Michelle Au on seeing the attending when visiting a teaching hospital:

But then when it comes time for my family to come into the hospital, or if my child gets sick, I don’t want to buy into the system of which I myself am a part. I want to skip to the top. I want the attending. And not even just any attending, I want the senior attending. I want the one with the grey hair and the 30 years of experience who trained in the days of the giants and who has seen everything at least 600 times before. I will let med students in the room and I will chat with the intern and I will let the residents do whatever scut needs to be done, but when that needle’s coming at my back, or when (god forbid) it’s my child going under the mask, I want the very best, most experienced person to be involved.

(via a reader tip)