By Brian McMurray, MD
I went into medicine for fairly traditional reasons of wanting to feel I could make a difference through my career. The greatest joys have been many, but two stand out.
After taking care of two young men with pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, Calif., during residency in 1979, I was inspired to help focus care for HIV/AIDS patients. Through this work I have had the joy of lecturing in many places including Tennessee, Ukraine and Israel on HIV Emergencies.
It was equally gratifying to consult and treat a patient in advanced biventricular failure in Ukraine in 1998 and to discover that in Ukraine it was not known that systolic failure could and should be treated with ACE inhibitors.
I was able to convince Ukrainian doctors to use them in high doses and gave them protocols for how to titrate up the ACE inhibitor drug and back off on diuretics. The protocol spread like wildfire and has changed congestive heart failure management over the years for a large portion of Ukraine. My favorite initial patient in this situation was an individual who went from class 4 Killip to class 1 Killip and resumed farming and lived another 10 years.
These experiences reinforced my belief that we can all make a difference through good care and good caring… Thanks to TeamHealth for great support over the years.”
These experiences reinforced my belief that we can all make a difference through good care and good caring. And I believe international emergency medicine is a great complement to all we do in the United States. Thanks to TeamHealth for great support over the years.
Brian McMurray, MD, is a TeamHealth emergency physician at Wayne Medical Center and First Stop Urgent Care in Waynesboro, Tennessee. He also serves as an American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Ambassador to Ukraine.
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