Welcome to the Dance floor: The Emergency Room

Sheelu Srinivas1, Prabhakar Reddy2

1Consultant ENT Surgeon, Kauvery Hospital, Electronic City, Bengaluru, India

2Head, Department of Emergency Medicine, Kauvery Hospital, Electronic City, Bengaluru, India

*Correspondence: [email protected]

“Medicine is more art than it is science.”

While we spend our initial years of medical school in understanding disease, illness, and sickness: clinical practice and teamwork help us in understanding health, healing and wholeness.

The nearest art form I can personally relate to is dance and music. As a kid, when we went for dance and harmonium classes- Our Guru was very particular not just about the steps and discipline but also insisted on bringing devotion and life into our performance.

Little did I understand what she meant then: Now, I realise what the quote “You are not the dancer, you are the dance” is echoing! Fast-forward 45 years, I accompany my daughter to her ballet class and listen to her teacher conveying the very same message.

In our tertiary care medical practice, if I must choose a department where devotion, teamwork and discipline is at its supreme – it is the ER -Emergency Room>.

While majority of the work in OR (operating room) is planned, it is the ER where the team coordination, accountability, flexibility, and determination are tested every moment.

The-Emergency-Room-1

Fig. 1. ER, Kauvery Hospitals, Electronic City with HOD Dr Prabhakar Reddy and his team.

What sets a dancer apart from others is their hard work and dedication to what they do: so also, for a doctor. A responsible doctor like a dancer knows the importance of doing proper warm-ups before beginning class or rehearsal. They must know how to listen to their instructor and adjust as needed.

To bring out the best in each of us, we practice and learn together. Our ER team conducts regular ACLS classes for doctors and nurses. They conduct code blue drills and disaster management mock drills. Every member of the team including housekeeping staff is actively involved.

The-Emergency-Room-2

Fig. 2. Dr Prabhakar Reddy, Chief Emergency Medicine mentoring the team.

When I get called for an ENT bleed or an airway emergency, the ER team is stabilizing the patient as per protocols and taken inputs from all team members. This gives time to work on etiology and management plan. Each team member is accountable and thanks to the drills- it balances emotions and social interactions as well.

Finally, it is learning to balance the frustration and grace every time we make mistakes. Working in a group may look simple from the outside, but it takes a lot of practice and coordination to appear as one.

Looking backward at the hodgepodge of dance, literature, and music in my life, I realize that I can’t be a doctor without this creative aspect, despite remaining a forever amateur in each field. Like the two serpents entwined in the medical caduceus symbol, like partners in the pas de deux, I somehow need both to be whole.

Credits and Acknowledgement

  • ER team
  • Boyd KM. Disease, illness, sickness, health, healing and wholeness: exploring some elusive concepts. Medical Humanities 2000;26:9-17.
  • “Becoming a Doctor,” edited by Lee Gutkind. (Norton, 2010)
  • Life skills learnt through dance- Youth Ballet School
Dr.-Sheelu-Srinivas

Dr. Sheelu Srinivas

Consultant ENT Surgeon

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