Our Call to Duty As a young man I was a Boy Scout – khaki shirt, shoulder sash, merit badges, and all. Like all of the other boys in my troop, I used to stand at attention and recite the Scout oath a

The Level One Commitment I'm writing this article inside a tent. Lying on my thinning mattress pad, I can occasionally feel a refreshingly cool and crisp mountain breeze seep in through my partially

The Pursuit I wish I were perfect. At least I wish I were a perfect doctor. As a human I'm willing to accept that I make errors and sometimes fall short or make missteps in life. But, when others are

Man vs Machine Computer screens burn my eyes. But patients expectantly staring at me from a distance while I interact with a machine is even more uncomfortable. Entering medicine, I envisioned spendi

The Why, and the What's Next I'm on the four-year plan. Four years of high school was followed by four years of college. This was followed by four years of medical school, and then four years of resi

The Common Vernacular “Dude, he talked to me today!” I couldn't help but express my joy in what seemed to be a milestone achievement for our struggling 5-year-old ICU patient. For weeks he had been b

Taking it Slow We all experience different things in residency and come away with different perspectives, but there are a few things we all share in training. A constant sense of pressure and the nee