Over the past year, healthcare workers in Emergency Departments across the world have continued to show incredible resiliency and grit during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Emergency Department is the safety net of the system, the place where the doors are always open and no patients are refused. During the pandemic, the Emergency Department has taken on an even larger role, and this work should be recognized and appreciated. On this Year in Review, …
Artificial intelligence in emergency medicine: beyond the hype
During a busy night shift, you are reading a series of chest X-rays when you overhear a colleague remark, “This will all be replaced by computers soon, anyways”. You think back to a few Tweets on artificial intelligence in medicine and wonder if her comment has merit. There has been so much hype about the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recent years, much of which is optimistic and some of which is …
The Problem with Mandatory Wellness
Introduction “Medical School is bad for your health” – a direct quote from orientation on my very first day of classes. Along with this statement came a myriad of statistics highlighting the risk of burnout, depression, anxiety, and suicide for medical students, residents, and physicians. My excitement for my first day started to be replaced by a feeling that I was not so comfortable with, like catching a fish that is too big …
A letter to my younger self
I recently took an extended vacation at the end of residency, and had some time to reflect upon nearly an decade of medical training. I write this as an letter to my younger, naive self, in hopes that trainees may learn from my experiences. Dear PGY-1 Shahbaz, I have some big news for you: things are going to change. Don’t bother memorizing the SIRS criteria, its going to be gone in a few years. …
Bouncebacks: Much ado about nothing?
“Hey Doc, remember that patient you saw last night…?” That one phrase terrifies Emergency Room (ER) Physicians everywhere. There is such a strong negative connotation associated with “bounceback” visits to the ER. Historically, medicine has emphasized a culture of perfection, so a bounceback is often considered an significant failure, as it is unacceptable to miss a diagnosis. However, we’re entering a new era of medicine; we are seeing larger patient volumes, increased complexity …
#AnthroEve: An Intro to Anthropology and Medical Enculturation
I am becoming quite expert in navigating the look of confusion on my colleagues’ faces when I tell them that I am completing my master’s in anthropology. I can see behind their glazed eyes, in real time, the exotic mental images they are conjuring of the famous cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead or the comical similarities in social functioning between me and fictional physical anthropologist Temperance Brennan. A few remember that Paul Farmer is an anthropologist …