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You're listening to the nocturnous conversations. I'm Emily Silverman.

When patients come to the ER with a heart attack or a broken bone, doctors know exactly what to do to make them feel better.

But often patients' problems aren't as straightforward as they seem, and ER doctors have to turn to things like storytelling as a way to make sense of their chaotic day-to-day work.

This is the subject of emergency medicine physician Jay Baruch's latest memoir,

Tornado of Life, a doctor's journey through constraints

and creativity in the ER.

Jay is a professor of emergency medicine at Brown University's Alpert Medical School and an

incredibly thoughtful writer with a background in bioethics.

In my conversation with Jay, we talk about what it means to bring a narrative lens to medicine,

even to ER medicine, which is grounded in the very briefest of encounters.

We also talk about the importance of embracing uncertainty, which is a very timely topic

since the nocturnist is planning to produce an entire podcast documentary

series on the topic of uncertainty next year. But before we go on, let's hear an excerpt from Jay's

book, Tornado of Life. Hug or Ugg. Fawn was bouncing on the edge of a stretcher, a homeless woman in her late 50s,

feet drumming on the scuffed tiles like that of an inpatient schoolgirl.

She was hurling insults at EMS when they rolled her into the ER.

They had found her asleep outside the police station. The triage nurse knew

her from previous visits, mental health problems and substance use, cocaine mostly,

...