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2 years in Emergency Medicine - 22 realisations!

Hey people
*Clears throat*
Today happens to be the day I enrolled myself in Emergency Medicine Residency two years back. Its a special day of course. Definitely, close to my heart , liver and kidneys.
My mentor asked me how the two years went by. I didn't say much. Because sometimes you have a hundred things running in your mind and you dont know which trail to catch.Thoughtfully jotting things down.Keep calm and read on.
1. Patience :
I've lost it. As emergency physicians it is important for us to act fast. Having said that it is equally important to hold back and watch for response with patience. I think I've lost it in last 6months. Trying my best to get hold of it.  Still working on it.
2. Filtering Advices :
When a code runs , everybody has a set of protocols and advice. Being firm , right is important. Handling my fickle mind. Still working on it.

3.Identifying Addictions $  Burnout
I overtime realised addiction might not be be alcohol/internet , I am
-Busy-aholic – always involved in something, but may not engage meaningfully with this
-Work-aholic – high risk for developing burnout or rust-out
Rush-aholic – speeding around, not noticing natural beauty. Risk of burnout or rust- out.
4. Triaging priorities :
Not just is my ER triaging bad, call it kind heartedness or bad decision making , I feel every patient is worth taking inside and prioritising. The same way every event be it a friends wedding , a seminar thats serving food , or a random lecture... everything is worth attending. So , yes  working on priorities or triage !

5.Kisi cheez ko poori shiddat se chaho to poori kayanat tumhe usse milane ki saazish me lagjaati hai!
SRK said it. I cant stop swearing on how true it is. You can just make time for things if you want them bad. Either you get them, or get something better.


6.Losing my smile
You value things more only after you lose them. I lost my smile for a few weeks. It took me lot of patience, help and efforts to get it back. Peace of mind , optimism are most underrated luxuries of life!
Learning to deal with personal losses
You lose some precious lives, some close acquaintances ... learning to cope.

7.To let go
Letting go of the bad blood really fast. Yes I got it in ER. Something I think I ve mastered in 2 years

8.Grounded
ER has taught me to be grounded. One procedure that saved a life makes you feel that youre on the top of the world. One failed procedure that you failed to do easily makes you feel terrible. So there is a perfect balance.

9.New Horizons
Discovering new horizons like teaching , being a lifesaver course instructor, organising stuff. Something I am obsessed with.

10. Creating Lifesavers network
Realised how essential it is to educate public about life-threatening Emergency and the change it can bring. 

11. Fanatic

Ive turned into EM fanatic . People talking shit about my department automatically get deleted from my mind. So next time you meet me you know what you should not be talking. Because I love my specialty and work , your opinion doesn't change anything.

12.Grey interdepartment zone
If you're in emergency department its very unlikely that you haven't spend a portion of the day explaining people what went wrong and why.  Nobody is your friend nor is anybody a straight away foe. You learn to take a stand .

13. Emotional Hygiene :
Checking out is all part of your emotional hygiene – something that should be as regular as washing your hands! To get over something annoying what I do is check out .I talk about that  incident and discuss why I found it stressful or why I didn’t. I still need to work alot on this. 

14.  Call for help
I realised is most essential component . There is a fine line between ego and self sufficient. Call for help lies somewhere around it. Time and experience teaches you everything. Still learning.

15. Mentors
To have people guide you is a huge blessing. For having optimistic , encouraging people is something I am thankful to the almighty for!

16. Adrenaline
 You don't need alcohol to get high if you work in ER ! You don't wake up every morning to go to work. You work 24x7. No Monday morning doesn't scare shit out of me. People go to mountains to cut off from their worldly problems. When you work in high voltage atmosphere like ER you can go nowhere to disconnect.

17. Travel
Travelled to so many places after a long time in a short span for a purpose rather than a vacation. So I am growing up

18. Learning to be like Palm tree -resilient
Palm trees are very resilient – the wind blows them nearly horizontal, but they spring back up again. In medicine our wind is constantly blowing us over – we do need to stop the wind, as well as springing up afterwards. Read this somewhere, stuck by me.

19. Anxiety
Seeking support when anxious.Updating friends what’s happening.Using all your resources to divert myself be it food , travel , internet.

20.Filtering  Boasters:
Second year of residency is still a vulnerable period. People know you're not new , they also know that you dont know everything. Thats where boastful people walk in , show their competencies to fool you. Its human to be fooled. But its stupid not to learn from it. Moral is seeing is believing. Still learning.

21. Disaster drills
My all time favorite . Code reds blues blacks! Ambulance shifts ! 

22. Filtering People :
When you join up a course , you want to be nice to everybody, do everything, be everywhere. Overtime you develop that filter to sort.

Too much for the day
So far so much
Goodnight!

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