How do you choose your first Rolex when...

[JustABreathAway]

Originally Posted by Chrsmac10

Reading your story and how you decided and wake and that reminder of all your hard work is really inspiring Dr. JBA thank you!

I have emergency medicine and anesthesia on my short list at the moment. The whole Obamacare thing does scare me and it saddens me that all I wanted to do with my life was be a physician and before even getting started this nonsense will make it much harder than just doing my best for the patients.

Let me take 1 post as a reprieve from horology and speak ever so briefly about that which pays for my time piece(s). I absolutely love my field. Anesthesiologists play absolutely critical roles in patients' care and are involved in eminently improving their quality of life. While most of us have very nice work/lifestyle balances, we have an incredible amount of responsibility - a person is never closer to death than when they are under anesthesia. Good luck with whatever you choose, but I must strongly recommend anesthesia to you. I love my work, how I work, and when I work.

Regarding your final sentence, I do not think you know just how correct you are. Right now, the main hospitals I cover are implementing Electronic Medical Record keeping, which sounds like a wonderful idea to people ignorant of the practice of medicine. However, electronic record keeping is not designed to help physicians and healthcare workers improve access to vital patient information. Rather, these records are designed to break down decisions regarding diagnosis and treatment into quantifiable chunks of data. These quanta are used to create decision trees and algorithms that, I fear, will ultimately be used to direct medical and surgical management towards the cheapest possible alternative, rather than the alternative most likely to improve an individual patient's quality of life.

Just today, as I was observing all parties involved in an operative procedure, I was sadly befuddled at how much difficulty was unnecessarily added to taking care of my patient - so much attention and effort directed towards computer screens and away from the person rendered unto near death, cut wide open, with innards exposed. I fear for medicine, but more I fear for all who will need our help and yet are having their lives jeopardized by the PPACA.

Enough, and back to watches!!

Good luck, and I wish you the best! Post pics when you get 'em!