Shadowing

For my shadowing experience, I spent one Saturday night from 10pm to 3am at RIH ED following around a second-year resident in Brown's EM program. We spent most of our time bouncing between the ED's six critical care rooms and following up on labs and imaging studies. Over the course of the night, I watched one patient die while another balanced on the brink of death; I stood by as a doctor told a patient that his cancer had most likely returned; I was given quick tutorials in the radiology and CT suites, and I got a great sense of the ebb and flow of ED.

The resident was soft-spoken and calm, with a cool head. It seemed like he had great relationships with the team of ED personnel responsible for patient care. Despite the chaos and emotional toil of a weekend night at the ED, there were times when laughs could be had all around - from security to the nurses to the techs, everyone got along seamlessly in mutual respect. Everyone had a job even in the most complex cases, and shadowing the resident reinforced the concept of emergency medicine being a 'team sport'. Trauma teams, medical teams, and consults from neurosurg and cardiology all assembled in my time in the critical care rooms at Rhode Island.

The biggest impression I took away from the experience was the level-headedness of the staff amongst the unruliness, the violence, and the onslaught of human suffering. They could not be shaken. Some patients in the ED, many intoxicated and/or injured, take their inappropriate behavior to the nth degree. No one is ever safe from certain patients' vicious tongue lashings or spat blood. The doctor, as part of the ED team, needs to be able to objectively evaluate and treat these patients with respect after walking away from something as draining as a failed resuscitation. I admire their ability to take the tragedy with the victories all while putting up with the BS.