I love working on the weekend night shifts in the emergency department (ED). It seems like that is when all the freaks come out--and no I am not talking about a scene from "The Walking Dead" TV show. I am referring to the unusual number of patients who show up at the ED with injuries in the most unexpected places, toxicity of least expected substances, and, most of all, fascinating stories of how they obtain these injuries (that sound like they come out from the next best novel).
Even more, I like my weekend nights because this flood of crazy pathologies--alcohol-related injuries, vehicle-associated trauma, or "I-was-minding-my-own-business-when-it-happened" happenstances--allows me ample opportunities to practice my procedures on unsuspecting patients. I can't recall the countless times I stuck an intravenous line, stitched up a profusely bleeding finger to stop the bleed, or lanced an infected abscess.
Yes, you can call me an opportunist if you like, but you must agree with me that to become good at something, we must perform it repetitively until it becomes second-nature to us; to do so, nothing is more golden than a super-busy emergency medical center.
There have been times when I intentionally trade my assigned hours with my fellow students to gain more exposure to emergent deliveries during the rush hours in OB/GYN (for some odd reason, babies love to come out in the wee small hours of the morning) or purposely ask my attending to come in during the busiest day of week so I can see a record-breaking amount of patients.
After all, I believe that practice makes you a more competent physician, and that one man's injury is another man's (or my) opportunity (to practice medicine).
*This post has been published on Medscape's "Differential Blog."
Even more, I like my weekend nights because this flood of crazy pathologies--alcohol-related injuries, vehicle-associated trauma, or "I-was-minding-my-own-business-when-it-happened" happenstances--allows me ample opportunities to practice my procedures on unsuspecting patients. I can't recall the countless times I stuck an intravenous line, stitched up a profusely bleeding finger to stop the bleed, or lanced an infected abscess.
Yes, you can call me an opportunist if you like, but you must agree with me that to become good at something, we must perform it repetitively until it becomes second-nature to us; to do so, nothing is more golden than a super-busy emergency medical center.
There have been times when I intentionally trade my assigned hours with my fellow students to gain more exposure to emergent deliveries during the rush hours in OB/GYN (for some odd reason, babies love to come out in the wee small hours of the morning) or purposely ask my attending to come in during the busiest day of week so I can see a record-breaking amount of patients.
After all, I believe that practice makes you a more competent physician, and that one man's injury is another man's (or my) opportunity (to practice medicine).
*This post has been published on Medscape's "Differential Blog."