Dr. Zac Sheorn is an emergency room physician at Bon Secours Hospital System. Sheorn, 33, has been practicing medicine for five years, counting training. While arguably he sees people probably on the worst day in their lives, he says he sees “the worst of folks, you see the best of folks.” But, he likes the challenge to jump in and be knowledgeable about a variety of ailments and medical situations.
What made you enter the field of emergency medicine?
I think it’s just my personality. I kind of like the rush of not knowing what’s coming in. If you know anything can come in anytime you know you see a little bit of anything and everything. And you will be able to take care of anyone, anytime, anyplace. That’s most suited for, “Oh my gosh, is there a doctor on this plane? Oh my gosh, is there a doctor in the gym?” or wherever it may be that you have a bunch of docs run over, but as soon as you tell them you’re an ER doctor, [the other docs] kind of fade away. I enjoy that aspect of being well-versed and capable of taking care of anything, anyone, at any time.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen in the ER?
I think probably one of the most memorable cases was in training; we had a lady that was in respiratory distress, and she was 29 weeks pregnant, she ended up having to be put on the ventilator.
If mom is in distress, then the baby is distress, so we had to get the OB folks on board pretty soon for an emergency C-section. Mom ended up in ICU and did okay.
A year and a half or so later, I was working in the pediatrics ER and it just happened that kid — we weren’t sure the outcome the baby would have — came in for an ear infection. I was able to put two and two together and chat with the mom, and I realized they were those patients.
What’s a typical day like?
We work as shift workers, so I don’t have patients that come to me in my office. Whatever shift you get is either a nine or 10-hour allotment of time that I’m covering in the emergency department, and we have some overlapping shifts. I clean the workstation, get logged in, and then the nursing staff is bringing patients back, getting them in rooms, and once they’re available to be to be seen, I see somewhere around one to two patients an hour.
How do you stay motivated?
I treat my patients like I want my family treated. I have a calling for medicine. I’ve always been that way. It’s who I am as a person — how the Lord made me, I guess.
