Why I Love Medicine

I have worked a ridiculous number of hours in the Emergency Department in the past 4 days and yet I am full of energy because I love what I am doing! Here are some of the highlights:

• I got to spend over an hour with a young adolescent who needed his whole hand stitched up because he couldn't control his anger in a fight with his mom. I had his attention (thanks to large needles) for over an hour when I could talk with him and try and convey that his life can have meaning far beyond drugs and alcohol. In the room with him (at this point I was in the jail area of the hospital) were two early high school students who were even more confused. Where else can you truly have the attention of kids like this? I love my job! By the way, the stitches turned out well.
  
• Also of note, I got to hold a very sick patients hand while trying to explain what was happening to her. It was clear that more than anything she just wanted someone to hold her hand so she wasn't going through this alone. Of course I tended to her medical needs, but sometimes the human interaction is what patients really seek.
  
• I saw a young man with the dreaded flesh-eating bacteria who had already had emergency surgery and amputation of part of his hand. I have never seen an arm so mutilated. Now he was back because he was couldn't afford the antibiotics that he needed. There really is something wrong with our health care system. I wish I knew what could help people like this so that their outcomes could be more like Paula Abdul's (didn't she have this during a season of American Idol after a manicure?).
  
• As I was walking to my car at 1:30 am I came upon a man trying to get a woman to the ER and she was sobbing and falling over and trying to run in front of cars. My classmate and I insisted on helping even though the man clearly was not interested in our help (1 in 4 women in the ER are being abused) and I ran and got a wheelchair and we safely took her to the ER. We weren't able to figure out what was going on, but it obviously wasn't a good situation and I was glad to ensure that she received help.
  

So while these are only a few of the many patients I have seen, I feel so privileged to be a part of the doctor-patient relationship. It is an incredible ministry and I couldn't imagine doing anything else.