Emergency Medicine

The night of an impalement injury surgery

Conditions
November 16, 2025

On July 6, 2025, in Nanjing, China, a construction worker plunged onto a steel rod that pierced him from pelvis to chest. That night, doctors fought millimeter by millimeter through a five-hour battle against death.

The call at midnight

The phone’s shriek tore through the heavy summer silence just after midnight.

Professor Ji Zhenling, president of Nanjing Jiangbei Hospital, surfaced from sleep, the warmth of his pillowcase still pressed against his cheek. His …

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Protecting elder clinicians from violence

Conditions
November 15, 2025

The day before the attack, a senior physician at a Catholic university hospital in Taiwan sat with young medical students at noon, talking not about lawsuits or hospital finances, but about Brahms. He loved four-hand piano pieces, especially Brahms’s Hungarian Dances, and he would explain how two players must breathe together, listen to one another, and balance passion with discipline. For him, this was also a lesson about medicine: You …

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A doctor’s cure for imposter syndrome

Physician
November 2, 2025

Picture this: It’s your second month of residency, and you’re deep into a hectic ED shift. The pressure is on; you’re managing patients, making decisions, and trying to get better. Then, a mistake happens. Not one that results in significant harm to the patient, but maybe you miss a diagnosis, fumble a procedure, or are just overwhelmed in general. You know failure is part of growth, but that doesn’t make …

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The childhood risk we never talk about

Conditions
November 1, 2025

Parents are inundated with advice and guidance on all manner of topics from an array of sources, but as a pediatric emergency medicine physician, I have been astonished to realize that parents hear almost nothing about the risk that actually poses the greatest threat of causing serious harm to their children. Approximately 10 percent of children in the United States experience sexual abuse, with one in four girls and somewhere …

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The physician mental health crisis in the ER

Policy
October 24, 2025

The numbers are staggering. Americans made 139.8 million emergency department visits in 2024, that is 42.7 visits per 100 people, with behavioral health issues driving an unprecedented surge. Behind these statistics lies a harsh reality: depression, a leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide, is overwhelming our emergency departments with cases they were never designed to handle. This tsunami of mental health crises creates a vicious cycle. …

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Why women ER doctors earn $21,000 less than men

Physician
October 8, 2025

Two emergency physicians with similar training work at the same hospital. Both have twelve years of experience. Both are contracted to work 2,000 hours per year, see roughly twenty patients per shift, and supervise staff. One is a man, the other is a woman. The same work, the same training, the same conditions. Not the same salary: The woman earns about $21,000 less each year.

That is not a hypothetical. That …

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The crisis of antisemitism in our hospitals

Policy
September 26, 2025

On October 7, 2023, more than 1,200 people were murdered in a single day in the Hamas-led terror attacks in southern Israel, and over 250 individuals were taken hostage. This was the deadliest antisemitic attack since the Holocaust. For many Jewish health care workers, it marked a devastating shift: Our hospitals and clinics were no longer safe, not because of external conflict, but simply because we are Jewish. We had …

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Why emergency medicine is a human rights specialty

Physician
September 24, 2025

Emergency medicine has evolved far beyond what its founders envisioned. Once an afterthought of the health care system, it is now the gateway to care for millions. Every day, our emergency departments serve as the front door of the hospital and, for many, the only door into health care.

This is why I argue that emergency medicine safeguards human rights.

Consider the patient mix of any emergency department: we care for the …

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An ER nurse explains why the system is collapsing [PODCAST]

Podcast
August 27, 2025
YouTube video

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Professional development practitioner and veteran emergency nurse Kristen Cline discusses her article, “America’s ER crisis: Why the system is collapsing from within.” Using the TV drama “The Pitt” as …

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The unfiltered truth about surviving emergency medicine residency with purpose

Physician
August 13, 2025

Emergency medicine residency: where the pager announces before your coffee cools, and your personal life takes a number far behind sepsis alerts and trauma activations. Amidst this storm, there’s an unexpected survival manual—not found in Tintinalli’s or Rosen’s, but in Mark Manson’s self-help book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.

Manson argues that life’s meaning isn’t found in chasing positivity, but in embracing struggle, choosing your battles wisely, …

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The silent challenges of female leadership in medicine

Physician
August 8, 2025

We had been trying, but the moment you see the word on the test strip, reality hits differently. My career was on an upward trajectory—I had just been offered a major promotion. And all I could think was: Why now?

When I told my husband how nervous I felt, he assumed it was about my body changing, or how our family of two would soon become three. He was wrong—and visibly …

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35 years in the ER and the search for an honest life [PODCAST]

Podcast
July 31, 2025
YouTube video

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Independent emergency physician Kenneth Ro discusses his article, “From survival to sovereignty: What 35 years in the ER taught me about identity, mortality, and redemption.” He shares his deeply personal journey, from …

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How one unforgettable ER patient taught a nurse about resilience

Conditions
July 17, 2025

Every ED has patients who become part of the landscape. They come in once or twice a week, for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes they have chronic medical conditions they are unable to manage. Sometimes they are on the outskirts of society due to mental health or substance abuse disorders. The ER promises a few hours of sleep in a safe place and a meal. I formed an uneasy alliance …

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Why point-of-care ultrasound belongs in emergency department triage

Conditions
July 10, 2025

The ED is swamped with new patient arrivals. As a result, the 20-year-old who told the triage nurse he is having difficulty breathing waits an hour before his turn in the triage room. The emergency department technician hands me the ECG—sinus tachycardia—and takes the vitals.

Me: “What brings you to the emergency department today?”

Him: “I feel like I cannot breathe. It started all of a sudden at work.”

As I scroll through …

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Why point-of-care ultrasound belongs in every emergency department triage [PODCAST]

Podcast
July 9, 2025
YouTube video

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Emergency physicians Resa E. Lewiss and Courtney M. Smalley discuss their article, “Why point-of-care ultrasound belongs in emergency department triage.” Amid the crisis of overcrowded waiting rooms and long wait times, they …

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America’s ER crisis: Why the system is collapsing from within

Conditions
July 8, 2025

The Pitt was compelling TV.

As an emergency nurse educator for a Stanford campus in Northern California, there is one thing that is required viewing for my new graduate nurses: The Pitt.

The ambitious series did an admirable job portraying the complex world of the emergency department. The procedures were clinically accurate. The spectrum of patients and social issues was nuanced and believable. They even showcased the incidence of post-COVID PTSD, an …

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Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

Physician
June 30, 2025

It rolled past me—the same dull, tan utility cart we usually use to haul IV pumps, portable monitors, or the occasional dead printer. No decorations. No sign. Just an enormous pile of candy and snacks.

To be fair, it wasn’t bad candy. There were Kit Kats. Some decent chocolate. But still, the message was clear: “We see you. We care. Here’s a Kit Kat.” And because our admin staff does care—a …

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Why wanting more from your medical career is a sign of strength

Physician
June 22, 2025

The emergency physician across from me had it all on paper: good schedule, six-figure salary, respected by colleagues, two kids in college, mortgage nearly paid off. “I should be grateful,” she said, staring at her coffee. “But I keep wondering — is this it for the next twenty years?” If you’re nodding, you’re not alone. That quiet restlessness isn’t ingratitude. It’s evolution.

The script we’ve all been given

From day one of …

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From survival to sovereignty: What 35 years in the ER taught me about identity, mortality, and redemption

Physician
June 20, 2025

I’ve lived a full life. A hard one. A beautiful one. A complicated one. And now, at 61, I’m finally beginning to live an honest one.

I was built in survival mode. Growing up as a Korean American boy in Central Texas—often the only Asian face in the room—my earliest years taught me that difference could either be celebrated… or punished. At first, it was celebrated. I flourished. But a move …

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What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

Conditions
June 9, 2025

At 9:32 a.m., shortly after Hind and her family left their home in Tel al-Hawa, an Israeli military spokesperson issued an evacuation notice on social media, instructing residents of western Gaza City to head south. At approximately 2:30 p.m., Layan Hamada, Hind’s cousin, made the initial call to the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) dispatch after their car was struck by gunfire. At that moment, Layan and Hind were …

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