What Brings You In Today?

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...

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...

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 t...

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...

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 medic...

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 spea...

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...

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 educ...

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 wi...

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-Madi...

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 Ti...

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....

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 c...

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...

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 f...

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...

This  episode continues our conversation with the creator of @Memeology. MD, a popular medical meme page on Instagram, about the world of medical memeing. To see first hand how medical memes are made, we challenged @Memeology. MD to create memes with us on the spot using two surprise images. Check out @wbyit_uwsmph and @Memeology. MD on Instagram to see the memes we came up with! Featured music: “...

From #MedTwitter to Instagram, social media has helped create new ways for medical professionals to share their ideas and stories about studying and working in medicine. Medical memes are one such modem for personal and professional expression. Like all memes, memes about medicine and the medical field are meant to be fun and funny, but they also communicate larger truths about our field. In this...

In honor of the new year, we asked four UWSMPH medical students to write about their 2020 and hopes for 2021—and they delivered. Our last episode featured an M1 and an M4 at the very beginning and end of their time in medical school. In part 2 of our 'New Year' series, we talk with an M2 and M3 for whom the new year brings added significance of marking the transition to new phases of med...

2021: oh, how we have been waiting for you! The new year is time for reflection and anticipation, so we asked four medical students from UWSMPH—each in a different year of training—to write about their year, their journey through medical school, and their hopes for 2021.  In part 1 of our ‘New Year’ series, Leah Gruen, a first year student, and Jose Carrillo, a fourth year student, look back at th...

Stories are powerful. They help us connect, energize, and heal. As a Clinical Social Worker at the University of Wisconsin Carbone Cancer Center trained in Dignity Therapy , Jean Ligocki uses the power of storytelling as medicine for patients with terminal illness. In this episode, Jean shares some amazing encounters she has had with patients and their families undergoing Dignity Therapy   as part...

We use a lot of euphemisms to talk about dying: "we are at the end" or "there is nothing more we can do." Maybe because talking about death—and even the word itself—often feels taboo. But for Palliative Care physicians, frank conversations about dying help provide people the end to their story they want and deserve. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Liana Eskola, a Palliative C...

In medical school, we learn about the science of death. We learn about the electrochemical changes in heart cells as EKG waves transition to asystole and the physiology of a failed apnea test in the setting of brain death. But being there in someone’s final moments is something else entirely—something no one teaches us about. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Shoshana Rudin, UWSMPH alumnus and cur...

Compared to other high income countries, the United States pays far more for its healthcare only to suffer worse health outcomes. For health policy experts like Dr. Richard Roberts, working to improve our fragmented healthcare system is a career-long job. In this episode, we talk with Dr. Roberts, a Family Medicine physician and lawyer, about the trials and triumphs of his career in health policy...

Working in the United States healthcare system, we've all seen patients forced to choose between medical care and financial ruin. What toll does the fragmentation and exclusivity of our current healthcare system take on patients? What toll does it take on us? From Obamacare to Bidencare to Medicare For All, how should medical students and physicians begin to think about the future of healthca...