Bradycardia is a term for a slow heartbeat, a term I recently learned from an episode of Jeopardy but also from my intermittent viewing of the Good Doctor, a series that's not really available on any of the streaming services I've ever subscribed to (Hulu, Netflix, HBO) but is curiously readily available on the Southwest WiFi system. That's pretty much how I learn stuff these days: it comes up on Jeopardy, I forget about that term because it's new and I haven't developed an interest in it yet, but then it shows up in another medium in a memorable way (in this case, Freddy Highmore's character Sean, a surgeon at San Jose Hospital, is rushing a 10-year-old patient to the ER explaining her syptoms including slow heart beat aka bradycardia), and now I've mastered that term hopefully forever. Also I created the image in my mind of a Tom Brady-like heart being slow, which the New England Patriots QB was famous for, solidifed it for me. Also tachycardia is a irregulary fast heartbeat- helps to know sets of opposite-meaning words, like hyper (over) vs. hypo (under).
The Good Doctor pairs nicely with the Korean drama MJ and I have been watching recently, detailing the lives of nurses and doctors at a psychiatric hospital in Korea. It has plenty of interesting elements like treatment of patients, the causes of patients' trama and symptoms to look out for, scientific terms originating in Latin then to English then turned into Korean, but it also includes an element of every medical drama I've ever seen has to have: the dynamic between doctors and nurses. It's inescapable, like the "chicken-or-the egg" dilemma except for hospitals, or more like Batman and Robin. Doctors are supposed to be the more advanced level, or at least have received more schooling than nurses, but they often overplay their degree and disrespect nurses, often criticizing them and not listening to nurses (at least, according to the Good Doctor). I may be biased because MJ is a nurse and she reports plenty of drama about doctors who don't know anything or are too arrogant or are not responsive to nurses' advice, but it seems to me doctors need to value the nurses they work with more, even in situations where the doctor is the direct supervisor. Just because someone obtained the necessary qualifications for becoming a doctor, doesn't mean he or she is a good doctor (pardon the pun), I often say there are plenty of lawyers who became lawyers who shouldn't have, and to go further with that, some doctors should not be supervising others. Supervision in itself is a totally different role than being a doctor, so a lot of doctors are not fit for supervising others, despite having to play that role at the hospital. Conversely, just because nurses don't have the necessary qualifications for being a doctor doesn't mean they aren't just as knowledgeable about certain aspects of a patient's treatment.
MJ is currently working for a doctor who pushes MJ and other members of the "team" around without regard for MJ's well-being and quality of life, and it's really disappointing; the doctor has even threatened in not-so-subtle messages that if "the team" doesn't perform well enough to gather patients for a study that there's not enough money for MJ to get paid her salary. (The doctor uses team to her advantage when it suits her to boss people around but not when it comes to not paying out people's salary or other disadvantageous situations). An unethical move to threaten people's livelihood and salary if they don't meet a certain level of performance and depending on the situation and employee contract, not a kosher way legally for a boss to incentive her employees. Doctors like that really bring down the whole profession and further make me realize I shouldn't be looking at real doctors (I can trust Freddy Highmore!) with rose-tinted glasses and assume they know best about everything. They don't, not even about medical issues, but definitely not about how to be a good boss and supervise others.
Rant (on behalf of MJ) over.
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