Logo

Log In Sign Up |  An official publication of: American College of Emergency Physicians
Navigation
  • Home
  • Multimedia
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
  • Clinical
    • Airway Managment
    • Case Reports
    • Critical Care
    • Guidelines
    • Imaging & Ultrasound
    • Pain & Palliative Care
    • Pediatrics
    • Resuscitation
    • Trauma & Injury
  • Resource Centers
    • mTBI Resource Center
  • Career
    • Practice Management
      • Benchmarking
      • Reimbursement & Coding
      • Care Team
      • Legal
      • Operations
      • Quality & Safety
    • Awards
    • Certification
    • Compensation
    • Early Career
    • Education
    • Leadership
    • Profiles
    • Retirement
    • Work-Life Balance
  • Columns
    • ACEP4U
    • Airway
    • Benchmarking
    • Brief19
    • By the Numbers
    • Coding Wizard
    • EM Cases
    • End of the Rainbow
    • Equity Equation
    • FACEPs in the Crowd
    • Forensic Facts
    • From the College
    • Images in EM
    • Kids Korner
    • Medicolegal Mind
    • Opinion
      • Break Room
      • New Spin
      • Pro-Con
    • Pearls From EM Literature
    • Policy Rx
    • Practice Changers
    • Problem Solvers
    • Residency Spotlight
    • Resident Voice
    • Skeptics’ Guide to Emergency Medicine
    • Sound Advice
    • Special OPs
    • Toxicology Q&A
    • WorldTravelERs
  • Resources
    • ACEP.org
    • ACEP Knowledge Quiz
    • Issue Archives
    • CME Now
    • Annual Scientific Assembly
      • ACEP14
      • ACEP15
      • ACEP16
      • ACEP17
      • ACEP18
      • ACEP19
    • Annals of Emergency Medicine
    • JACEP Open
    • Emergency Medicine Foundation
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Medical Editor in Chief
    • Editorial Advisory Board
    • Awards
    • Authors
    • Article Submission
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright Information

Transition from Academia to Community Hospital Practice Is Complicated for Emergency Physician

By Patricia Van Leer, MD | on August 14, 2016 | 0 Comment
New Spin
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
Print-Friendly Version
Transition from Academia to Community Hospital Practice Is Complicated for Emergency Physician
ILLUSTRATION/PAUL JUESTRICH; PHOTOs shutterstock.com

I listened to EMS’s story (hypotension, bradycardia, altered) via the new electronic medical record then looked to head of the bed for my PGY-2, who would already have a GlideScope, bougie, and endotracheal tube ready to go. Instead, there was a nurse at the head of the bed, waiting for me to say something. My eyes then scanned the entire room for familiar sights (interns, residents, onlookers); there were none.

You Might Also Like
  • Opinion: Independent Emergency Group Practice Model Boosts Physician Satisfaction
  • What Emergency Physicians Should Know About Getting a Job in Academia
  • Building a Democratic, Independent, Community ED Practice
Explore This Issue
ACEP Now: Vol 35 – No 08 – August 2016

After graduating from the residency program at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City, I continued working at the same hospital for several years. I was the assistant program director for two years when I made a huge life change last summer. I willfully stepped off of the academic train, but transitioning to a community hospital has not been the smooth ride that I expected.

Residents Versus No Residents

Getting back to my first shift without residents, in Catch Me If You Can, Leonardo DiCaprio briefly plays an attending. He fakes his way through medicine by asking for one resident’s opinion, then turning to a second resident and asking, “Do you concur?” In some ways, I spent years asking, “Do you concur?” without having to initiate a plan of my own.

While I missed my residents for the complicated patients, I missed them even more during the minute-to-minute ED moments. I felt lonely without someone to share in the excitement of making a rare diagnosis or someone to show a cool X-ray finding.

Education

Surprisingly, the thing I don't miss is teaching. Don’t freak out. I love teaching, and I think it’s something I do well. The reason I don't miss teaching is that I'm still constantly teaching. I work with scribes who are super-eager premed students dying for two minutes of teaching. Have you tried to explain an anion gap to a kid who is taking biochemistry? It requires an understanding of the science well beyond MUDPILES. It’s both fun and challenging to teach to their academic level.

I also work with many nurses who are working on their nurse practitioner degree. Once I know they are interested in education, I’ll take a minute to pull them aside and teach. I made the mistake of waltzing into my new emergency department and assuming that everyone wanted me to teach. Many nurses are receptive, but some are not interested in pausing during their busy day for “learning.” On a few occasions, my two-minute mini-lectures were taken as pejorative instead of well-intentioned. Asking the simple question, “Do you have a minute to discuss that patient?” has gone a long way in figuring out who is interested and who is not.

Pages: 1 2 3 | Single Page

Topics: AcademiacareerCommunity HospitalEmergency DepartmentEmergency MedicineEmergency PhysicianPatient CarePractice ManagementWorkforce

Related

  • Aerospace Medicine Residency Program Pushes the Envelope

    June 25, 2025 - 1 Comment
  • Pros and Cons: A Mandated Four-Year Residency

    June 11, 2025 - 1 Comment
  • ACEP4U: Ramping Up Residency Outreach

    May 8, 2025 - 0 Comment

Current Issue

ACEP Now: July 2025

Download PDF

Read More

No Responses to “Transition from Academia to Community Hospital Practice Is Complicated for Emergency Physician”

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


*
*

Careers Center
  • Emergency Physician – BC/BE, FM or EM – Greater Houston, TX – 1099 contracted

    We know times have changed, and Emergency Medicine is experiencing a shortage of Physicians

    Greater Houston, Texas

    315K-500K annually

    America's ER and UC

    Read More
  • Emergency Physician

    The Massachusetts Eye and Ear (MEE) Emergency Department is seeking ABEM-certified or eligible Emergency Physicians to join our growing team

    Boston, Massachusetts

    Competitive salary

    Massachusetts General Hospital

    Read More
  • Emergency Medicine Physicians

    Discover an environment with lower patient acuity and access to a full-service emergency room, supported by lab, imaging and pharmacy services. Join..

    Tannersville, Pennsylvania

    Competitive Salary, Benefits + Starting Bonus

    Lehigh Valley Health Network

    Read More
More Jobs
Wiley
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Advertise
  • Cookie Preferences
Copyright © 2025 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved, including rights for text and data mining and training of artificial technologies or similar technologies. ISSN 2333-2603