Writing the Book

As a seasoned emergency physician and incurable problem solver, I have worked for years trying to improve patient care in large and small ways wherever I have practiced.

As obvious as the increasing pressures on our emergency departments have become to me (and anyone who works in an emergency department), it is clear that most people have no idea about the scope of the problem or the factors behind it. So, although I was intimately familiar with the “what” of the problem, I felt the need to better understand the “why,” and make the reasons clear to anyone who might need an emergency department, which is basically, everyone.

This endeavor led me to all sorts of interesting and unanticipated places that felt important to share through this book. I have tried to bring to life the compelling and urgent picture of what is happening in our nation’s emergency departments through stories, both mine and those of the patients I have had the opportunity to treat. I hope you will enjoy the same journey of discovery I took in the educational spirit it is intended. At the end of the day, my intent is to tell the story that our much-maligned emergency departments cannot tell for themselves: why they are of inestimable value, and what is at stake if we don’t better support them.