Dr. Mohan, do you have a minute?
Yep. Excuse me.
Is there a problem over there?
No, her pain is well controlled.
You understand that's my polite way of asking why are you spending so much time with one patient? You're an R3. As an R3, you should be seeing at least two patients an hour.
I have two, Joyce and Mr. Wallace, our Good Samaritan.
Who's comatose and stable. You should have four by now.
I have the highest patient satisfaction of anyone.
I don't doubt it, but we just had this conversation a couple of hours ago.
I know people call me Slow-Mo. You don't have to confirm or deny. It used to hurt my feelings a lot, but I can't help it. I work at the speed I'm comfortable at.
Because you're afraid of making a mistake?
I'm always afraid of making a mistake. Aren't you?
Yeah, of course I am. But you know what I mean. You make a mistake once, and somebody dies, and you feel so badly about it, you'll never let it happen again
How is that wrong?
Because you waste time and money on unnecessary tests. You keep sick patients waiting too long. You miss out on cases you could be learning from. You shortchange your own education. I'm not saying this to be a hard-ass. I'm saying this because I know you could do this, but you need to do it at a level I also know you're capable of.
And what if I'm not?
Then you should look into a specialty that better suits you. Have you thought about psychiatry?
I don't want to go into psychiatry. I want to be here.
Being here means no matter how good you are or how hard you try, you're gonna make another mistake, and someone else might even die. That's called being an emergency medicine doctor. And if you can't accept that, then maybe this isn't the place for you.
I can accept that.
You sure?
Yes.
OK, good. Go save some lives. Clear some beds while you're at it.
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