Things seem to go more smoothly when the "voice of authority" can be trusted to guide us along.  But can it?  Not if opposing viewpoints are ignored or repressed.

Can insights inspired by butterflies help us avoid the chaos that too often reigns in our emergency departments? On this episode I discuss "the butterfly effect" and why respecting it can help protect emergency physicians and patients alike. 

An emergency physician must know what to do under trying circumstances.  But before this can be done , he must first know what is happening and  when to do something must be done. On this episode, I relate how I began to learn these skills working a part time job in medical school.

As I struggled to become an effective emergency physician, I realized that my only hope was to put into practice the many lessons I had learned along the way. I now realize that everything I needed to know, I did not learn in medical school alone. On this episode I discuss other experiences that gave me the tools that I now use every day in my practice, and for that matter, my life.

On this episode I kick off the fifth year of the podcast by reflecting upon what has made spending my adult life practicing emergency medicine a satisfying endeavor.  After several offerings recounting concerns about my specialty, it is time to celebrate some of the  reasons I go to work.

What percentage of the patients that we admit to the hospital do we harm?  On this episode I reveal why when those charged with making the decision to admit forget the answer to this question, our specialty and our whole medical system pay the price.

The hypothesis:  Emergency physicians are providing less effective care now than twenty years ago.

The Proof: longer wait times, more overcrowding, more cost, less job satisfaction.

Who's to blame: us (among others)

In this episode I take a hard look inward and discuss where emergency medicine has sabotaged itself.

Covid 19 has exposed a dirty little secret that emergency physicians have helped keep for decades- there is not enough to go around.  Unfortunately the way things are headed, those best equipped to deal with the reality of limited medical resources are being pushed  aside - with predictable consequences.

The specialty of Emergency Medicine sprang into being in order to fill a need.  I'm concerned that we've lost sight of that need as we train those to whom we will pass the torch.  On this episode I begin a discussion of how and why our specialty developed and why keeping our fragile medical system afloat rests on our shoulders.