Surfing Through the Night Shift in Brooklyn, New York
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James Burhop
I surf.
I like the feel of the water as it flows over my body and the sound of the waves crashing as they break and slide along the shore. If I could do only 1 thing with my time, it would be to sit atop my 9′0” Harbour Habanero just outside the break during a southwest swell at Third Point, Scorpion Bay, catching that perfect glassy wave.
For me, pediatric emergency medicine is just like surfing.
But I have a family—2 amazing kids and a beautiful wife—and like most of us I need a job, one that will buy food, clothes, toys, and Sticky Bumps surfboard wax. As such, if I could have only 1 job, it would be to work as a pediatric emergency physician.
For me, pediatric emergency medicine is just like surfing. I check the tide charts, forecasts, and surf cameras at length, but it is not until I am paddling out toward the break that I have a true sense of the power of the swell. Each set holds surprises, and while many waves are caught and carved with grace, some waves come along with a crushing force that is much heavier than initially anticipated. When this happens, I adjust quickly. Often, these subtle movements are made instinctively, using muscle memory that has developed during years of practice and perseverance. Similarly, waves of patients wash over our emergency department here in Brooklyn during every shift, some with common complaints that I can remedy swiftly and others with more perplexing problems that require quick thinking and the confidence to initiate treatment prior to knowing the results of all laboratory work and imaging.
Emergency medicine is athletic, and like surfing, it requires both patience and action. When our emergency department gets busy, it can get chaotic very quickly, not unlike the packed lineup at my weekend break on Far Rockaway. Both situations require mental and physical discipline and the ability to keep a keen eye on the ever-changing surroundings. I loathe the busy break, but I enjoy the challenge of an unpredictable emergency unit and possess the patience required to treat the ill children and soothe their parents. As a surfer and an emergency physician, I have learned how to think on my feet, to show kindness in the face of disrespect, and to identify fear disguised as anger.
I surf, I teach, I heal.
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Articles in the same Issue
- AOA Communication
- Official Call
- Proposed Amendments to the AOA Constitution and Code of Ethics and New “Rules and Guidelines”
- Letters
- Environmental Reform Needed to Decrease Costs of Health Care
- Editorials
- Patient-Centered, Evidence-Based Decision Making
- Rigor in Medical Writing: Quoting Accurately
- Evidence-Based Clinical Review
- Patient-Centered Management of Atrial Fibrillation: Applying Evidence-Based Care to the Individual Patient
- Review
- Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment in Pregnant Women
- Medical Education
- Empathy in Osteopathic Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Analysis
- Original Contribution
- Survey of Billing and Coding for Counterstrain Tender Points
- Special Communication
- Quoting A.T. Still With Rigor: An Historical and Academic Review
- Case Report
- Coexistence of Cushing Syndrome From Functional Adrenal Adenoma and Addison Disease From Immune-Mediated Adrenalitis
- Clinical Images
- Accidental Metallic Mercury Ingestion
- In Your Words
- Surfing Through the Night Shift in Brooklyn, New York
- Letters
- Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Response
- Correction
- Correction
- CME Quiz
- CME Quiz
