Welcome to MedEd Insights, the podcast where cutting-edge research meets practical application in the world of medical education! Join Shankar and Thomas each episode, as we dive deep into the latest studies and trends with the authors and experts driving innovation in the field. Whether you're an educator, student, or just passionate about the future of healthcare training, our discussions will provide you with valuable insights to stay ahead in this ever-evolving field. So, tune in to discover the state of how we train the next generation of healthcare professionals!
Episode 10: Culture, Not a Program – What Actually Keeps Faculty From Leaving
What does it cost when faculty walk out the door? It has been estimated that burnout-driven physician turnover could cost between $15 to $55 million over just two years. Medicine talks constantly about burnout, but far less about what actually keeps people from leaving.
Dr. Amy Locke, a family medicine physician and co-director of the Resiliency Center at the University of Utah, joins MedEd Insights to discuss her team's study in Academic Medicine. Rather than relying on intent-to-leave surveys, the researchers measured faculty communication, engagement, and well-being across 19 departments (2,084 faculty). They then compared each department's scores with how many faculty actually left over the following academic year.
The effect was large. A roughly 20% higher score on a combined wellness index was associated with a 32% lower turnover rate, and the index explained more than half the variation in turnover between departments. Well-being carried the most weight. Women faculty reported significantly lower well-being and communication scores than men, though the gender difference in turnover itself did not reach statistical significance.
In this episode:
Why intent to leave is a flawed stand-in for actual turnover
Measuring what's working, not just what's broken
Why well-being deserves top priority when budgets are tight
What the gender gap in well-being may be signaling
Why retention is built through culture, not a single program
Article Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40168550/ (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40168550/)
13 Feb 2026
Episode 9: Before You Fail — What Medical Education Gets Wrong About Risk, Readiness, and Rescue
What happens before a medical student fails?
Medical education has become increasingly adept at identifying learners at risk for poor outcomes on high-stakes exams like USMLE Step 1. But far less attention has been paid to how, or when, institutions should intervene.
In this episode of MedEd Insights, we speak with Dr. Meghan Kiefer, Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, about a proactive, competency-informed curriculum designed to support academically vulnerable students before the dedicated study period begins. Drawing on her team’s work evaluating the Comprehensive Basic Sciences Review (CBSR) course, we explore how timing, confidence, and structured support can meaningfully change exam trajectories without delaying graduation.
This conversation goes beyond Step 1 scores to ask deeper questions about readiness, equity, and responsibility in medical education, and what it means to design systems that intervene before struggle becomes failure.
Article Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41388412/ (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41388412/)
20 Jan 2026
Episode 8: The 100-Question Myth — When Reliable Exams Make the Wrong Decision
Medical exams are often judged by one gold standard: reliability.
More questions, higher precision, stronger defensibility. But what if that metric is optimized for the wrong goal?
In this episode of MedEd Insights, host Shankar speaks with Dr. Schauber, Associate Professor of Health Professions Education at the University of Oslo, about a deceptively simple question: If most medical exams are pass/fail, why are they designed using a metric that doesn’t even account for the pass/fail decision?
Drawing from his paper "Challenging the Norm: Length of Exams Determined by Classification Accuracy or Reliability," Dr. Schauber unpacks why reliability almost always pushes exams toward excessive length, and how classification accuracy offers a more honest way to think about misclassification, failure rates, and fairness. Together, we explore the ethical consequences of false passes and false fails, the hidden politics of exam “defensibility,” and what it would mean to design assessments around the decisions that actually matter.
Because sometimes the hardest question in medical education isn’t how precise an exam is, but rather, what decision it’s truly designed to make.
Article link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40467533/ (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40467533/)
13 Jan 2026
Episode 7: Shaken Awake – Twelve Minutes That Change How Doctors Listen
What happens when doctors stop standing, and start lying in the bed?
In this immersive episode of MedEd Insights, we speak with David Engelhard, Director of the Topcare Foundation in the Netherlands, about a striking experiment in medical education: using virtual reality to turn healthcare professionals into patients.
Based on his qualitative study, “You are shaken awake!”, this conversation explores what participants experienced during a 12-minute VR film in which they could not speak, interrupt, or advocate for themselves; only listen as care unfolded around them. What emerged was not cruelty, but something more unsettling: procedural invisibility. Professionals remembered the experience as harsher than it actually was, revealing how emotion, moral discomfort, and power shape memory in clinical practice.
Drawing on Dr. Engelhard’s background in healthcare leadership, refugee advocacy, and Confucian philosophy, we examine:
Why empathy may be less about feeling, and more about attention
Whether this VR experience functions as a leadership intervention, not just an educational tool
How organizational culture, not individual failure, often produces patient harm
Why passivity and silence are central to understanding the patient experience
And why the most radical act in medical education may sometimes be doing nothing at all
This episode is not about technology for its own sake. It’s about what becomes visible when professionals are asked to lie still, long enough to remember what it feels like to depend on someone else’s attention.
🎧 What would change in your practice if you spent twelve minutes there?
Article link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41335557/ (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41335557/)
8 Nov 2025
Episode 6: The Other Voice in the Room — Unpacking the Intruder Paradox
Imposter syndrome has long been framed as a personal flaw, an inner voice whispering that we don’t belong. But what if those doubts aren’t coming from within, but from the system itself?
In this episode of MedEd Insights, we speak with Dr. LaDonna, first author of Introducing the intruder paradox: "It's not the imposter syndrome, it's you don't want me in the field", to explore their groundbreaking study of women physicians and trainees across Canada. Their research introduces the Intruder Paradox: a powerful new lens that reveals how external forces, not internal weakness, often drive feelings of not belonging.
Together, they unpack the stories behind the data, the risks of mislabeling structural exclusion as personal insecurity, and what educators and leaders can do to create a culture where everyone belongs.
If you’ve ever wrestled with imposter feelings, or mentored someone who has, this conversation might just change the way you see the phenomenon altogether.
Article Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40509598/
29 Sept 2025
Episode 5: Co-Signed by AI — The Future of Recommendation Letters in Medicine
Can AI make letters of recommendation stronger, fairer, and less burdensome? Dr. Deborah Bartz joins MedEd Insights to discuss her team’s pioneering framework for integrating generative AI into LOR writing. Together, we unpack the “why” behind this movement, the “how” of practical workflows, and the “what next” of ethical safeguards and future platforms. This episode is about more than technology; it’s about protecting mentorship while reimagining advocacy in academic medicine. Link to article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40127307/ (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40127307/)
22 Jul 2025
Episode 4: Open Fires and Zombie Resistance — The Hidden Rhythms of Advocacy in Medical Training
Why do some trainees speak out while others stay silent -- and how does resistance evolve over time? In this episode of MedEd Insights, we sit down with Dr. Tasha Wyatt to explore her powerful study, “Stoking the fires of professional resistance: Trainees' efforts across time.” Drawing on rich, longitudinal interviews, Dr. Wyatt reveals how advocacy in medical training is not always loud or visible. Sometimes, it smolders underground like a "zombie fire," waiting for the right moment to reignite. From leadership in action to quiet recalibration, we unpack how trainees resist systemic injustice in ways that are principled, adaptive, and deeply human. Tune in to hear how these rhythms of resistance shape professional identity -- and what educators can do to support them.
26 Jun 2025
Episode 3: Redesigning Ortho Education — Inside OrthoACCESS 2.0 with a UChicago Med Student
Medical student discusses OrthoACCESS 2.0, a redesigned national orthopaedic surgery curriculum using a flipped-classroom blended learning model, in this interview episode.
18 Feb 2025
Episode 2: Spaced Repetition in Action: Integrating Anki into Med School Pharmacology
Librarian Juliana Magro discusses her research on integrating Anki flashcards into medical school pharmacology, sharing strategies for efficient card creation and emphasizing accuracy when using AI in education; this is an interview.
25 Oct 2024
Episode 1: Beyond the Books: Rethinking How Med Students Learn
Yale orthopedic resident Dr. [GUEST'S FULL NAME] discusses his groundbreaking study on medical student learning, revealing key differences between traditional curricula and modern student needs in an interview with [HOST'S FULL NAME].
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