ACES

Art, Chaos, Ethics, Science

Emergency medicine can be a theater of the absurd. Whether you're dealing with death threats, getting vomited on, performing a successful thoracotomy, removing obstinate rectal foreign bodies, seeing your twentieth well-child with sniffles, or trying to locate a prosthetic leg in order to properly road test an intoxicated man who happened to leave his leg in Pueblo.  Our job emphasizes the maxim that truth is stranger than fiction. Nobody could make this stuff up. We are immersed, as residents, in a supercharged parallel universe, where the extremes of tragedy, absurdity, and - yes - even bravery and goodness become our normal daily routine.

Although this may be part of what drew us to emergency medicine, one important truth remains: it is not normal. It has repercussions for our selves, our families, our relationships, and our frame of mind.  In an effort to address this issue, a group of Denver Health residents and attendings started a seminar known as ACES - Art, Chaos, Ethics, Science in the fall of 2003. The founders of ACES felt that emergency medicine residency presented a world of issues that needed to be addressed beyond the fundamental science of emergency medicine.

Since that time, ACES has put on meetings about every two months in an informal setting (the homes of attendings or residents, usually) to discuss a variety of topics: the particular difficulties of our jobs; becoming a doctor; the difficult patient; death and dying; making mistakes; health policy; and relationships in residency. Topics are chosen by residents.  The discussions are wide-ranging, and everyone brings a unique perspective. There is art, literature, and good conversation. There is food and wine. You can pretty much talk about anything, and that's one of the things that has made it such a valuable addition to the DHMCREM. Anyone with an interest can get involved.

Recent topics for meetings have included an informal decompression get-together, medical decision-making in the ED, our holiday sock and glove drive for the homeless, balancing life and career, mistakes in medicine, and a session where residents can share their own writing or art.