From a Great Coach's Play Book: Always see the Forest through the Trees!
We learn our most effective strategies for helping others to achieve success from our favorite coaches. My long time coach and colleague, Dr. Mark Kling, recently reminded all of us at County to always see the Forest through the Trees.
When Mark first started at Cook County nearly three decades ago, the busiest ED in the city was literally a hallway. When I was a resident fifteen year ago, we worked together in an 30 bed ED with one computer that never worked, on the first floor of a third world hospital, ironically in the middle of a magnificent city. Today, we are privileged to practice medicine in a state of the art hospital for the underserved, that easily rivals any other healthcare institution in the county. In many ways, the evolution of our department parallels the development of Emergency Medicine.
So when we become frustrated by a computer locking up, an overworked colleague, or a long wait for an inpatient bed, let's pause for a moment, and remember to see the Forrest through the Trees. As Amal Mattu recently taught at SMACC, 'we should not compare ourselves today to anyone else, but who we were yesterday'.
Every summer in academic medicine, we end by saying goodbye to our graduates, and retiring colleagues. Then we immediately begin again by welcoming new trainees and staff members. But even in the fall, we listen for the voices of our old friends. Be sure to borrow lessons from the play books of your best coaches, in order to help tomorrow's trainees learn from their wisdom, and honor their legacy.
Make it a Great Week! Thank You Mark.
When Mark first started at Cook County nearly three decades ago, the busiest ED in the city was literally a hallway. When I was a resident fifteen year ago, we worked together in an 30 bed ED with one computer that never worked, on the first floor of a third world hospital, ironically in the middle of a magnificent city. Today, we are privileged to practice medicine in a state of the art hospital for the underserved, that easily rivals any other healthcare institution in the county. In many ways, the evolution of our department parallels the development of Emergency Medicine.
So when we become frustrated by a computer locking up, an overworked colleague, or a long wait for an inpatient bed, let's pause for a moment, and remember to see the Forrest through the Trees. As Amal Mattu recently taught at SMACC, 'we should not compare ourselves today to anyone else, but who we were yesterday'.
Every summer in academic medicine, we end by saying goodbye to our graduates, and retiring colleagues. Then we immediately begin again by welcoming new trainees and staff members. But even in the fall, we listen for the voices of our old friends. Be sure to borrow lessons from the play books of your best coaches, in order to help tomorrow's trainees learn from their wisdom, and honor their legacy.
Make it a Great Week! Thank You Mark.
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