Podcasts · Health & Fitness · History

Bedside Rounds

Adam Rodman, MD, MPH, FACP

86 episodes

Bedside Rounds is a storytelling podcast about medical history and medicine's intersections with society and culture. Host Adam Rodman seeks to tell a few of these weird, wonderful, and intensely human stories that have made modern medicine.

Episodes page 1 of 2

  1. 74 - R2D2

    · 33 min

    What does it mean when a computer can make better medical decisions than a human? The progress in large language models, and in particular the popularity of ChatGPT, has brought these questions to the forefront in…

  2. 73 - Seadragon

    · 28 min

    What happens when a patient far from surgical care – say, at the bottom of the Pacific ocean on a submarine, or at a research base in Antarctica in the middle of the winter – develops a surgical abdomen? This dilemma…

  3. 72 - Problems

    · 52 min

    American doctors spend the majority of their time during the day on the computer, either writing or reading notes about their patients; only a small fraction is spent with the human beings in their care. Technology…

  4. 71 - A Doctor's Work, part 2

    · 38 min

    In the past episode, cultural and medical historians Lakshmi Krishnan and Mike Neuss discussed the history of the actual work of the doctor – Holmesian detective, data entry clerk, or something else altogether. In this…

  5. 70 - A Doctor's Work

    · 49 min

    What do doctors actually do? Are they Sherlockian detectives, hunting down obscure clues to solve intractable cases? Are they virtuosic experts, training for half a lifetime to bring the latest science to bear to cure…

  6. 69 - The Database

    · 49 min · Episode 69

    How do doctors actually think? And if we can answer that, can we train a computer to do a better job? In the post-WW2 period, a group of iconoclastic physicians set about to redefine the nature and structure of…

  7. 68 - The History

    · 40 min

    Internal medicine physicians like to pride ourselves on our clinical reasoning – the ability to talk to any patient, pluck out seemingly random bits of information, and make a mystery diagnosis. But how does this…

  8. The Facemaker with Dr. Lindsey Fitzharris (#histmedconsultservice)

    · 52 min

    Modern plastic surgery was born out of the horrors of trench warfare in World War I. In this episode, Adam interviews historian Lindsey Fitzharris about her new book The Facemaker, about the life of surgeon Harold…

  9. 67 - Fever on the Frontier

    · 49 min

    In the early 19th century, a strange new illness, seemingly unknown to medicine, ravaged settler communities in the American Middle West. As fierce debates about this new disease, now called milk sickness, raged – was…

  10. 66 - Burnout

    · 54 min

    Burnout seems to stalk healthcare workers; between a third and a half of doctors and nurses had symptoms of burnout BEFORE the COVID-19 pandemic. Major medical associations have recognized burnout as a serious problem…

  11. 65 - The Last Breath

    · 41 min

    How can we medically tell whether or not someone is alive or dead? The answer is much more complicated than you'd think. In this episode, which is a live podcast I gave with Tony Breu at the Massachusetts Chapter of…

  12. 64 - A Vicious Circle

    · 40 min

    During World War II, the US Army launched a seemingly routine experiment to find the ideal way to screen soldiers for tuberculosis. Jacob Yerushalmy, the statistician in charge of this project, would succeed at this…

  13. 63 - Signals

    · 41 min

    What does it mean when different physicians disagree about a diagnosis? I am joined by Dr. Shani Herzig as we explore this issue in the second part of my series on the development of diagnosis. We're going to discuss…

  14. 62 - The Sisters Blackwell

    · 42 min

    Elizabeth Blackwell -- the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States -- and her sister Emily Blackwell are some of the most important physicians of the 19th century, firmly establishing the role of…

  15. 61 - Etymologies

    · 39 min

    Words matter. At its best, etymology gives us insight not only into the origins of words, but why they remain so important today, especially in medicine, where we've been accruing jargon for millennia. In this episode,…

  16. 60 - Santa's Salmonella

    · 38 min

    For a special holiday treat, we're going to explore two tales of salmonella disease detectives -- the first about Mary Mallon ("Typhoid Mary") and the birth of the genre; and the second about a mysterious salmonella…

  17. 59 - Cry of the Suffering Organs

    · 43 min

    Diagnosis is arguably the most important job of a physician. But what does it actually mean to make a diagnosis? In this episode, we'll explore this question by tracking the development of the "classical" model of…

  18. The House of Pod: How medical podcasting made me a better doctor and educator … and how it might change the future of medical education for everyone

    · 39 min

    In this episode, I talk about my podcasting journey -- how I started Bedside Rounds for inspiration during a low period in residency, how it changed me as a physician, and how it has changed my views about digital…

  19. 58 - The Original (Antigenic) Sin

    · 56 min

    The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare the racial health disparities in the United States, with markedly increased mortality especially among Blacks and Native Americans. In this episode, Tony Breu and I discuss the…

  20. 57 - The Second Wave

    · 45 min

    In August of 1918, a horrific second wave of the Spanish Flu crashed across the world. In this episode, the third of a four-part series exploring hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19, I'll explore this single moment in…

  21. 56 - La Grippe

    · 43 min

    The 1889 Russian Flu was the first influenza pandemic in an increasingly globalized world. In this episode, the second of a two-parter on how hydroxychloroquine became a great hope in COVID-19, we'll talk about how…

  22. Introducing the Curious Clinicians!

    · 19 min

    This bonus episode introduces episode four of the Curious Clinicians, about Vincent Van Gogh and digitalis. The Curious Clinicians is a new medical podcast produced by Hannah Abrams, Avi Cooper, and Tony Breu; you can…

  23. 55 - The Fever Tree

    · 43 min

    Where did cinchona, the first medication to cure malaria, come from? This episode explores the murky history of the bark of the fever tree and its derivative chloroquine with mysterious pre-Columbian Pacific crossings…

  24. 54 - 1918 (guest episode with Hannah Abrams and Gaby Mayer)

    · 40 min

    The 1918 influenza pandemic, or the Spanish Flu, is the obvious parallel to the COVID-19 pandemic -- a worldwide plague attacking a scientific and global society much like our own. In this guest episode by Hannah…

  25. 53 - The Antonine Plague (guest episode with Liam Conway-Pearson)

    · 31 min

    Plagues have fascinated us since antiquity, but the Antonine Plague stands out because one of the most famous physicians in Western history was present to make detailed observations. In this episode, guest host Liam…

  26. A short message from Adam

    · 4:17

    As the COVID-19 pandemic increasingly spreads across the globe, Bedside Rounds is going on hiatus. This short message explains why and gives some historical context. Stay in touch on Twitter in the upcoming months…

  27. 52 - The Rebuff

    · 41 min

    Over the past several centuries, the medical field has established a firm graph on the domain of the human body, with one very notable exception -- the teeth. In this episode, we're going to explore this historic split…

  28. Winter Shorts #4 - The Backlog

    · 31 min

    Did Hippocrates call consults for chest pain? Were there specialists in black bile? Where does our poetic terminology for heart and lung sounds come from? Is there a historical parallel for #MedTwitter? I've fallen off…

  29. 51 - Hero Worship

    · 46 min

    At the end of 2019, William Osler's legacy is stronger than ever; he has been called the "Father of Modern Medicine" and held up as the paragon of the modern physician. In this episode, I'm going to explore the…

  30. 50 - I Know Nothing

    · 44 min

    What does it mean to know something in medicine? In this episode, we'll explore this question by developing a historical framework of medical epistemologies in a journey that involves King Nebuchadnezzar, citrus fruit,…

  31. 49 - The Ether Dome

    · 43 min

    The world before anesthesia was brutal -- surgeons inflicted torture on largely conscious patients, hoping to finish an operation as quickly as possible. But all of that changed with the introduction of inhaled ether.…

  32. 48 - Micrographia (FIXED AUDIO)

    · 40 min

    Because of dad brain, the original musical tracks for episode 48 were offset by almost 30 seconds (even more embarrassing, because I actually LISTENED to it before uploading). I've fixed the audio for the original…

  33. 48 - Micrographia

    · 40 min

    Germs are regarded today with a combination of fear and disgust. But mankind's first introduction to the microbial world started off on a very different foot. In this episode, as part of a larger series contextualizing…

  34. Summer Shorts #3 - Insulin Drama

    · 23 min

    Bedside Rounds is on a summer vacation! In the meantime, I'm joined by journalist Dan Weissmann of the podcast An Arm and a Leg to talk about the tawdry history of the discovery of insulin.

  35. 47 - The Criteria

    · 44 min

    Can we ever know what causes a chronic disease? In this episode, I'm joined again by Dr. Shoshana Herzig to finish a three-part miniseries on Bradford Hill and Doll's attempts to prove that smoking caused lung cancer.…

  36. 46 - Cause and Effect

    · 38 min

    Does smoking cause lung cancer? How could you ever know? The second in a three-part series on causality, I'm joined by Dr. Shoshana Herzig to discuss how Austin Bradford Hill and Richard Doll set out to try and answer…

  37. 45 - The French Disease at 500

    · 1 h 10 min

    In 1495, a mysterious and deadly plague struck the city of Naples. Over the next 500 years, the medical attempts to understand and treat this new disease -- syphilis -- would mold and shape medicine in surprising ways.…

  38. 44 - The Great Smog

    · 43 min

    What was behind the mysterious increase in lung cancer deaths at the turn of the 20th century? The first of a three-parter investigating the cigarette-smoking link and causality, this episode looks at that early…

  39. 43 - The Cursed

    · 43 min · Episode 43

    What killed Charles II of Spain, the inbred monarch whose autopsy famously showed a heart the size of a peppercorn, a head full of water, and a bloodless body? This episode addresses that medical mystery by not only…

  40. 42 - The Lady with the Lamp

    · 40 min · Episode 42

    Florence Nightingale stands as one of the most important reformers of 19th century medicine -- a woman whose belief in the power of reason and statistical thinking would critically shape the both the fields of…

  41. 41 - Animal Magnetism

    · 40 min

    Mesmerism has had an outsize influence on medicine, despite the rapid rise and fall of its inventor Dr. Franz Mesmer and hostility from the medical establishment. This curious story covers the healing powers of…

  42. 40 - Phage

    · 53 min

    Bacteriophages -- viruses that target and kill bacteria -- were one of the most promising medical treatments of the early 20th century, and were used to treat all sorts of infections, from cholera to staph, and…

  43. 39 - The White Plague

    · 41 min

    Tuberculosis has been humanity's oldest and greatest killer. Starting at the turn of the nineteenth century, the White Plague was decimating entire generations in the crowded and unclean cities of Europe, North…

  44. 0 - Introduction

    · 14 min

    Many podcasts start with an "Episode 0", basically a mission statement for the podcast. Well, better late than never! This episode explores why I make Bedside Rounds, my philosophy about medical history, and a little…

  45. 38 - Blood on the Tracks (PopMed #2)

    · 50 min

    The first population study in history was born out of a dramatic debate involving leeches, "medical vampires," professional rivalries, murder accusations, and, of course, bloodletting, all in the backdrop of the French…

  46. 37 - Let It Bleed (PopMed #1)

    · 32 min

    For thousands of years, bloodletting was the standard of care for any number of medical conditions, but at the turn of the nineteenth century, often acrimonious debates about the practice would lead to a new method of…

  47. 36 - Filth Parties

    · 52 min

    The southern United States was hit by a dramatic epidemic of a mysterious disease called pellagra in the early twentieth century. This episode discusses the cultural and scientific sources of the outbreak -- from the…

  48. The Adventure of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

    · 52 min

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle considered The Adventure of the Speckled Band to be his best Holmes story, and Adam does too. Meant to be a companion to Episode 35 (Sherlock), this is the story in its entirety. THIS IS NOT AN…

  49. 35 - Sherlock

    · 34 min

    Why do doctors love Sherlock Holmes so much? In this episode, we'll explore this endearing, nerdy obsession with the good detective, from Holmes' medical origins and influences, the parallels with medical reasoning,…

  50. 34 - The Physical

    · 34 min

    The physical exam has become a ritual of the modern doctor's appointment, with pokes, prods, and strange tools. How did this become a normal thing to do? In this episode, I'll discuss how the physical exam went from…

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