A post here has been long overdue.  For those of you who know me, the month of July has been my transition from a busy urban medical center in New York to a busy rural ED on the Big Island of Hawaii.  My new colleagues are wonderful, and the nursing staff is great (the first time I went in to repair a lac and found the wound already irrigated, prepped, with the suture tray completely set up I nearly fell over).

The most notable change is of course the acceptable attire for a day in the emergency department.  Amongst the things I’ve discovered in my first month is that the pattern on Aloha shirts can actually hide a great deal, Moray Eels are not to be trifled with, Wana (pronounced Vana) is painful, and waiting on the air rescue team during inclement weather while you watch over your deteriorating STEMI patient is anxiety provoking. Some of this will be part of the upcoming educational posts I have planned for August.

Aloha. The Ember Project moves to Hawaii

One of the traits that drew me to Emergency Medicine as a specialty is the resilience and creativity of its practitioners in the face of an endless array of unexpected and challenging clinical situations.  Nothing epitomizes this more than the rural emergency physician.  I’m already very impressed, and looking forward to growing as an EM doc in my new home.