• Open Letter to the ACEP Council by respected EP Bob Solomon

    Open Letter to ACEP Councillors Bob Solomon MD Editors Note: This post is taken from social media. The specialty of Emergency Medicine is on fire. Profits are being priotizied over patients in the once noble specialty of emergency medicine. Our chance to bring our largest specialty society back to advocating for patients is now. The future of the American College of Emergency Physicians and whether or not we prioritize integrity ad patients over profits for external business interests rests in …

  • Thoughts on Vituity

    Editor's Note: Vituity is a large Contract Management Group (CMG) that provides staffing for emergency departments including emergency physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners. It is unique among many of the large staffing groups in that it is not owned by private equity, provides transparency in what is billed and paid in a physician's name. There is a path to partnership, albeit long. There is (a form) of democracy, though it is representative. But it is still a "big" group th…

  • The Corporatic Oath

    I swear by Plutus a Cornucopia and Demeter and Persephone and last but not least Priapus and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath and covenant: To hold he (or she) who has taught me this art as equal to my coffers and to live my life in domination of him, and if he is in need of money to give him none of mine, and to regard his offspring as equally undeserving in materialistic lineage and to teach them nothing of…

  • Thank You Doctors, Love, Proud Nurse

    Dear Doctors, Thank you so much for the work that you are doing regarding the extremely subpar Nurse Practitioner training. I graduated from an FNP program in 2003 from a respected nursing school in New York City. I Immediately suspected that something was terribly wrong with the training. I received my undergrad at the same university and the assessment, pathophysiology, and pharmacology classes were basically the same course as in nursing school with "advanced" added to a the syllabus. The …

  • Mother-In-Law

    An ox. That’s my mother-in-law. Doesn’t miss a day at the gym. Ever. Monday. She goes to the gym and gets to work on the treadmill. A few minutes in she gets chest pain so she decides to stop. She decides to see if the bike goes any better. It does not and again, she feels the tightness in her chest. Maybe the row machine? Nope. Chest pain. Hmm. She decides to sleep on it. Tuesday, she skips the gym. Like I said—ever. Mom-in-law never left the couch on Tuesday, instead she zoned out watching …

  • Transfer

    “Dr. Sham, can I talk to you for a second?” It was my third time working with this young physician assistant. “I’m not sure who else to ask, but this just doesn’t feel right.” This is what I get for being the coolest attending, I guess. “Sure, what’s up?” “I’m not sure what to do.” She started shaking. “I was pulled into my director’s office at [the sister hospital]. You know him, right?” Oh, that’s why. I knew it couldn’t be the “cool” thing. “You mean Kennedy?” She nodded. “Okay, Dr. Kenned…

  • The Phoenix Blog - Tell your story anonymously - now accepting entries

    The Phoenix Blog was created in recognition of the numerous physicians, healthcare workers, and patients who want to tell their story, but fear retaliation and therefore must remain anonymous. We embrace pseudonyms so that the writer may someday claim their pen-name when they no longer fear retaliation. The blog is named in recognition of James Keaney, MD who originally penned the book The Rape of Emergency Medicine under the pesudonym "The Phoenix" in 1992 where he revealed egregious corporate …