We are practicing in a time of shortage. This is something we are used to in emergency medicine. We adapt. We don’t have furosemide? Fine, I’ll use bumetanide. We don’t have LET cream? Fine, I’ll use lidocaine solution. We find work arounds for equipment we don’t have...
I know an emergency physician who calls his patients “customers.” Every time I hear him do so, I sort of cringe inside. I have yet to ask him why he says it. He does so sometimes in a joking manner but other times says it so matter-of-fact. But he does so rather...
“Are you done?” When I got this seemingly innocuous question at a recent holiday party, time seemed to freeze. After muttering a slow but convincing “Yes, we’re done,” the new mom who asked went on to explain how she thought I might be “trying for four or five,” since...
It started off as a normal Sunday. I went for yoga in the morning and then made some home cooked food for my daughter to take to school. She goes to college at Ohio State University and had come home for the weekend. She left around 6:30 pm that evening and it usually...
A letter from our Co-Editor-In-Chief, Dr. Archana Shrestha: Dear Reader, Have you ever taken the Physician Burnout Survey? The article we published last week on burnout got me thinking about an experience I had with the survey. Because I work with residents, the...
Am I a physician first or a sister first? Am I a physician first or a daughter first? The first thought continuously haunted me when my cousin (who was like my younger brother) was diagnosed with leukemia. Similarly, I struggled with the second thought. I struggled...
