Sometimes professionalism in emergency medicine can be pushed aside when a physician is presented with a critically injured patient. That shouldn’t always be the case, said Michael A. Silverman, MD, FACEP. Dr. Silverman encourages physicians to exercise both strong medical and personal habits in order to truly succeed.

In his talk, “Rapid Fire: Top 5 Habits of Highly Successful Emergency Physicians,” Dr. Silverman will present the top traits physicians should cultivate during their careers. “Most people have the basic medical knowledge, but how you approach your job, your professionalism, and bringing your A game is habit number one,” said Dr. Silverman, chairman of emergency medicine at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington.

Based on years of experience as a director and a column writer, he will be publishing a book called Director’s Corner: Lessons in Emergency Medicine Leadership and Management. These lessons also fuel his presentations.

“I’ve worked with people who I’ve loved having on my team, and I’ve worked with people you might not define as successful, and part of the medical director’s job is to find what those weaknesses are and what’s needed to help make each of them more successful,” he said.

While discussing these habits, Dr. Silverman will provide real-life examples of how these traits have helped physicians’ careers, including his own. At the beginning of his career, he received a complaint letter from a patient whose case he thought went spectacularly well. He realized then that his communication skills needed improvement.

This ability to overcome self-defeating behaviors is one habit Dr. Silverman wishes more emergency physicians would cultivate. “We’re going to practice emergency medicine for a long, long time,” he said. “You want to be happy, and you want to be successful in it.”

Dr. Silverman
Rapid Fire: Top 5 Habits of Highly Successful Emergency Physicians
Monday, Oct. 27
4:00–4:25 p.m.
Room W196ABC