I'm a doctor. Can I help?

Abstract

Medical school does not prepare trainees for the reality of the practice of medicine, where book knowledge takes second place to the more pragmatic skills of time management, conflict resolution, and damage control. Junior residents, overwhelmed by the demands of daily floor work, can easily lose sight of the reasons that they went into medicine to begin with. Taken out of the context of the hospital, though, the opportunity to care for a patient one-on-one can be a vital reminder of the gift that is to know how to heal the sick. Reflecting on the opportunity to care for an accident victim at the scene, rather than in the hospital, reinforces to one young physician the remarkable thing that it is to be a physician.