Saving lives, in water and out

Heather Kent

CMAJ 1999;160:1892

Especially the pace. The dark-haired, 26-year-old UBC medical student was a woman in a hurry as she prepared to graduate this spring, crossing the country for residency interviews and training for the national lifeguarding championships — a gruelling 10 hours of swimming per week, plus twice-weekly team practices. In between, she flew to Australia for 2 months of emergency medicine work.

Rosenczweig: fast pace

All the activity brings its rewards. In 1996 Rosenczweig became the first Canadian to win the American Association of Women Psychiatrists' Dickstein Award for student creativity and leadership. A year later, she won the second prize of $1000 in CMAJ's Logie Medical Ethics Essay Contest for an entry entitled: "Should relatives witness resuscitation? Ethical issues and practical considerations." And this year, her provincial lifeguarding team was ranked second in Canada and competed at the national championships in May for the third consecutive year.

Rosenczweig recently began her residency in emergency medicine at McGill University, but her enthusiasm for emergency work began before she entered medical school. She worked as a volunteer in the Emergency Department at the University of British Columbia Hospital, and while restocking shelves she talked to doctors and persuaded an ambulance crew to take her out on calls. This began "a 6-year career of riding ambulances. I was so hooked."

After 2 years of medical school, and after developing "a craving for adventure and curiosity about my new-found passion," she took a year off to work in Hungary and Australia and at Harvard University. She chose Hungary, her parents' homeland, to "get back to my roots."

Hungary caused medical culture shock. In Budapest, working with the ambulance service was "probably the most amazing and interesting experience I've had." Because of the lack of technology, Hungarian physicians relied more on their "really astute clinical skills."

The sheer shortage of ambulances was an eye-opener, too. Rosenczweig recalls an incident in which her ambulance was the nearest vehicle to an unconscious cardiac patient, yet was still 40 minutes away from the scene. The patient died before the crew arrived. Rosenczweig was also impressed by the Hungarian doctors, who "are so underpaid. They do medicine because they love medicine."

After a month in Hungary, Rosenczweig moved to Harvard for 2 months of research involving ectopic pregnancy and immune system problems in diabetic and malnourished patients. She presented a poster on ectopic pregnancy at the international conference on emergency medicine in 1998.

She then headed to Freemantle, Australia, for more emergency room work. She found the down-under atmosphere refreshing. Her fellow physicians didn't wear white coats because, the department head explained, "the patients don't wear lab coats." She returned to Freemantle this spring.

The skills she learns in lifeguarding, Rosenczweig's second passion, transfer well to emergency medicine. The disciplined training routine with her 4-member BC team reinforces the communication and teamwork skills needed in the emergency room. Her training includes 8 to 10 hours of swimming each week and weekly team practices. The team competes in 4 events: individual skills, first aid (involving a simulated car accident), priority action approach (where there are 14 victims in the pool at once) and an emergency situation.

Rosenczweig also makes time for quieter pursuits: painting and writing poetry. "When you don't have a lot of time for yourself," she says, "it's a one-way ticket somewhere."

A poet since high school days, she first read her work in public at the UBC medical school annual spring gala in 1997; she recited there again this year. She included a poem in her application for the Dickstein Award, setting her apart from other applicants. Rosenczweig also enjoys abstract painting. "Normally I have a short attention span and I can't focus on something for very long, but I can paint for hours and hours."

How does this energetic young physician see her future? She hopes to practise emergency medicine "somewhere — I haven't decided where," but working in developing countries interests her. And she wants to continue research into witnessed resuscitation, in which next of kin witness resuscitation attempts in the emergency room. The topic has "permeated many emergency departments across Canada, and it's an area which I'm very passionate about. If I continue to do research on this topic, I'll spark a discussion."

Of that, there seems little doubt.

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© 1999 Heather Kent