My emergency medicine rotation ended up being one of the most surprising and meaningful experiences of my clinical training so far. Before starting the rotation, I honestly never thought emergency medicine would be a field where I would feel like I fit. However, as the rotation went on, I realized how much I genuinely loved the environment and the work that happens in the emergency department.
One of my favorite parts was how hands-on the rotation was. I had several opportunities to suture, which I found to be really fun. I also had experiences helping with casting, which was another skill I enjoyed learning. I feel like this helped me realize that I want to be in a career where I do procedures like these in my future. On top of that, I was able to watch more complex procedures like lumbar punctures and nerve blocks, which were really interesting to see in real life after learning about them in class. Being able to observe and participate in these procedures made the learning feel very real and practical.

Every shift felt different, and there was always something new happening. This was both a challenge and something I enjoyed. It was a challenge because every shift I felt like I was learning something new to learn. During more acute cases, you could really feel the adrenaline and the sense that everyone in the room was working together toward the same goal. What stood out to me the most was seeing how much the providers cared for these patients, even though they had just met them. Watching them do everything they possibly could for someone who was critically ill was incredibly inspiring.

Another thing I really enjoyed was getting to speak with such a wide variety of people. In the emergency department you meet patients of all ages and backgrounds, from older patients to very young ones, and every interaction feels different. Some times patients were challenging to speak with. Some patients come to you with their whole life story and I found it really hard not to spend an excessive time with these patients. My supervising providers would often remind me that I need to guide the patient in conversation to prevent this. Other times I had to learn to speak with angry patients and I had to learn not to take some upset patients to heart. On the brightside when patients or their families expressed appreciation toward me I felt really touched. Even simple thank-yous meant a lot and reminded me why I wanted to go into medicine in the first place.

This rotation also taught me an important lesson about how to interact with patients. Initially, I often avoided talking to patients who were not technically assigned to me, believing it might not be my place. However, I soon noticed that my preceptors and the physicians I worked with operated differently. They would readily respond to any patient asking for help. Sometimes a patient would just need food or water, and while my initial instinct was to think, “that’s not my job and you are not my patient,” seeing the residents and doctors consistently help made me realize how terribly wrong my mindset was. Their example showed me that kindness in medicine should extend to everyone in the department, not just the patients assigned to me. Because of their example, I started trying to do the same.

I also felt very lucky to complete this rotation at a teaching hospital. Being able to learn alongside residents while also being taught by attendings created a really supportive learning environment. The residents and attendings were both very enthusiastic about teaching and were always looking for opportunities to point out helpful clinical pearls or explain their thought process. Another part of the experience that I really enjoyed was the weekly conferences. These conferences reinforced a lot of the topics we were seeing in the emergency department and helped connect the clinical experiences with more structured learning. They were also surprisingly fun and interactive. We had things like a “Medical Olympics” competition including splinting races, and games where we had to match CT images with diagnoses. They even played a medical version of Codenames. These sessions made learning feel engaging and helped bring me closer to the emergency department team.

One of my favorite aspects of the rotation overall was seeing how many different people work together to make an emergency department function. I had the chance to work with physician assistants, nurses, medical interns, residents, attendings, and consultants from specialties like surgery and podiatry. Watching how everyone contributes to patient care gave me a much better appreciation of how important teamwork is in emergency medicine. Everyone I worked with was incredibly welcoming and kind, and I truly felt that the team wanted me to succeed and grow in my future career.

Overall, this rotation completely changed my perspective on emergency medicine. What started as a specialty I did not expect to connect with ended up being something I genuinely loved. The procedures, the teamwork, the fast pace, and the meaningful patient interactions made it an incredibly rewarding experience, and I am very grateful for everything I learned during this rotation. Every rotation I really tried to put myself out there and show that I was eager to learn. If I could choose one thing I’d hoped my preceptor noticed in me it would be this.

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