Mayhem and miracles: The life of an ER doctor
An attending physician shares his experiences of coordinated chaos
As an emergency-room doctor, you never know what’s going to come through the doors. It could be someone with stab wounds, a baby in distress, traffic accident victims or an elderly man with pneumonia.
“The best part about being a doctor in an emergency department is the moment when you realize that you’ve saved someone’s life,” said Xu Jin, who has been an emergency-room doctor since July 2005, and currently works as the attending physician at Peking Union Medical College Hospital’s emergency department.
“We take care of patients of every age from newborns to centenarians,” he said.
“There is no type of injury or medical, surgical, obstetric, psychiatric or pediatric condition we aren’t equipped to deal with.”
The emergency department covers so much more than other departments, which is why some doctors have started calling it the “everything department”, he said.
Wearing a long, blue gown and a pair of rectangular glasses, Xu shares the eighth clinic room with a colleague. He sometimes works on the night shift, from 5 pm to 8 am, and it is not unusual for him to attend to at least 10 patients an hour.
“On average, the emergency department deals with 500 patients a day, with the number rising during holidays,” he said.
During the night shift, he is often too busy to eat or drink anything. The pressure of working hard for long hours and always interacting with patients has caused him to have hyperthyroidism and a chronic sore throat for several years.
“More than one-third of my colleagues in our department suffer from similar conditions,” Xu said.
The doctor was born into a medical family in Sichuan province, and influenced by his father and grandfather, he was “always destined to become a doctor”.
Having spent five years studying at West China University of Medical Sciences, Xu graduated and got a job as an intern at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. “It was the most tiring period of my life. As an intern, I worked constantly and learned medical theory between my shifts, with very little rest.”
Asked if he regrets his decision to become a doctor, he replied emphatically, “Certainly not”.
The emergency room is a well-orchestrated place, although it sometimes seems like coordinated chaos, he said.
“It’s like an adrenalin-fueled group dance. Everyone has their role and must make the right movements to ensure the performance is a success.”
Despite being a veteran with 12 years clinical and hospital experience, Xu’s face still lights up when he mentions his most memorable patient.
“He was a military officer from Langfang city in Hebei province. He was about 25 years old, the same age as me at the time. He wasn’t breathing when he was sent to us and had a severe heart attack. But our team was determined to save the young officer who had a 3-year-old son and his whole life ahead of him. After more than an hour of relentless resuscitation efforts, we were able to bring him back from the brink of death,” Xu said.
Asked if he has failed to save any patients, Xu said that it happens sometimes.
“We trust in the tremendous power of medical research, but admittedly, there is ample room for improvement of treatment facilities, theories and methods.”
“Being an emergency-room doctor involves dealing with suspense, trauma, sadness, drama, teamwork, recovery, mayhem and miracles. It also means making split-second decisions, staying calm under pressure and caring for patients who depend on your knowledge and skills to get them through some of the worst moments of their lives,” Xu added.