A World of Wimps?
Does this sound familiar?
In a single night I had patients come in for the following complaints (all brought by ambulance): “Smoked marijuana and got dizzy”, “stung by a bee and it hurts”, “got drunk and have a hangover”, “sat out in the sun and got sunburn”, “ate Mexican food and threw up”, “picked my nose and it bled, but now it stopped”, “just had sex and want to know if I’m pregnant.”
That’s an excerpt from Thomas Doyle’s blogpost “Treating a Nation of Wimps“. Some may venture to suggest that the problem is not constrained to North American shores…
Doyle is an ER doctor and the author of an interestingly titled upcoming book, “Suck It Up, America: The Tough Choices Needed for Real Health-Care Reform”. He laments the current epidemic of hypochondriasis, the universal expectation of ‘a pill to cure every ill’ and how modern society has warped our perceptions of risk. Read the rest of the blogpost for more words of wisdom like:
When working with a cold, flu or headache, I often feel I am like one of those cute little animal signs in amusement parks that say “you must be taller than me to ride this ride” only my sign would read “you must be sicker than me to come to our emergency department.”
Chris is an Intensivist and ECMO specialist at The Alfred ICU, where he is Deputy Director (Education). He is a Clinical Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University, the Lead for the Clinician Educator Incubator programme, and a CICM First Part Examiner.
He is an internationally recognised Clinician Educator with a passion for helping clinicians learn and for improving the clinical performance of individuals and collectives. He was one of the founders of the FOAM movement (Free Open-Access Medical education) has been recognised for his contributions to education with awards from ANZICS, ANZAHPE, and ACEM.
His one great achievement is being the father of three amazing children.
On Bluesky, he is @precordialthump.bsky.social and on the site that Elon has screwed up, he is @precordialthump.
| INTENSIVE | RAGE | Resuscitology | SMACC
