I'm kind of in awe

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants"

-Issac Newton

I'm sitting in a room with the chief of surgery of our medical school. Who was there with Dr. Michael DeBakey when President LBJ signed the papers that created Medicare. In the front of the room, the president of ACEP- American College of Emergency Physicians is giving a talk on the history of emergency medicine. My med school just started a brand new emergency medicine residency this year, and I was lucky enough to be at the Inaugural Grand Rounds.

What are rounds? Well this ritual began when doctors started to see patients in hospitals, going around to see all of his/her patients. With new apprentice doctors (medical students) in tow, physicians would present a case with the help of a patient in order to further treatment as well as education. Now grand rounds have evolved away into lecture series, even online these days with medical blogs.

The intellectual and political firepower in the room was mind-boggling! There were easily 4-5 residency directors- doctors who are in charge of creating attending physicians, the people on the top of the healthcare totem pole. In the row behind them were the 12 new residents in our program. Finally in the back were my fellow medical students. Scattered around us were other dignitaries. A couple of deans. The chief of medicine. The public health authority of the city.

All there to celebrate the creation of what will be an amazing emergency medicine program. 40 years ago, one of the founders of emergency medicine traveled back to his medical school. He had earned his MD sitting in the seat right in front of me. He was thinking about setting up shop here, but ultimately choose Chicago instead. For a second everyone in the room thought about what life would have been had he stayed.

I have a month off from school. It was great going home for the holiday weekend, but I am left with a burning question that I needed to answer for awhile. What am I going to do with my life? I feel like today's grand rounds are those once-in-a-lifetime events that I should not ignore. But who knows.

It is finally sinking in that I have just finished the longest year of my life, an 11 month first year of medical school. Post about that coming up soon. Stay safe until then.