In every occupation, there are aggravations that people endure knowing that, overall, they enjoy what they do. We will put up with the bad because it is outweighed by the good.

I’m sure that the average police officer does not enjoy interacting with drunken fools. Retail workers don’t like doing returns. Mail carriers don’t relish making their rounds in the driving rain. Orthopedists don’t like evaluating people with chronic back pain. These folks carry on, however, because there are bad guys to catch, big sales to be made, 70° days in June, and hips to replace.

The better I get at putting to rest patients’ concerns, the happier they are and the more satisfied I am.

In emergency medicine, we find it easy to count the aggravations these days. I’ve enumerated them regularly in print, and I’m sure you do as well at change of shift and at kitchen table discussions. We too carry on quite well.

We are masters at staying cool and collected as one annoyance or provocation follows another. Most physicians would border on murderous rage if exposed to the slights, pestering, and frustrations we encounter before lunch every day.

We enjoy emergency medicine because we find it easy to list some really great things about our jobs. I like doing procedures. Not that I’m wishing meningitis on anyone, but I’d do an LP every day if I could. I enjoy seeing a fresh problem and deciphering it for the patient. Pneumonia, MI, appendicitis, fractures, and nasal foreign bodies—this is exciting stuff. And every once in a while, you get to do a rectal exam on a hospital administrator. (“Yes, it is a shame the KY is on back order.”)

It seems that lately almost everyone has some chronic problem, and our purpose is to usher them through the maze of specialists who care for them. A colleague of mine once commented that we don’t see 70,000 patients, we see 7,000 patients 10 times.

So, when the really cool things about emergency medicine are in short supply, I try to find satisfaction in new situations. One of these is our role as comforter and provider of reassurance to the worried.

If you think about it, most of our patients are looking for some type of reassurance. Dr. Greg Henry says that we are in the reassurance business. Patients want to know that they are not suffering a stroke, MI, fracture, ruptured appendix, DVT, or the dreaded spider bite.