I started my first clerkship rotation in the emergency room. When I showed up, my preceptor didn’t arrive yet and another staff told me that I could get started with seeing a patient. My first patient was a middle-aged woman with a longstanding history of anxiety. She described having acute-onset palpitations and story that sounded exactly like a panic attack. I found her ecg and, having next to no actual experience interpreting one, glimpsed at the top corner and saw that the computer interpreted it as normal. I then met my ER staff for the first time ever, reviewed, and insisted that my patient can go home. He flipped to her ECG, took a 2 second glance, and pointed out that our patient actually had obvious atrial fibrillation (which was missed by the computer) and was in no condition to be discharged. Definitely not a great first impression and I remember feeling like a total idiot. My staff however was super understanding when I told him that it was my first shift and didn’t make a big deal out of it at all. Looking back, I realized that I often catastrophized my mistakes when in reality, majority of staff and residents expect us to learn by making wrong management plans and incorrect diagnoses when reviewing. I’ve learned that being kind to yourself and realizing that you are there to learn will make cc3 a much more enjoyable time!

– CC4