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. Carol Scott-Conner, a surgeon, poet, and editor of The Examined Life Journal; Katie Runde, a novelist exploring themes of love and loss; Jeff Goddard, an M3 medical student and soon-to-be-published author; and Linda Peng, a sci-fi writer and Bowman Prize-winning author. They discuss the challenges of writing about real patients while maintaining ethical boundaries, the impact of narrative medicine on medical education, and why residency often leaves little time for self-reflection even though that's where it can be most helpful. Plus, they break down the blurred line between fiction and lived experience in writing and whether good storytelling requires personal experience. No matter why doctors, patients, and medical students write, it's a powerful tool that can sooth some of healthcare's most difficult problems where the participants' humanity and the system come together.

Om Podcasten

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!