

The Curbsiders Internal Medicine Podcast
The Curbsiders Internal Medicine Podcast
Supercharge your learning and enhance your practice with this Internal Medicine Podcast featuring board certified Internists as they interview the experts to bring you clinical pearls, practice-changing knowledge, and bad puns. Doctors Matthew Watto, Paul Williams, and friends (a national network of students, residents, and clinician-educators) deliver a little knowledge food for your brain hole. Yummy! No boring lectures here, just high-value content and a healthy dose of humor. Fantastic for Internal Medicine, Family Medicine, Primary Care, and Hospital Medicine.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 7, 2020 • 58min
#212 Inpatient Alcohol Withdrawal: Sober Talk with Joji Suzuki, MD
Crush those 11 pm “STAT: Patient agitated” pages with this expert guide to assessing for and treating alcohol withdrawal! Dr. Joji Suzuki MD, addiction psychiatrist extraordinaire at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, walks us through how to think about the risk of severe withdrawal, the different ways to manage it, and how to engage with patients as they’re leaving the hospital. In the course of this Car-Talk (well, not exactly the same as the critically acclaimed radio show, but he did record in his car….), Dr. Suzuki demystifies withdrawal and debunks some common myths: that we must manage withdrawal inpatient, that banana bags are the cure to a hangover and alcoholic malnutrition, and that we tend to under-medicate with benzos (actually, it’s the opposite!).
Show Notes | Spotify | Swag! | Top Picks | Mailing List | thecurbsiders@gmail.com | CME
Credits
Written and Produced by Nora Taranto MD
Infographic and Cover Art by: Nora Taranto MD
Hosts: Matthew Watto MD, FACP; Paul Williams MD, FACP
Editor: Cyrus Askin MD, Matthew Watto MD (written materials); Clair Morgan of nodderly.com
Guest: Joji Suzuki MD
Sponsor: VCU Health CE
Time Stamps
00:00 Intro, disclaimer, guest bio
02:52 Guest one-liner; Career advice; Picks of the Week*: Why We Do What We Do (book); Fargo (film)
08:10 A Case from Kashlak and Screening for Alcohol Use and Severe Withdrawal Risk
17:32 Outpatient Versus Inpatient Treatment
25:27 Gabapentin for alcohol withdrawal
27:10 Indicators for ICU level Care
31:53 Symptom-Driven versus Fixed-Dose Protocols , Benzos vs. Barbs
36:55 And which benzo?
39:47 A Natural History of Withdrawal
44:10 Banana Bags and Thiamine Deficiency
48:17 The Transition Home: Naltrexone, Bridge Clinics, and Motivational Interviewing
56:36 Outro and Bonus clip

May 1, 2020 • 50min
#211 COVID Cakes: Remdesivir, Anticoagulation, and Transmission
In this episode we tackle treatment with remdesivir, management with anticoagulation, and presymptomatic transmission. Welcome back to COVID Cakes, a rundown of recent COVID articles and news stories. What does the latest Gilead medication have to offer? Why should we wear masks? And if you thought 6 feet was THE safe distance…we’ve got some bad news about running. But it’s not all bad! We’re joined by everyone’s favorite Curbsider/Internist/Epidemiologist, Rahul Ganatra MD MPH (@rbganatra), who provides critical appraisal of the newest COVID-19 treatment article. Pull up a chair, bring your own syrup, and join us!
Show Notes | Spotify | Swag! | Top Picks | Mailing List | thecurbsiders@gmail.com | CME!
Credits
Producer: Sarah P. Roberts MPH, Rahul Ganatra MD MPH, Emi Okamoto MD
Writer: Emi Okamoto MD, Rahul Ganatra MD MPH,
Cover Art: Chris Chiu MD
Hosts: Chris Chiu MD, Rahul Ganatra MD MPH, Emi Okamoto MD
Editor: Matthew Watto MD (written materials); Clair Morgan of nodderly.com
Sponsors: Apollohct.com and VCU Health CE
Time Stamps
00:30 Intro, disclaimer
02:30 Picks of the Week
6:36 Remdesivir trial rundown
21:52 Thrombosis in COVID-19
29:50 Asymptomatic/Presymptomatic transmission
41:42 Quick takes
49:00 Outro

6 snips
Apr 27, 2020 • 1h 14min
#210 Kidney Transplant for the Internist with Freely Filtered (NephMadness)
It’s NephMadness! Get inside the black box of transplant medicine as we discuss: Kidney transplant for the internist. Join Dr. Cyrus Askin, @askins_razor, one of our Curbsiders Correspondents, as he teams up with the fine folks from the Freely Filtered Podcast led by Dr. Samira Farouq, @ssfarouk, a Mount Sinai transplant nephrologist. Topics: indications for kidney transplant, immunosuppressive agents, what to watch out for in your post-transplant patients and so much more! Show Notes | Subscribe | Spotify | Swag! | Top Picks | Mailing List | thecurbsiders@gmail.com | CME
Credits
Written and Produced by: Cyrus Askin MD, Matthew Watto MD and the Freely Filtered Crew
Infographic: Cyrus Askin MD
Cover Art: Kate Grant MBChB DipGUMed
Hosts: Cyrus Askin MD, Joel Topf MD, Samira Farouk MD, Swapnil Hiremath MD, Jennie Lin MD & Matt Sparks MD
Editor: Matthew Watto MD (written materials); Clair Morgan of nodderly.com
Sponsor: VCU Health CE
Time Stamps
00:00 Announcement, Intro to Freely Filtered and NephMadness
04:00 Case of advanced CKD; Who/when to refer for transplant
12:05 Benefits of renal transplant
16:22 Counseling patients with advanced CKD about transplant and a bit on living donors
20:40 Medications after transplant; Drug-drug interactions
25:50 Dr. Sparks’ 30 second exam for the transplant patient; Diarrheal illness
32:07 Calcineurin inhibitor levels
36:42 Prophylaxis for long term complications
40:21 Allograft rejection; BAMF criteria
50:40 Cardiovascular risk; Statins
56:11 Malignancy after kidney transplant
60:00 NephMadness Transplant Region: Biomarkers vs Biopsy
72:23 Outro

Apr 23, 2020 • 52min
#209 LIVE! Twitter, Social Media and Digital Scholarship
LIVE! from VCU, we discuss why and how to use Twitter and other Social Media platforms as a clinician educator. Guest Michelle Brooks MD (@michellebrooksMD, VCU) shares her Twitter origin story along with pearls on how to use Twitter for digital scholarship #meded, networking and how to stay out of trouble on social media. Show Notes | Spotify | Swag! | Top Picks | Mailing List | thecurbsiders@gmail.com | Free CME!
Credits
Written and Produced by: Matthew Watto MD, FACP
Infographic: Michelle Brooks MD
Cover Art: Matthew Watto MD, FACP
Hosts: Stuart Brigham MD; Matthew Watto MD, FACP; Paul Williams MD, FACP
Editor: Clair Morgan of nodderly.com
Guest: Michelle Brooks MD
Sponsor: VCU Health CE
Time Stamps
00:00 Guest one liner, favorite failure, career advice,
08:08 Picks of the week*: Culture Code (book) by Daniel Coyle; Crucial Conversations (book); Teaching Naked (book); Dark Crystal (Netflix series); The Outsider (HBO series)
11:23 Case of Sosh Al Media; Landscape of social media; Control your digital footprint; Public vs Private profiles
23:04 Negative aspects of social media
26:44 How to utilize Twitter for medical education; Twitter basics; Milton Packer
37:14 Pros and Cons of #medtwitter
42:02 Tweetorials
44:28 Audience questions: Repercussions from posting on social media; Social Media fellowships; Advocacy on social media
51:34 Outro

Apr 20, 2020 • 1h 9min
#208 Hypothyroidism Master Class with Susan Mandel MD - How to dominate the diagnosis and management
Fall in love with the thyroid all over again, as we deconstruct hypothyroidism with thyroid expert, Susan Mandel MD, MPH (PENN). We review common causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment and how these may differ for those who are Pregnant, over age 65, or have existing Heart disease. Plus, Dr Mandel schools us on her approach to treatment with levothyroxine (T4), and even explains when she trials liothyronine (T3) replacement! Warm up those thumbs for the thyroid exam...it’s on!
Show Notes | Subscribe | Spotify | Swag! | Top Picks | Mailing List | thecurbsiders@gmail.com | Free CME!
Credits
Written and Produced by: Elena Gibson MD
Cover art and Infographic by: Dr Kate Grant MBChb MRCGP
Hosts: Stuart Brigham MD; Matthew Watto MD, FACP; Paul Williams MD, FACP
Editor: Emi Okamoto (written materials); Clair Morgan of nodderly.com
Guest: Susan Mandel MD, MPH
Sponsor: VCU Health CE
Time Stamps
00:00 Intro, disclaimer, guest bio
02:43 Guest one-liner; Pick of the week: Waiting for Godot (Play); Favorite Failure; Career Advice
09:40 Case from Kashlak Part one; Hypothyroidism signs and symptoms
13:20 When to Test for Hypothyroidism
17:43 Biotin interaction
19:49 Which thyroid tests should we order?
26:15 Subclinical hypothyroidism
29:00 Etiology/Types of hypothyroidism
33:30 Case from Kashlak Part two; Initial Medication dosing; Physical Exam
37:10 Levothyroxine replacement time of administration
42:10 TSH goal
46:00 Levothyroxine manufacturers
48:33 Dosing in older adults
50:27 T3 treatment
56:52 Pregnancy
59:42 Dose adjustments
61:43 Estrogen and thyroid binding protein
63:33 Who needs a referral?
65:40 Plugs, Outro

Apr 16, 2020 • 43min
#207 How to create a medical podcast: Tales from The Curbside
Welcome to The Curbsiders tutorial on how to create your own medical podcast. @doctorwatto and @paulnwilliamz walk you through how to conceptualize your podcast, build your team, choose your equipment and the basics of how to setup hardware and software recording. Be sure to browse the accompanying show notes for a true step-by-step guide complete with links to videos, web pages, and blog posts that we found helpful when starting our show. If it’s not in this document, then it can easily be found on YouTube, or via a Google search. Show Notes | Spotify | Swag! | Top Picks | Mailing List | thecurbsiders@gmail.com
Credits
Written and produced by: Matthew Watto MD
Cover art and Infographic by Matthew Watto MD
Hosts: Matthew Watto MD and Paul Williams MD
Editor: Clair Morgan of Nodderly.com
Time Stamps
00:00 Announcement, Intro, Disclaimer
02:53 Our top podcasting pearls
07:01 Find your niche
09:46 Logistics
13:25 Business, finances and legal matters
14:40 Equipment
21:48 Recording and editing
24:56 Website, web and media hosting
28:53 How to setup and record your podcast
35:08 Editing software
35:58 Search engine optimization
37:45 Post-processing
39:49 Take home points and outro

16 snips
Apr 13, 2020 • 1h 11min
#206 Airway Management for the Non-Intensivist
Breathe easy with these airway management principles and expert tips for managing the patient with COVID-19 related lung disease (i.e. pneumonia, hypoxemia, ARDS). In the COVID-19 era, non-intensivists are being called upon to care for critically ill patients across the globe. At the Curbsiders, we understand that this can be a stressful proposition! Therefore, we’ve enlisted the help of the renowned medical intensivist & USUHS Chair of Medicine, Dr. Kevin Chung (@chungk1031) to teach us what we need to know about airway management in these challenging times. Show Notes | Spotify | Swag! | Top Picks | Mailing List | thecurbsiders@gmail.com
Credits
Written and Produced by: Cyrus Askin MD, Michael Rose MD, Kathleen Hiltz MD
Show Notes: Cyrus Askin MD
Infographic: Elena Gibson, MD
Cover Art: Dr. Kate Grant MBChB DipGUMed
Hosts: Matthew Watto MD, FACP; Paul Williams MD, FACP; Cyrus Askin, MD
Editor: Matthew Watto MD, FACP (written materials); Clair Morgan of nodderly.com
Guest: COL Kevin Chung, MD, FACP
Sponsors: McGraw Hill
Time Stamps
00:00 Intro
03:15 Guest one liner, chicken wings (Miller Lite marinade), career advice
07:40 Sponsor
08:20 Case of hypoxemic respiratory failure; Rapid evaluation, initial labs
16:03 Initial assessment of a COVID-PUI; HFNC and non-invasive ventilation
23:40 Proning patients for hypoxemia
29:15 ARDS basics: diagnostic criteria, Brief Recap
33:22 Mechanical ventilation: Initial settings, following the blood gas
40:55 Peak and plateau pressure, Lung compliance and Troubleshooting a high pressures
51:30 Ventilator dyssynchrony; Lung compliance and traditional ARDS vs COVID-19 lungs
62:55 Advanced ARDS - The 5 Ps of therapy and differences with COVID-19
68:10 Take home points; Plugs; Outro

Apr 10, 2020 • 45min
#205 COVID Cakes and Hot Takes with Rahul Ganatra MD
Rundown of recent COVID articles and news stories including: Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, serologic testing, use of convalescent plasma, economic inequality / health disparities... and COVID in cats?! We’re joined by Curbsider/Internist/Epidemiologist, Rahul Ganatra MD, @rbganatra (VA Boston). Plus, @Paulnwilliamz and @cjchiu give us some telehealth along with the usual antics. Show Notes | Subscribe | Spotify | Swag! | Top Picks | Mailing List | thecurbsiders@gmail.com
Credits
Written, Produced, Hosted by: Rahul Ganatra MD, Chris Chiu MD, FACP, FAAP; Matthew Watto MD, FACP; Paul Williams MD, FACP
Cover Art and Show Notes by: Matthew Watto MD, FACP
Editor: Matthew Watto MD
Guest: Rahul Ganatra MD
Time Stamps
00:00 Intro, COVID-19 and cats by Shi J Science Apr 2020; Picks of the week
07:08 Telehealth (Greenhalgh BMJ 2020), Breathlessness (Roth score calculator), ACP COVID-19 resource site
11:50 Telehealth best practices
16:42 Convalescent plasma and Serology
21:45 Chris discusses the decontamination of N95 masks using CCDS (CCDS, Battele news Report)
23:45 Inequality during the pandemic VOX and NYTimes articles on inequality
25:30 Critical appraisal for HCQ + azithromycin article from France (Gautret et al IJAA 2020) and Rahul’s tweetorial
49:18 Pre-print data; Rahul discusses a newer HCQ randomized clinical trial article (Chen medRxiv 2020)

12 snips
Apr 6, 2020 • 50min
#204 NephMadness 2020: SGLT2 Inhibitors
Explore the exciting world of SGLT2 inhibitors with Dr. Harish Seethapathy, Dr. Matt Sparks, and Dr. Joel Topf. They discuss the mechanisms and benefits of these inhibitors for glucose control, cardiovascular health, and chronic kidney disease. The speakers delve into the hemodynamics and regulation of glomerular filtration and explore the various mechanisms of action of SGLT2 inhibitors, emphasizing their impact on inflammation, fibrosis, insulin sensitivity, and more. They also discuss the cancellation of Neffmatin and make predictions for the winners in the NephMadness 2020 SGLT2i region.

Apr 2, 2020 • 55min
#203 How to Create an Online Curriculum for Medical Education
Create your own online curriculum for #meded with this Step-by-Step guide for medical educators by Drs. Kat Zechar MD, @inked_caduceus and Amreet Sidhu MD, @Brosencephalon. They teach us how to identify learner’s needs and develop an online curriculum complete with self assessment tools, remote lectures, audio & video content and interactive cases. We discuss specific software tools and the basic hardware that you’ll need to get your online meded curriculum up and running.
Show Notes | Spotify | Swag! | Top Picks | Mailing List | thecurbsiders@gmail.com
Credits
Written and Produced by: Paul Williams MD, FACP
Cover art and Show notes by: Matthew Watto MD, FACP
Hosts: Matthew Watto MD, FACP; Paul Williams MD, FACP
Editor: Matthew Watto MD (written materials); Clair Morgan of nodderly.com
Guest: Kat Zechar MD and Amreet Sidhu MD
Time Stamps
00:00 Announcement: We’re looking for pre-med and medical Student members. Send applications to thecurbsiders@gmail.com by deadline April 10, 2020.
01:22 Intro, disclaimer and guest bios
03:38 Guest one-liners, Picks of the week
09:30 Why you might need an online meded curriculum
16:33 Overview of Amreet and Kat’s online curriculum
21:15 Website, domain name, media hosting, software (Vimeo, Zoom meeting software) and WordPress plugins; Zoom can record audio, video or screen recording (i.e. for a speaker going through slides) and equipment
36:35 How to generate self-assessment tools: ABIM blueprint, quiz questions and interactive cases (from twinery.org)
46:35 Time commitment
50:55 Take home points and Outro