Decisions
Triage, uncertainty, deteriorating patients and the responsibility of acting quickly without allowing speed to replace careful thought.
The emergency medicine journal · 2023 - 2025
Tales of an Emergency Trainee
Night shifts, rapid decisions, controlled chaos and the long process of learning to stay calm when everything around me is moving at once.
Into the controlled chaos
The department never waits for certainty.
This is not a manual for emergency medicine. It is the story of learning to make responsible decisions before every answer is available.
I entered specialist training after medical school, foundation years and a long detour across the world. The setting had changed again: crowded waiting rooms, undifferentiated patients, constant interruption and consequences that could unfold in minutes.
The journal follows the shifts, mistakes, mentors, difficult cases and strange humour that shape an emergency doctor. It is less about mastering chaos than learning how to think clearly inside it - while remaining human underneath the scrubs.
2023
The training journal begins
II
Current BST year in progress
24/7
The department never closes
∞
Decisions made under pressure
Read chronologically
The story is still unfolding.
Begin before the first specialist-training shift, continue through BST Year I and follow BST Year II as the current chapter develops in real time.
00
Before the first resus call
Foreword
Why emergency medicine, what came before it and the uncertainty of beginning another demanding chapter without knowing what kind of doctor would emerge.
Open the foreword I The first year of trainingBST Year I
The first year inside emergency medicine - new responsibility, relentless shifts, unfamiliar pressure and the gradual discovery that calm is a skill rather than a personality trait.
Enter BST Year One II The current training year · In progressBST Year II
More independence, harder decisions and the next stage of learning how to lead, prioritise and keep moving when the department is under strain. This chapter is still in progress, with new entries added as the year unfolds.
Follow BST Year Two
Inside the journal
More than adrenaline.
Emergency medicine is built around urgency, but the stories that stay are about judgement, teamwork and the person learning to function inside the noise.
Night Shifts
Fatigue, camaraderie, strange presentations and the dark humour that emerges when the rest of the world is asleep and the department is not.
Becoming
Mentorship, mistakes, resilience and the slow development of a professional identity strong enough to remain steady without becoming detached.
Emergency medicine rarely gives me certainty. It teaches me to act responsibly before certainty arrives.
The current journal
Follow the story as it happens.
Unlike the earlier completed journals, this chapter is still being written. BST Year I is complete, while BST Year II remains in progress with new entries, reflections and difficult lessons added as the training year unfolds.
The newsletter is the simplest way to hear when a new chapter leaves the emergency department and reaches the page.
The shifts continue. So do the journeys beyond them.
Step outside the emergency department and follow the destination-based travel journal through countries, cities, trails, seas and the stories gathered along the way.
Continue with Narratives of a Nomad Doctor.The views expressed throughout this journal are personal and reflective. Patient details should remain anonymised in accordance with professional standards.