As an emergency room doctor, I learned to get used to the unexpected, until my neighbors showed up at the hospital

This emergency doctor, who was on duty on Christmas Day in intensive care, in the emergency department, experienced a day which remained engraved in his memory. In this type of service, it is imperative to be focused, efficient and self-controlled. Indeed, the patients who are treated have generally suffered strokes, heart attacks or traumatic injuries.

Actions must therefore be safe and carried out quickly. Around lunch time, the doctor took charge a patient who needed a central venous catheter, a device for administering solutes into large vessels. As he prepared to insert the catheter needle into the neck, in the right superior vena cavaa door opened.

An unexpected announcement

Concentrated on his care, the emergency doctor did not look at who entered the room. He then looked up and a woman in a white coat announced to him: “Dr. Singh, there are patients here from your condo complex. There was a fire.” A surprising announcement made at an inappropriate time. “Thank you for telling me”, he replied. He then thought of his fiancé who had visited him the day before and with whom he had a good time. Then he returned to his work.

Checking his phone, the doctor realized that his fiancé had sent him a photo of the burning apartments. He also told her that the fire was of great magnitude and that none of the residents were allowed to return to their homes. He then returned to his work.

Trauma that is difficult to deal with

Without housing, the caregiver had learned to get by with little. He had moved into a hotel, buying the bare necessities to live. However, he did not know whether he was allowed to request leave, following the traumatic events he had just experienced. He therefore experienced a destabilizing period, before finding accommodationin the same condominium as before.

A doctor for years, iHe found himself totally helpless in the face of the difficulties he encounteredemotionally and psychologically, after losing everything. “In all my years of training in emergency medicine as an art and science – in the ABCs of trauma resuscitation – I didn’t know how to treat mine because I was never taught how to do it ”he said to himself. The fire helped him realize his life was out of balance and that he placed too much time and importance on his work, over his mental health and well-being. He left emergency medicine five years after this event.

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