ER Diaries

Tired, I stumbled out of the car with my dad into the ER at Apollo Hospital, in Bangalore. Earlier that night, my dad had received a message, stating that the dengue test I had taken had returned as positive. “Excuse me,” said my dad, talking to the front desk. “I have been told that my son has dengue fever.” “Oh no,” said the front desk “We will get you settled in right away.” A nurse escorted me to a bed in the ER, where an Emergency Medical Physician was waiting. She took my blood test, attached a mobile IV drip to my arm, and finally escorted me to my room in the hospital, where I would stay as an inpatient for a week. After coming back to America, I had the honor of interviewing Dr. Sharon Cu, an Emergency Medical Physician, who helps patients in similar cases as mine.

Dr. Sharon's parents had both been doctors, and Medicine ran in her blood. This was her first real job, although she had completed a few others, like being a TA at college. She studied at Polytechnic High school, in Pasadena California, before going forward to complete her undergrad at Stanford University. She moved to Minnesota, and then attended the Medical School at the University of Minnesota. Finally, she worked at Harbor-UCLA hospital to complete her training. 

When I talked to Dr. Sharon, I asked her why she liked being an Emergency Medical Physician, and what about it was her favorite part. She said she loved being an Emergency Medical Physician because of the varieties of cases she got. Some patients might need to get their appendix removed, others might have a dangerous virus. She loved having to work with all sorts of different body systems, and that every day was a different job. However, she said her favorite part of the job was the people she had to work with. She had shared experiences with the other doctors, the nurses, and even the patients, and it was easy to form camaraderie with them. On top of that, as an Emergency Medical Physician, she got to marry her love for traveling with her job. She was often asked to practice expedition medicine, that is, to be a doctor on a cruise ship that is going to countries like Antarctica, Norway, and Alaska.

Her least favorite part of being an Emergency Medical Physician was doing Charting. She had to document everything she did with the patient, like what medicine they consumed, or what symptoms they had. On top of this, they had to slip in extra lines, in order to be compliant with other organizations like the government, or insurance companies. Dr. Sharon said that an Emergency Medical Physician spends more time charting than actually being with her patient. 

According to Dr. Sharon, an Emergency Medical Physician needs to be well collected, have quick thinking, be good with their hands, and have good communication skills. They need to have a broad range of expertise, and to not just be able to work in a hospital. If you want to be helpful, and have the above skills, then being an Emergency Medical Physician is the job for you!