Happy Sunday!🌞
Last week during rounds, I discussed my takeaways from watching medical students complete away rotations in our department so far🧑🏼⚕️.
One thing I started thinking about is that some medical students (and even some interns) have a tough time getting into the emergency medicine doctor mindset🤨.
Being an EM doc takes equal parts drive, focus, and crazy🤪. The emergency department is never closed🏥, we see every patient that comes through the door🤒, and sometimes we must act with zero hesitation🏃➡️.
There’s a TON of advice to unpack on how to get into the proper state of mind to manage that chaos and unexpectedness🧘🏾♀️, and we'll definitely cover that during rounds in the future🔮. Today though, I wanted to focus on just one thought:
Every patient you see is dying.😵
Before anyone gets scared off, let me explain😅! Our job in the emergency department is not always to find the hidden diagnosis🔎, but rather to rule OUT the life threatening ones❌. When a patient comes in with chest pain, we need to make sure they aren’t having a massive heart attack🫀. When an elderly person falls and hits their head, we need to be certain they don’t have a brain bleed🧠.
But in order for us to rule those scary diagnoses out, we need to constantly be thinking about them💭. That’s why I say this to the medical students and residents that I work with⬇️
"Every patient you see is dying, and it’s your job to prove that they’re not."
If that sounds a little bit terrifying...great! I want the people that are learning how to practice medicine and be doctors to understand how important our job is.
That being said, this doesn’t mean we order a slew of blood tests and CT scans on every single patient🙂↔️. Instead, it means taking the patient’s complaints🤧, vital signs🫁, and physical exam👀 and pairing that with our medical knowledge to determine the likelihood of those can’t miss diagnoses🧪.
For me, that’s what being an emergency medicine doctor is all about😁.
With time, we all develop our own personalized system for how we do this🤔. Sometimes when I’m stuck on a complex patient though, I come back to this idea and to ensure I’m still doing my job🩺. I know that means I won’t nail the diagnosis on every single patient🤷🏽♂️, nor will every patient be 100% satisfied with the answers I do or don’t give them🤭.
Despite that, I take comfort in knowing that I’m doing my best to ensure my patients are safe and healthy❤️🩹.
So for any medical students going onto another EM rotation, or for any EM residents still trying to settle in to our specialty⚖️, consider this idea as a way to think more like an EM doctor as you continue to develop and grow your own set of skills within the practice of medicine🥼.
🗺️ Something I discovered: This Owala FreeSip Water Bottle has become my new go to water bottle for staying hydrated during a busy ED shift.
💚 Something I love: My Logitech M325 Wireless Mouse is always in my backpack to help me stay productive when I'm working while traveling.
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