The Measure by Nikki Erlick invites readers to think hard about how they want to spend this one precious life. Of course, she features an emergency physician, because this is how we roll.

I replaced one of these during the first night of my internship. You can do a lot of hard things with encouragement and curiosity. Here is a reflection on a very long and emotional night when I began my medical training.

Can physician leaders help improve difficult clinician-patient interactions? Yes, I believe that they can. The key is to change that very negative ways that clinicians think about those interactions. The families and challenging patients won’t change. We have to offer new, believable thoughts to obtain better feelings and results.

A wonderful commencement address reminds us how much empathy matters for every one of our patients.