I love my job.  After 20 years as an emergency physician I still enjoy the same things that I loved about the field when I was a student; the challenge of seeing an undifferentiated patient, the team mentality, the satisfaction of really helping people in their hour of need.  The fact that I have been able to teach and mentor residents through that same time period is just the icing on the cake.

Choose your own adventure

Residency should give you what you need to be the best physician that you can be.  It represents the culmination of a journey that started in college and lasted 8 years. What you learn in residency, the type of physician you become, will set the tone for your entire career.  Your job is to pick a place where you can thrive.  You should find a program where they have the resources you need and the supportive environment that will allow you to be your best.  It will be hard work but with the right ingredients you should expect to become the happy successful physician you want to be.

Don’t Compromise

Creating the best resident educational experience takes an understanding of emergency physicians.  They are smart, dedicated, and  interested in learning, with a drive to be the best.  They often learn best by doing, so the clinical setting has to contain high acuity patients and a diverse case mix.  Good “bedside” or clinical case based teaching is essential.  The dedicated educational time should cater to the adult learner.  It should consist of constantly changing settings and educational activities with additional online content for the curious. It should also maximize the use of simulation and procedural labs to give the hands on learning that we love.

Challenge yourself to be the best

The community that has evolved at the Zucker School of Medicine emergency medicine residency at NS/LIJ is the kind that I love.  Many different personalities melding into something that is better than the sum of its parts.  Residency is not like “Project Runway” or “Chopped”.  You can’t get voted off the island.  We are all in this together.  We take care of each other.  We laugh together and we learn.

If you are inquisitive and enthusiastic, come and see who we are. 

Tom Perera MD
Zucker School of Medicine EM @ NS/LIJ
Vice Chair of Education and Training.