Wellness and Resiliency during Residency: EM is a career with unresolved stories
“We do make a difference, but not just in the setting of resuscitating critically ill or injured people, but in putting people on the pathway to health. We often get cheated out of the ending of the movie. We don’t see the romantic side of what we’ve helped facilitate. We certainly don’t get credit for it.” – Dr. Richard Cantor
There are lots of reasons why Emergency Medicine (EM) has one of the highest burnout rates compared to other medical specialties.1,2 We have long and erratic hours, difficult patients, and an increasing number of bureaucratic tasks such as clicking boxes in an electronic medical records system or ensuring high patient-satisfaction survey responses.2 These stresses are not unique to EM, but our high-volume and high-acuity patient loads do amplify those stresses compared to other fields.