The Heart of the matter...

"Unsuccessful Success" Unfortunately, this is often the result of our work as physicians. This captures it beautifully...



We're now into our cardiopulmonary module, and things have been going very well. Let me share some pearls from Dr. Thomson, our resident cardiologist/intensivist/pulmonologist/intellectual...

Did you know that Intermittant Claudication is named for Emperor Claudius? The lack of blood flow to the legs results in a hunched-over gait. Turns out that old Claudius had polio, and so he walked with a shuffling, hunched gait. The name came because people with the condition "intermittantly walked like Claudius" yielding Intermittant Claudication... cool huh?

We are working on our cardiac arrest scheme, and I led some classmates in a simulation today on the importance and practice of good chest compressions. It was fun, but brought back a flood of emotions from my days in the emergency department (ED) and teaching CPR. More to come on how excited I am about CCR (Cardiocerebral Resuscitation) in a later post...

I am a big fan of emergency medicine, and I stumbled on to this cool site of a Chicago ER doc who has taken some very artsy images depicting life in "the pit." One of the long time ER nurses I worked with in Billings, Tom, encouraged me to go into accounting instead of medicine.  I beg to differ.

"Whatever you do, don't work in the ER. It's like the trash can of the hospital. All the crap is there, and you don't need that." -Tom, 

 It's unfortunate, though, that I still love it!


The ED has become a huge part for me of why I love medicine. Here are some of my favorite pictures that capture the true essence. Beautiful work...

Check out more of this fantastic work by Macastat (http://www.pbase.com/macastat/emergency) and you can check out his Website or Flickr.

I'm really glad my heart isn't broken... Here are some more that really remind me of the ER...



This one is called "DOA".


"Cardiac"


"Moment of Passing" Let me tell you from experience, it's a hard place to be!



"Enema and Strong Coffee" This is ER humor at it's best.


"Work curve"


"Tombstone"
This is what is known as ST segment elevation on an EKG, or a "tombstone" as it is a sign of myocardial injury and is usually present when someone is infarcting, or having an MI. I love how he captures it...



And lastly, "GSW R Chest"


I'm thankful everyday for the incredible people who work in the ED. They are there in the trenches. I commend them. What great memories. Thanks again to Dr. Tony Macasaet.

-R