What I’ve Learned About Listening After 30 Years in Emergency Medicine

The Noise of the ER—and the Need for Quiet Emergency medicine is loud. Alarms are ringing, monitors are beeping, patients are crying out, and radios are buzzing. In the middle of all that chaos, it’s easy to focus on action. After all, we’re trained to respond—to move fast, to make decisions, to treat what we […]

How Guitar Strings and Gym Reps Keep Me Grounded in a High-Stress Job

The Pressure of the ER Working in emergency medicine for nearly three decades has taught me a lot about people, pressure, and the unpredictable nature of life. It’s a job where you never know what’s coming through the door next—a heart attack, a car crash, a scared child with a high fever. You have to […]

Leading in the Chaos: What I Learned as an ER Director That I Still Use Today

Learning to Lead in a Storm It’s one thing to work in the emergency room—it’s another thing to lead it. Years ago, I served as the ER Director at a busy regional hospital in Alabama. I’d been practicing medicine for several years by then, but stepping into a leadership role in that environment was like […]

The First Five Minutes: What Really Happens When a Patient Crashes in the ER

If there’s one thing you learn early in emergency medicine, it’s that the first five minutes can make all the difference. When a patient crashes—whether it’s cardiac arrest, respiratory failure, trauma, or a sudden collapse—those first minutes are a blur of urgency, training, and instinct. Everything moves fast, but every action counts. You don’t get […]

From Medical Missions to Local Shifts: What Honduras Taught Me About Care

A few years back, I had the opportunity to travel to Honduras on a medical mission trip. At the time, I had been working in emergency medicine for quite a while, and I thought I had a solid grasp on what it meant to care for patients. I had seen trauma, heart attacks, strokes—you name […]