3. No problem is too big to tackle. Just like Amal Mattu says, in emergency medicine you have to have a healthy level of paranoia. We still have to be optimistic about what we do, no matter how difficult the resuscitation, the diagnosis, the treatment, the patient, the consultant. … We have to be enthusiastic and be true team leaders to get the group to work as a team and be proud of the work performed.

2. It’s never too late to do the right thing. Our job does not only entail scientific choices, but we also have to consider the ethical repercussions of what we do. We revisit those tough cases in our minds, or with colleagues, and we always have to ask ourselves if we did the right thing at that time with what we had. Even Darth Vader did the right thing in the end.

1. Vader was never afraid of getting his hands dirty. This goes with the fact that as doctors we are expected to know what each member of the team does. We also have to know how to perform their roles and be willing to do them any time. We need to know this, not necessarily to micro-manage, but to better coordinate the team as a whole.

[T]hese are just a few points of what makes a good emergency medicine physician. I am sure there are more.

Read the original post at lifeinthefastlane.com/2012/07/darth-vader-in-the-er. Reprinted with permission. Dr. Benitez is an ACEP member.