EM MINDSET

To the Class of 2016 – Congratulations!! You’ve made it. After at least 11 years of post-high school education, you have finally reached that proverbial finish line and are ready to transition from resident to attending. What I would like to share with you is some advice about what life is like on the other side. Now that you have finished residency, it’s safe to say that you know the medicine really well. But, I have come to find that your learning about life as a professional is just beginning.

Who are the people you consider the biggest leaders and influencers of change in our profession? What traits do they have that seem to make them a natural for their role? How did they get there? Perhaps even better questions to ask – what makes some people more engaged in their job? Why do some people bounce back from the stress of our jobs better than others do? Are there common traits that overlap leadership and resilience?

You may not know what cognitive load is, but if you work in an Emergency Department (ED) you are probably carrying a ton of it. Cognitive load refers to the total amount of mental effort burdening your working memory at any given time. Working in an ED can involve extremely high cognitive load, and learning to understand and manage it can make you more efficient and less stressed on shift. In the field of ED management, the ED bed is often described as the ‘Million Dollar resource’. If that is true, then the cognitive machinery of the Emergency Physician has to be the ‘Billion Dollar resource’.