On a typical day in a major hospital, patients pass through the emergency room with different ailments. Some of them are coming in to check out minor aches and pains, and others are coming in barely responsive with a life-threatening condition. Outside of the pediatric ward, all of the patients coming in are adults, and the majority of them are advanced in years, showing signs of chronic conditions taking effect as they become older.
You can imagine that for someone like me, just starting out in his career, it creates an interesting dynamic. Coming from a culture where respect for elders is paramount, at times, it can feel weird to make decisions regarding the care of patients who are many years my senior. As an internist and a current cardiology fellow, however, that is my typical patient population, and I have had to learn to adjust to the dynamic with regards to the difference in age.
Every once in a while, however, the appearance of the patient that comes through the hospital doors changes. Instead of a middle-aged or elderly patient, a young person appears with a medical condition requiring evaluation. Most of the time, it is an unexpected occurrence given the images we have of young people in society, images that remind us of how energetic, passionate, and healthy they are. When a young patient comes into the hospital, we tend to become more concerned, because it goes against the images of vitality that we associate with young people.
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