Life in the Emergency Department: Not What You Expected?

This is what you signed up for, right? A career where you are a multitasking, highly-skilled medical practitioner in a fast-paced emergency department. This place is predictably unpredictable, but you are saving lives, and it feels good! The problem is, you cannot help feeling unappreciated, underpaid, overwhelmed, and exhausted. You are finally living the dream, but the dream consists of working weekends, double-call, and every other holiday. You miss lunch while still gaining a few pounds. You gain incredible insight into a very broken care system. Feeling more like a nightmare? It’s certainly not what you expected.   Now you have to deal with demanding patients who expect customer service perks. The patients who say, “Do more tests,” and insist on instant gratification. The audacity! You are frustrated that your clientele is telling you how to do your job. The degree behind your name means nothing because Google has allowed your patient to complete a self-diagnosis. This place is for emergencies, not primary care. These complaints are not emergent at all.   You feel justified by your disdain because you are not alone. Your colleagues exchange glances when a patient demands a head CT, or you hear a deep sigh from a co-worker when a patient asks for a stat MRI for back pain he has had for eight years. The nurses agree that your narcotic-seeking patient is simply that, and needs security to escort him out. Mr. Jones is back again for a refill of his blood pressure med...
Source: The Procedural Pause - Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs