Farewell, Emergency Medicine

I just finished my last shift of my Emergency Care clerkship, and I have to say that I'm sad to see this rotation end. I've had a blast these past two weeks, thanks to a couple rock star residents who provided a great hands-on educational experience.

Among the procedures that stand out in my mind: performing a lumbar puncture (champagne tap), draining a perianal abscess, suturing a few lacerations, and helping to set a dislocated shoulder and hip.

For as much fun as I've had on this rotation, it's important to keep in mind that my Emergency Medicine experience as a third-year medical student is not very representative of the daily routine of an Emergency Medicine resident or attending. All of my shifts were from 12n-8p, whereas residents and attendings work plenty of overnight shifts. Most of the patients I saw over the past two weeks were cherry-picked specifically because they were interesting and had educational value, whereas Emergency Medicine in general is mostly a bunch of chest pain and belly pain with some altered mental status mixed in. I only saw a few patients over the course of an 8 hour shift, whereas attendings see on the order of two dozen patients in a shift.

Keeping all this in mind, and despite some of its drawbacks, Emergency Medicine is still on The List.