Redundancy

So I have only a few more days left on the cardiology rotation. Thankfully I'll be back on the ED soon. I have enjoyed being a part of the cardiology team and having the opportunity to provide a more definitive care. In the ED, heart attacks, although obviously very serious, are pretty routine. A STEMI goes straight to the cath lab, an NSTEMI is stabilized medically and then admitted to the cardiology service, and of course CHF exacerbations are initially cared for in the ED and then transferred to the floor should it be necessary. I've enjoyed being a part of the receiving team this month and seeing the patient through until the end.

While interesting, cardiology did seem a bit redundant towards the end. If you have a blocked artery or two, you get a stent(s). If you have multi-vessel disease, you go to surgery. If you're having a CHF exacerbation, you get diuresed until your kidneys can't take it anymore. That is obviously and over-simplified viewpoint of it, but it did make me realize I still made the right decision to go in to emergency medicine.

I chose to become an ED physician because there was nothing in medicine that I enjoyed so much that I would want to do it everyday for my career. I always thought being a sub-specialist in medicine or surgery, focusing on basically one organ system of the body would become boring after a while. I've only bend doing cardiology for 25 days now, but I'm already tired of treating heart attacks.

So, while I lack the opportunity to provide definitive care more times than not, there is nothing redundant about a day in the ED. When I get back to the ER next Friday, I may see one person having an MI, seven people having an MI, or not see one for three weeks, and that is fine with me.