Emergency Medicine

Dr. Dave Hardy:

Dr. Hardy grew up in the Bay Area and graduated from UC-Berkeley in 1996. He spent a summer traveling throughout Europe before going to medical school in New York.
After graduating in 2000, he came SoCal for an internship in Internal Medicine at UCLA. Then he took a year off to work, surf, and travel the world before doing his ER residency at UCLA, which he finished in 2005. He worked for 4 years in the ER Department at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in L.A. before joining Kaiser's West LA EM Group.
Dr. Hardy moved to Oak Park in 2013 to raise his family, which includes a 3rd grader & a 5th grader.

Community EM doctor who works in L.A. with inner-city patients as young as 6 years old and as chronologically gifted as 106 years old, which includes Kaiser members and non-members.
Trained at UCLA and finished his residency in 2005.
Grew up in Morgan Hills (Northern CA), attended UC-Berkeley as an undergraduate and NY Med in New York for medical school.
Worked in the Level 1 Trauma Center at Cedars-Sinai (high stress high volume environment)
Started in dermatology and radiology before switching to EM, which he got into by "dumb luck."

Dr. Arora is a Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. He completed his medical training at UCLA in 2005 and joined the faculty at USC where he currently serves as the Vice Chair of Scholarship and Research in EM.
Dr. Arora's research area of interest is utilizing emerging technology to improve the quality/efficacy of emergency care, bridging the gap between an emergency department visit and a stable outpatient medical home for low-income, inner city patients with chronic disease.
Dr. Arora is co-host of the largest medical podcast in the world (Emergency Medical Abstracts) which provides a monthly summary of medical literature relevant to the practice of EM.

Physician by training, but more like a teacher/professor since he's teaching future emergency room doctors
Grew up in Glendora, CA (near San Dimas)
Graduated from UCSD with a major in Biology (his focus was on Animal Medicine) and a minor in Psychology
Received training in EM and joined the faculty at USC
Enjoys diagnosing of patients' medical issues-similar to a detective or problem-solver
Diagnosis has already been done by the time a patient is admitted to the ICU or critical care unit, so EM was more appealing to Dr. Arora
He loves being a teacher and enjoys teaching medical residents to prepare them to become ER doctors.

1-2 shifts/week in the ER and seeing patients with medical residents
ER medicine is a 24/7, 365-day gig, but there's no particular routine or work schedule
ER physician has to manage the entire team (nurses, residents, staff, etc.) and workflow, but the human interaction and teamwork is fun
EM television shows (like Grey's Anatomy) are fairly accurate, but not to the same extent (not as dramatic as what's on TV)
Level 1 Trauma Center involves treatment of patients who have been hurt due to gunshot wounds, car accidents, and other serious injuries
Some notice is given to ER docs by ambulance & EMT personnel before the patient arrives
All low-income patients have cell phones, so texting is an effective way to get in touch with them.

ER physicians can be male or female and this medical specialty works well for people with families.
Overnights were great when Dr. Hardy was younger, but night shifts are more difficult once you have a family/kids.
Dr. Hardy doesn't work night shifts any more since he prefers to work the 11am-11pm shift and would like to retire at age 60.
Dr. Arora believes the ER is more family-friendly versus some other specialties (such as emergency surgery).
Typical ER doctor works only 3-4 days/week because the job is so taxing when you're at work.
1 ER can be different from another ER. Major differences/experiences between a large city hospital versus a community hospital.
It's beneficial to gain some experience in more than 1 setting.

It takes 3-9 years (average of 5 years) to pursue a career in Emergency Medicine (EM)-requires a true dedication to medicine.
Good idea to volunteer in medical clinics, hospitals, doctors' offices, etc. (obviously when there isn't a pandemic happening).
Even medical students were NOT allowed in hospitals, clinics, etc. during COVID.
For a highly introverted pre-med student, pathology may be the best field of medicine since this role involves looking at a microscope more so than interacting with patients.
For BS/MD programs, you must be 100% committed to going to med school. Also, med school is very expensive, so you need to be sure it's the right path for you.
Job shadowing is highly recommended for pre-med students and prospective physicians.
Less than 20% of medical residents switch specialties. While it's a low percentage, it's not zero. Switching your specialty is possible and some people have changed their mind.
Medical residency is a job with a minimum wage type of salary, but better than nothing.
Remember to pursue what makes you happy and do what you enjoy.