The Future.

With the end of the summer semester just one week away, and the warmth of the Summer starting to fade into the humid precursors of Fall, the research in the E.D. has taken on a new form.  Although enrollment of patients into studies is coming along slowly, the buzz and motion of the doctors, nurses, techs, and support staff keeps each day enlightening, informative, and entertaining.  That enlightenment and entertainment were the facets that fascinated me about emergency medicine initially, and those facets continue to hold my fascination.  Not only does the buzz and motion generate that environment, but also the ever-changing influx of patients ensures that no two shifts are similar in any degree.   From seventy-year-old women, who drive off the road, to twelve-year-old boys who are bitten by dogs and forty-somethings dealing with drug overdoses and the everyday pains of life, the emergency department welcomes them all with open arms.  Although the cases differ in the individual details, the analytic methods, the diagnostic pathways, and the personal care given to each patient is consistent, unwavering, and complete.  That is, each practitioner may have various means of approaching patients, speaking with, and accessing patient's needs, but the outcomes and the treatments are similar.  For being a seemingly bizarre and chaotic place, the emergency department is a well-oiled clockwork.  It is stunning to watch.

Thus, the practitioners of medicine in the emergency department are unique, unique in that when dealing with unknown, unknowable, and unpredictable problems, they maintain a consistent methodology that consistently produces life-saving or life-changing results.

Over the last few months I have come to understand that behind the superficial chaos of the emergency department lies a mentality of reason, or compassion, and of non-judgement.  That is, the those who work in the belly of the emergency department tend to be compassionate, liberal, intelligent, understanding, and well-rounded people, who despite their rough and tumble exteriors, care deeply about those they are helping, and won't let the sight of blood, the smell of putrefaction, or any other abnormal or odd condition stand in the way of providing care to those who need it.  In short, I know I'm heading in the right direction.