Zahir Basrai, MD
Zahir Basrai is an emergency physician.
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Latest articles
Physician voices
I have picked up Mr. Reynolds (not his real name). He is a frequent visitor to the ED for alcohol intoxication. He was found drunk on a street making a scene, and a good samaritan called him in. Paramedics bring…
I have picked up Mr. Reynolds (not his real name). He is a frequent visitor to the ED for alcohol intoxication. He was found drunk on a street making a scene, and a good samaritan called him in.
Paramedics bring him in. He is not bashful about showing his discontent for his arrival to the ED. He promptly flips off the charge nurse and continues to verbally berate the paramedics. The …
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This emergency physician is the drunk whisperer
Physician voices
It’s every emergency resident’s dream to be part of a big procedure: The rush of a heart-pounding, adrenaline-filled moment of slamming in a chest tube, "criching" someone or being part of the big show — a thoracotomy. The holy grail.…
It’s every emergency resident’s dream to be part of a big procedure: The rush of a heart-pounding, adrenaline-filled moment of slamming in a chest tube, “criching” someone or being part of the big show — a thoracotomy. The holy grail. Cracking a chest, performing intracardiac massage, cross-clamping the aorta. A last-ditch effort to pull a patient away from the clutches of the grim reaper. A typical level-one center hums to …
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A resident’s dream turns into cold reality
Physician voices
Text message: Me: “Mom you alright? I just heard that there was an explosion at the Pepsi Center.” Mom: “What are you talking about? I am fine, everything is OK over here.” Earlier that day: It’s the first day of…
Text message:
Me: “Mom you alright? I just heard that there was an explosion at the Pepsi Center.”
Mom: “What are you talking about? I am fine, everything is OK over here.”
Earlier that day:
It’s the first day of my first ER rotation as an intern.
I had endured months on medicine, neurosurgery and the medical ICU. I am finally home back in the ER. I am hoping that today will be a somewhat …
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The first day of my ER rotation is one that this doctor will never forget
Physician voices
Social norms are not the norm in the ER. Things that are regarded as gross in the real world are an everyday occurrence. Our ER especially lived in a special universe where all social graces were stripped away, and the…
Social norms are not the norm in the ER. Things that are regarded as gross in the real world are an everyday occurrence. Our ER especially lived in a special universe where all social graces were stripped away, and the rawness of humanity is what remained.
I begin my night shift. I hadn’t taken a solid nap before my shift, and I am now headed into round 3 of 4. Nights …
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Social norms are not the norm in the ER
Physician voices
So it’s a Wednesday night, and I just got home after completing a shift. I’m beat. My beautiful sofa beckons to me, and my TV seduces me with brainless images and sound. I succumb to the temptation. I turn on…
So it’s a Wednesday night, and I just got home after completing a shift. I’m beat. My beautiful sofa beckons to me, and my TV seduces me with brainless images and sound. I succumb to the temptation. I turn on Netflix. Too many movies, too many decisions. Screw this; I didn’t just finish up a shift to have to sit and make more decisions. I go to the suggested for …
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Have doctors become desensitized to gruesome realities?
Medical education
It's Match Day. Standing with my medical school class in the lobby of our medical education center, there is a palpable energy. It had been a long journey. After reluctantly leaving CA for NY I had finally completed four grueling…
It’s Match Day. Standing with my medical school class in the lobby of our medical education center, there is a palpable energy. It had been a long journey. After reluctantly leaving CA for NY I had finally completed four grueling years. The entire time I was laser focused on doing well enough to make it back to California. The four years came and went in a flash, and without hesitation, …
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The untold story of Match Day emotion
Physician voices
Brian is one of the coolest nurses I have ever met. Overall, he is a cool dude. Sporting a sleeve of tattoos, he has swag. We have been side-by-side in many traumas and sick medical arrests. He always remains calm,…
Brian is one of the coolest nurses I have ever met. Overall, he is a cool dude. Sporting a sleeve of tattoos, he has swag. We have been side-by-side in many traumas and sick medical arrests. He always remains calm, cool and collected as he navigates the resuscitation bay. So, when Brian ran into the pediatric ED looking a little flustered, I knew we were in for something.
“I just got …
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Can doctors always stay “cool?”
Physician voices
It’s the first day on my 4th-year elective in the emergency department. I had orientation in the morning and just my luck I am scheduled for a night shift. I had the good fortune of finding an emergency physician in…
It’s the first day on my 4th-year elective in the emergency department. I had orientation in the morning and just my luck I am scheduled for a night shift. I had the good fortune of finding an emergency physician in New York who let me shadow him before my rotation, but the truth of the matter is, I had no idea that what I was getting myself into. I guess …
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A bloody baptism into emergency medicine
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