Shadowing: Part II

Early this morning, (12 AM – 7 AM), I did some more shadowing in the ED. The preparation for this really started about 7 hours before I went in, when I took a 3 hour nap before getting ready to go. I wasn’t really sure what to expect to feel like, but I wanted to at least see what one overnight shift was like, since as an EM doctor that is part of the job.

So, to make things more interesting, there was a pretty decent storm that knocked out power to the doctors’ house. So when I went over to get a ride to the hospital, it was quite interesting to see ALL the lights out, although I sort of expected it to be dark, considering it was midnight.

So we eventually got to the hospital, and apparently the overnight shift the night before had been really busy and everyone was really sick, but when the docs got signout, it was much slower than the night before. Thus the night began.

“Doctors” of Naturopathy?

How unfortunate, the state of Minnesotta is actually giving recognition to what are now “doctors” of naturopathy.

For those of you who don’t know what exactly naturopathy is, here’s a basic rundown:

- Naturopathy is a “complimentary and alternative medicine” system that emphasizes the bodies

power to heal and maintain itself.

- Practitioners of naturopathy believe that this power is innate.

-Here comes the woo: Said practitioners use debunked methods such as homeopathy, not to mention the whole claim that the body has an “innate” power to heal itself without synthetic drugs.

- From the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians ( I feel that physician there should have an asterisk next to it): “This dependable orderliness is believed to be guided by a kind of inner wisdom that everyone has. This inner wisdom can be assisted to return a person to their best balance by naturopathic treatments”. Hmm, “inner wisdom”. So maybe we should just tell people coming to the hospital or to their doctors that their “inner wisdom” is just off? I don’t think so.