Emergency Medicine

America’s ER crisis: Why the system is collapsing from within

Conditions

July 8, 2025

The Pitt was compelling TV.

As an emergency nurse educator for a Stanford campus in Northern California, there is one thing that is required viewing for my new graduate nurses: The Pitt.

The ambitious series did an admirable job portraying the complex world of the emergency department. The procedures were clinically accurate. The spectrum of patients and social issues was nuanced and believable. They even showcased the incidence of post-COVID PTSD, an …

Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

Maureen Gibbons, MD

Physician

June 30, 2025

It rolled past me—the same dull, tan utility cart we usually use to haul IV pumps, portable monitors, or the occasional dead printer. No decorations. No sign. Just an enormous pile of candy and snacks.

To be fair, it wasn’t bad candy. There were Kit Kats. Some decent chocolate. But still, the message was clear: “We see you. We care. Here’s a Kit Kat.” And because our admin staff does care—a …

Why wanting more from your medical career is a sign of strength

Maureen Gibbons, MD

Physician

June 22, 2025

The emergency physician across from me had it all on paper: good schedule, six-figure salary, respected by colleagues, two kids in college, mortgage nearly paid off. “I should be grateful,” she said, staring at her coffee. “But I keep wondering — is this it for the next twenty years?” If you’re nodding, you’re not alone. That quiet restlessness isn’t ingratitude. It’s evolution.

The script we’ve all been given

From day one of …

From survival to sovereignty: What 35 years in the ER taught me about identity, mortality, and redemption

Kenneth Ro, MD

Physician

June 20, 2025

I’ve lived a full life. A hard one. A beautiful one. A complicated one. And now, at 61, I’m finally beginning to live an honest one.

I was built in survival mode. Growing up as a Korean American boy in Central Texas—often the only Asian face in the room—my earliest years taught me that difference could either be celebrated… or punished. At first, it was celebrated. I flourished. But a move …

What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

Saba Qaiser, RN

Conditions

June 9, 2025

At 9:32 a.m., shortly after Hind and her family left their home in Tel al-Hawa, an Israeli military spokesperson issued an evacuation notice on social media, instructing residents of western Gaza City to head south. At approximately 2:30 p.m., Layan Hamada, Hind’s cousin, made the initial call to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) dispatch after their car was struck by gunfire. At that moment, Layan and Hind were …

ER threats aren’t rare anymore—they’re routine

Patrick Hudson, MD

Physician

May 24, 2025

I read Dr. Harry Severance’s recent piece, “Violence in health care: Why doctors and nurses are leaving,” with a sinking feeling of recognition. He’s right. Health care is becoming the most dangerous profession in America. Violence is no longer rare or shocking—it’s something every physician and nurse now half-expects at some point in their career.

I still remember an early shift in the ER when I was stitching up a …

Why a fourth year will not fix emergency medicine’s real problems

Anna Heffron, MD, PhD & Polly Wiltz, DO

Education

May 21, 2025

The field of emergency medicine (EM) is at a crossroads. Faced with rising burnout, a constantly changing health care landscape, and an evolving trend in unfilled residency positions, the specialty is now grappling with another proposed structural change: A proposed mandatory fourth year. While the idea has been periodically debated over the past two decades, it gained new momentum with proposed changes to the ACGME Program Requirements for Graduate Medical …

Why ruling out sepsis in emergency departments can be lifesaving

Claude M. D'Antonio, Jr., MD

Conditions

May 15, 2025

It’s a common scenario in the emergency department (ED). Peak cold and flu season brings in patients complaining of fever and chills, with increased heart rates and elevated white blood cell counts. Too many patients, not enough beds. As emergency medicine providers, we have to make quick, challenging decisions at triage, prioritizing the sickest patients based on their vitals and symptoms and getting them on the right care pathway.

From rejection to resilience: my journey through emergency medicine residency

Dr. Syed Hasan

Physician

May 8, 2025

When I first entered Aga Khan University Hospital as an emergency medicine (EM) resident, it felt like stepping into a whirlwind. The controlled chaos of the emergency department, the endless maze of technology, the pressure to make decisions in seconds—it all felt like too much. To make things harder, this opportunity came only after facing rejection last year—a moment that could have easily shaken my confidence. Some early on even …

Unleashing the kraken: What The Pitt gets wrong about psychiatric care

Kayla A. Simms, MD

Physician

April 27, 2025

The Pitt, a medical drama set in a fictional Pittsburgh trauma center, captures the human connections forged in emergency medicine. The show follows a team of residents and medical students through a relentless 15-hour shift under their seasoned attending, Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle). Unlike melodramatic predecessors, The Pitt finds drama in the emotional toll of ER work, emphasizing resilience amid exhaustion. Its commitment to Read more…

Unleashing the kraken: What The Pitt gets wrong about psychiatric care

Rural hospitals are vanishing—and lives are vanishing with them

Pamela Buchanan, MD

Physician

April 24, 2025

I’m a family medicine-trained doctor working in a rural ER. I drive 90 minutes to get there, and I do it because if I don’t, no one will. The county I serve has seen its nearest hospital close. The OB unit is long gone. Specialist referrals are hit or miss. And the patients? They’re sick. Sicker than they should be. Because when access to health care disappears, what follows is …

What a doctor felt when his neighbor was shot

Cedric Dark, MD, MPH

Physician

April 21, 2025

An excerpt from Under the Gun: An ER Doctor’s Cure for America’s Gun Epidemic.

My phone buzzed in the pocket of my blue jeans one Saturday night at around 10:30 p.m. as the standing-room-only crowd at Minute Maid Park, clothed in vibrant orange tones, erupted in cheers. It was game two of the 2019 American League Division Series playoffs between the Houston Astros …

What happened to real care in health care?

Christopher H. Foster, PhD, MPA

Policy

April 20, 2025

Every time I turn on the television, there’s another commercial for a new drug treating a condition I’ve never even heard of.

It’s constant. And honestly, it’s exhausting.

I can’t help but wonder: What happened to real care?

I remember a time, 35, maybe 40 years ago, when doctors knew your name. They looked you in the eye. They read your chart. They listened to what you had to say before deciding. They …

When saving a child isn’t possible: a heartbreaking day in the ED

Veronica Bonales, MD

Physician

April 13, 2025

Sometimes doing what we do is so hard. We get intimately involved in our patients’ lives, and instead of maintaining a clinical distance, you get sucked into the drama that has unfolded in their lives—the very events that bring them to the ED on this day. Then there’s a great difficulty in not judging, in not letting what you learn about them affect you or distract you from doing the …

We should tip health care workers too

Colleen Naglee, MD, JD

Physician

April 11, 2025

I was checking into a hotel the other day and noticed a QR code to tip the front desk staff. In an era where we book online, check in online, and check out online, I am not exactly sure where that tip request comes from. Tipping culture has crossed a line. We can now thank anyone in the service industry with an easy Venmo payment.

And now I …

Read more…

We should tip health care workers too

The forgotten patients: When missing people are just lost

Veronica Bonales, MD

Physician

April 7, 2025

I am a true crime buff, and I work in the emergency department. Sometimes the two seem to blur together.

In my career, I have followed my patients to the coroner’s office, going to see the autopsies on traumas, sudden deaths, or sometimes murders. We can do CT scans or MRIs. I can look at images and labs galore, but there’s nothing like looking at a fresh dissection to really appreciate …

How systemic racism impacts health outcomes across a lifetime [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

April 5, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Physician coach Seema Pattni discusses her article, “Why racism in health care is still an emergency.” Seema reflects on a painful encounter with an eight-year-old Black patient who wished to be white, …

How to reduce diagnostic error in the emergency department [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

Podcast

April 4, 2025

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Health care executives Susan L. Montminy and Marlene Icenhower discuss their article, “Solving a hidden challenge: 10 tips to reduce diagnostic error in the emergency department.” Susan and Marlene explore the complex, …

The emergency department crisis: Why patient boarding is dangerous

Edwin Leap, MD

Physician

March 28, 2025

Last night when I came to work most of the beds in our 31-bed emergency department (ED) were full. There were more than 20 patients either in the waiting room proper or in the chairs that serve as “rooms” behind the triage area.

Much of the problem was the fact that we were boarding patients who were waiting on inpatient beds, psychiatric admissions, or transfer to higher levels of care elsewhere. …

When protocol kills: a tragic lesson from the ER

Dale J. Bingham, PA-C, MPH

Conditions

March 11, 2025

My wife once told me, “It was like everyone was your friend.” And she may be right. I connect well with others and take an honest interest in them. In practice, I always ask where they are from. I find that a great opener, and even Alzheimer’s patients and the elderly can often answer that one. I have done that since my paramedic days.

Don’t get me wrong, though, as I …

Emergency Medicine

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Most Popular

Past Week

Past 6 Months

Recent Posts