Emergency Physician | Disaster Med | Ultrasound | Pain | EM Fellowship Director @emergmedottawa | Writing “ROSC” on Substack — raw stories from the frontlines
I thought I understood the emergency department.
Then I became the patient.
It wasn’t what I expected.
When the Emergency Doctor Became the Patient https://t.co/tUG4jR834X
Not a missed diagnosis.
Not a bad outcome.
A complaint about wait times.
Something completely out of my control.
And yet—mine to answer for.
https://t.co/lw1qNKsxWi
Curious how others experience this—
If you work in high-stakes environments, do decisions ever follow you home?
Or is that just medicine?
https://t.co/ZmNJmddmBI
We don’t discharge patients because we’re certain.
We discharge them because the risk feels low enough.
That’s a very different thing.
https://t.co/gQo2rvAbHT
The system does not flex; women do.
In emergency medicine, that quiet accumulation of friction shapes careers, burnout, and who gets to stay.
On gender inequity, family life, and design failure.
https://t.co/eYAI3HBBqd
PTSD isn’t something we think happens to us.
In emergency medicine, we call it the job.
That’s why we miss the injury.
New piece ⬇️
PTSD? No—Not Me https://t.co/YB3xzdluXp
Moral injury isn’t burnout.
It’s what happens when clinicians are held responsible for system failures they don’t control — and then blamed when patients are understandably frustrated.
I resurfaced an essay about this today.
https://t.co/QQYGsE3RaV