This week’s show focused on medical emergencies, a topic reflecting my four years as an attending physician in the emergency room of Cabrini Medical Center. From 1983 to 1987 I worked three 12-hours shifts in a crowded, noisy, somewhat chaotic facility where people came around the clock for a wide variety of medical, surgical, psychological, and social ailments.
Although I had worked in the Maimonides Medical Center emergency room during my internal medicine residency, the Cabrini experience was quite different. I was figuratively and literally in charge of all of the patients simultaneously. For those with an artistic view of the health care experience, this is like conducting several orchestras at the same time.
The emergencies ranged from life-threatening accidents to panic attacks, as well as comforting social outcasts and unfortunate homeless people whose isolation and loneliness were truly painful. As you probably know from personal experience, medical emergencies are very frightening, and even doctors and nurses are not immune. Knowing what to do and recognizing the most serious warning signs can be life-saving, and that’s what impelled me to write The Little Book of Big Medical Emergencies.
The book was originally published by Lyle Stuart, the legendary literary figure, in 2002. Hatherleigh Press published a second edition in 2007, this one updated and reviewed by fourteen noted specialists in diverse medical and surgical fields.
Medical emergencies happen to everyone. I hope that yours have been minor and inconsequential. The statistics show that a given individual will have some type of medical emergency every three years, so being prepared with the proper information and tips on prioritization is absolutely essential.
What could medical emergencies possibly have in common with the usual recommendations of a diet doctor? I’ve answered that question dozens of times: it’s all about your health. Although emergency medicine is crisis intervention and lifestyle advice is preventative medicine, both are ways that you can take care of that most precious and delicate machine, the human body.
Even if you are the most glamorous, healthy, and happy individual, The Little Book of Big Medical Emergencies belongs in your home.
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