Trauma Room Two

by Philip Allen Green

Over the years I have learned the hard way that each time I throw the switch, it becomes more difficult to turn it back off. If a case is too traumatic, too upsetting, and I close off all emotions, it can be weeks before the feeling part that makes me who I am returns.

But if the patients keep coming, something else begins to happen. The top of the efficiency curve is reached. At some point even the best battle-tested staff will become completely overwhelmed. When this happens, they are swept up and over the bell-shaped curve by the flow of patients, only to be dropped off the back side and onto the rocks below. Mistakes become commonplace. There are just too many interruptions, too many lab results, too many phones ringing, and too many family members yelling about what is taking so long. The efficiency of the entire operation slows down until it finally shatters into a million tiny pieces.