Managing the tempo of the emergency department as an off‐service intern

Abstract

My month as an off-service resident converted me from skeptic of emergency department (ED) care to champion, with some qualifications.First I learned that the emergency room has a tempo. It's like there's a metronome in the middle of the ED, and we are trying to speed up or slow down each patient so that they match the overall tempo. Sometimes, this is literally the case, as when we are trying to slow down fast hearts or speed up slow hearts. Other times, a patient's tempo can be their pain level, fluid status, etc., that we need to decrease or increase to match the metronome. As an intern in the ED, I felt like a new conductor of the high school orchestra, flailing my baton, trying to get patients to play on the beat. With some patients, I knew what to do to get them on tempo.Other patients played to their own beat, defying my baton. Once on How to cite this article: Hartmann DA. Managing the tempo of the emergency department as an off-service intern. AEM