from clinical practice, to public health work as an EIS officer, to journalism, authorship, and professorship. We talk about how scary it can be to “step off the conveyor belt” in the world of medical...
From Monday, when students learned if they had matched, to Friday, when they gathered with family, friends, and peers to celebrate where they matched, it was a week full of emotions. In this Post-Match Day episode, Kate, Karina, and Luke return to tell us about their Match Day experience and final thoughts on the excitement and anxieties surrounding this process. We recognize that people experienced this week in many different ways, but regardless of Match Day results, the WBYIT team wants to co...
On Match Day, medical students around the country find out their residency training placements. While Match Day is usually a day full of celebration, it’s preceded by months of application preparation, long interview days, hard decision making, and uncertainty. In this Pre-Match Day episode, we talk to three fourth-year medical students at UWSMPH, Kate Lauer, Karina Barretto, and Luke Richard, about how the last few months leading up to the Match have been for them. Tune back for our next episod...
The Solidarity Week for Compassionate Patient Care is a nationwide celebration organized by the Gold Humanism Honor Society (GHHS) that promotes clinician-patient relationships based on caring, personalization, and mutual respect. This year, UWSMPH was one of over 50 medical schools to participate in the week-long celebration. As part of the events, GHHS asked medical students to reflect on what they are grateful for in medical school. From little pleasures like food and music, to the relationsh...
In this special Valentine’s Day episode, we’re talking about love in medicine! As medical students, we spend so much time and energy focusing on our careers but of equal importance is growing and maintaining relationships outside of the hospital. What is it like to navigate life milestones like getting married or having children while in medical school? In what ways does medicine make relationships more challenging, and in what ways does it make them stronger? What’s it like to have a partner in...
In part 2 of our series "Doctors as Patients," we continue to explore how medical students and residents with chronic illness navigate training within a field that often places value on able-bodiedness. We chat with fourth year medical students and co-founders of the Disability Advocacy Coalition (DAC) student organization at UW SMPH: Wendy Sun, Kimberly Rosenthal, and Athena Wilson. Started in Fall 2021, DAC aims to establish a space for students struggling with medical school to talk about the...
This episode discusses mental health, depression, and suicide. National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800-273-8255 In medical training, we are taught how to provide care for others: we learn to communicate clearly, perfect physical exam skills, elicit a thorough history, and more. Far less discussed, though, is how medical trainees navigate their own medical and psychiatric care in an environment where stigma and limited personal time often make asking for help difficult. In the first episode of o...
Our ability to grow and learn from error is as human as the errors themselves. For part 3 of our series on Failure in Medicine, we focus on how medical trainees and professionals can better learn from their mistakes. We talk with Dr. Peter Weir, whose work in health system innovation within the departments of Family & Preventive Medicine and Population Health Sciences at the University of Utah inspired his piece entitled “How to Learn from Failure” outlining common types of failure medical t...
While many medical students struggle academically at some point during their training, open conversations about failing exams or courses are few and far between. For part 2 of our series on failure in medicine, we talk with Percy Takyi, a current third year medical student at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, who speaks boldly about not passing one his first year medical school courses. Percy's desire to discuss his academic struggles eventually inspired him to create a podcast entit...
Humanity and human interactions make medicine beautiful, but they also make error and failure inevitable parts of the field. Failures in medicine range from struggles on medical school exams and pimp questions to medical error, and in each of these situations, we benefit ourselves and our patients by treating “failures” as opportunities to learn and grow rather than as shameful secrets. Within a three part series on Failure in Medicine, we explore medicine’s deep-seated discomfort with “failure”...
Technology has changed the way we practice medicine—from electronic medical records and virtual video appointments to social media providing online communities for patients and medical professionals alike. Technology has also changed how medical professionals apply for and complete their medical training. In this episode, we speak with Maggie Waters, a first year medical student at the University of Colorado, about social media’s role in her journey to medicine, and how she now uses Instagram an...
As part 1 of a series of episodes exploring the complex roles for technology and social media in medicine, we take a deep dive into a relatively new social media platform: TikTok. TikTok is a video-sharing social media service where users post short videos, either using their own audio or short, popular audio clips. In the last few years, Tik Tok has become an increasingly popular space for medical professionals at various stages of training to share knowledge, humor, and reflections. We wanted ...
As an internal medicine resident at the University of California, San Fransisco, Dr. Emily Silverman created the Nocturnists, a narrative medicine podcast and live show that strives to use the power of storytelling to cultivate community and improve the field of medicine. The Nocturnists was one of our biggest influences in starting WBYIT, and we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Silverman for this episode. Dr. Silverman tells us about her own inspirations for the Noc...
We begin Season 2 by talking with the people at the beginning of their medical school journeys: the new M1s at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. The first year of medical school brings excitement, pride, uncertainty, hope, and fear as students explore who they want to be in and outside of medicine. In this episode, you’ll hear from M1s about their first few weeks of school and from several M2s, M3s, and M4s as well as the PedsAdmit team offering advice and best wi...
To a lot of medical students, the thought of taking an improv class might seem initially terrifying, then intriguing, and then terrifying again. Our guest in this episode, Dr. Amy Zelenski, Assistant Professor within the Department of Internal Medicine at UWSMPH, designed and teaches an elective entitled “Improvisational Theater for Health Professionals” as part of her work developing medical education curricula focused on empathy and storytelling. With a background in acting, Dr. Zelenski combi...
From physician comedians like Ken Jeong and Adam Kay to sitcoms like Scrubs , there’s a long tradition of overlap between the worlds of comedy and medicine. While medical students and professionals take seriously the gravity of caring for patients, comedy writing allows us to capture the fun, goofy, and humorous sides of medicine as parts of the wide array of emotions and experiences that come with this career. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Fredrick Martyn, a current family medicine resident...
This episode contains content related to mental health and depression. National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800-273-8255 While medical students experience high levels of burnout, anxiety, and depression, they are less likely to seek help than their age-matched peers. In this episode, Anqi Gao talks with Lia Warbasse, a psychologist within Mental Health Services at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who primarily works with PA, PT, and medical students. Throughout her time working with healthcar...
This episode contains content related to mental health and depression. National Suicide Prevention Hotline: 800-273-8255 1 in 4 medical students around the world reports depressive symptoms or depression at some point during medical school. Despite high rates of mental illness amongst medical trainees, students face barriers to care including stigma and lack of access. In her piece “The Gift of Time,” Dr. Priya Roy, an internal medicine resident at the University of Wisconsin, shares her experie...
From anatomical drawings to narrative medicine, there’s a long tradition of overlap between medicine and the visual arts—a tradition that Dr. Shirlene Obuobi, an Internal Medicine Resident at the University of Chicago and creator of Shirlywhirlmd, embodies. Dr. Obuobi is both a physician and a graphic artist who uses her love for drawing, comics, and writing to convey her experiences in medicine. Dr. Obuobi shares her comics on her widely popular social media accounts and website (links below), ...
From studying powerpoint slides to UWorld questions, healthcare training doesn’t always leave room for creativity—and students notice. In parts 1 and 2 of our series on creativity in medicine, we’ve seen that creativity means something different to everyone, and our individual creativity is by definition unique and personal. For part 3, we wanted to hear how healthcare students specifically stay creative in this field, so we asked our classmates and friends to submit recordings telling or showin...
There’s a term in positive psychology called the “flow state” that describes the unique, entrancing feeling of total captivation and absorption in a project or activity. Whether it’s from watching a new movie, writing, painting, or scientific research, in the flow state, we feel energized yet relaxed, hyperfocused yet enjoying every moment, so fully immersed that all sense of time is lost. The day to day realities of medical training often feel incompatible with flow state, but for Dr. Joshua Me...
In medical school school, we get really good at knowing the facts—at answering questions on rounds and picking A instead of B, C, or D. The parts of our brains that love learning new things flourish in med school, but other parts, the parts that are creative and abstract, seem to get pushed to the side. Creativity isn’t generally emphasized in medical training, but the more time we spend in this field, the more apparent it becomes that creativity is essential for dealing with the complex, scient...
Memes may seem like all fun and games, but, like other forms of narrative medicine, medical memes discuss important themes and problems medical students face, revealing the medical student experience in a fun and palatable form. In this episode, we talk with medical anthropologist and psychiatry resident at Duke University, Dr. Yekki Song, who studies the meaning and common threads behind medical memes on Reddit.
