Part II

As promised, here are my remaining words of wisdom:

3) Own what you know. This and #4 are products of my own experience. After following rules #1-2, you are self-equipped to make your own decisions. Frightening, yes, but true. Trusting your own judgment is tough stuff. Don't assume someone who disagrees with you knows better just because he/she is older or has reportedly been in this situation before. You will regret making an error based on someone else's judgment or knowledge so much more than if you'd trusted yourself but been wrong. Getting punished in the morning (as in after your night on call) for someone else's mistake is an unpleasant scenario indeed. Don't get high and mighty, but for the sake of many tears and restless nights, please, oh please, stand up for what you think is the right thing to do. I wish I had last February, but that's a story for another day.

4) Never ask a patient a question to which you don't already know the answer. (AKA: Trust no one.) You are taught in med school to always believe what the patient tells you, but patients lie. All of them. Some mean to, some don't. Because I think it's discriminatory to choose how much I believe of what you say based on appearances or first impressions, I employ a blanket policy to trust no one. To keep myself from operating on false information, I verify to the extent possible the data I seek through objective means (old op reports, clinic notes, etc). Then, akin to a lie detector test, I ask a few non-important questions to see if the patient's answers line up. Drug screens are my favorite; urine doesn't lie (you can quote me on that). This then determines how much I trust your other answers. Next time you end up in the Vandy ER, consider yourself warned; there will be a pop quiz.