MErc44 said:
Even though I won't start med school until august lately I have become very interested in EM. Mostly for all the reasons everyone else has said, which is really quite a change because initially I was sure I wanted to be a surgeon. My only worry about EM is whether or not there is a high burnout rate. As a younger person the EM lifestyle might be very appealing but what happens when you turn 50 and still want to work? Can you keep up? Does anyone here have any stories or experiences, anything would be great as I know nothing, haha.
I'm 47 years old, just starting an EM residency. I had a business as project engineers for ship repairs, commercial diving, and structural steel projects. Like those jobs, emergency medicine is an adrenaline rush. There's always something else going wrong as you're trying to attend to the scheduled stuff. There's always a fire to put out while doing the routine things that are difficult in their own right.
For me, as an old guy, it's like keeping in shape. The physicality of being light on one's feet throughout a 12 hour shift is a challenge. Thinking about how to manage an emerging myocardial infarction while starting a central line on another patient, while getting the young patient with pneumonia started on antibiotics and out the door in the least possible time by actively prodding the nurse to get the blood drawn and sent quickly without being a jerk and alienating her, while explaining to the mother of a patient that her child is not really sick because I've spent the time to become clinically proficient at knowing and have the ability to put her at ease while firmly getting rid of her for the next patient, etc., etc., etc. For me it's the active juggling, the continued rush without feeling rushed because you're confident and you train, train, train to be so good at this it looks effortless to others.
I work out and am driven to be not just good, but to be excellent at what I do. Not for others, but for me. And when the day ends I'm done. No one calling at 2am about something non-emergent. No long term baby sitting with a patient that is non-compliant with their meds. If I have to bang my head against the wall, it's only for 12 hour periods at a time. I can go home, read, box, play golf, whatever and know I worked my ass off and will do it again either tomorrow or 3 days from now.
I personally have been doing this kind of charged up work for 27 years. Burn out comes when you quit thinking you can do it a little better the next day. Burn out comes when you've allowed those in positions above you wear you down because you haven't created enough value for yourself by being great at your work. No one gives **** to those who make their superiors look good, or make them money, or create prestige for their program with good feed back from the community.
