Hugh Hill: Being a part of VACEP is “part of our responsibility to our patients.”
Dr. Hugh Hill first discovered ACEP/VACEP in 1976 and thought, “this is cool!” Dr. Hill is an emergency physician first, but holds his passion for theatre at a close second.
He has served in the emergency medicine specialty for more than 40 years, and worked in the emergency department at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center for the last 17 before recently coming back to Virginia.
The thespian-doctor graduated from medical school at Virginia Commonwealth University in 1975 and has been a member of VACEP for 43 years (he also holds his juris doctorate from the University of Virginia). He believes that being in VACEP is “part of our responsibility to our patients.”
What do you love most about Emergency Medicine?
I love that I get to take care of the first 20 minutes of everything (nowadays it can be the first 8 to 48 hours). I also love that I am part of an emerging specialty, where there is always something new to learn, and never a dull moment. It is less like work than any job imaginable.
What is one thing you couldn’t start your shift without?
Number one is coffee.
Number two is remembering the fact that I could make a mistake.
You’re a seasoned emergency physician. How has emergency medicine evolved during the lifetime of your career?
Dr. (and also actor) Hill.
When I first started out, we were making things up as we went along. Today, it has become a real profession, with its own literature, standards, and culture. I’m happy to have been there during some of the fundamental and early work in emergency medicine risk management theory and practices.
How have you evolved since you started your career?
I've become a better doctor and person. I've become interested in academic emergency medicine. My moral and ethical understandings have clarified, and I am comfortable with how I integrate my law training into my emergency medicine life. My experience as a hospice medical director as well as EM experience has made me comfortable and comforting when confronting death.
What motivates you to do what you do?
The patients, their needs, and their fears motivate me. We don't have to drive ourselves to do the work — they pull us to help them. And at 70, the tiniest glimmer of a realization that my time may actually not be unlimited.
My wife (my best and most trusted critic and supporter) and the memory of my father are also my biggest influences.
What’s something your colleagues would be surprised to know about you?
I was an undergraduate theatre major and would be a full-time actor if I had any talent.
What was your fifteen minutes of fame?
Playing opposite Glenn Close as the male romantic lead in “The Common Glory.”
It’s your last day on Earth and you could eat anything, what would you want your last meal to be?
Probably nothing, so the autopsy or the dissection in the anatomy lab would be less gross.
What do you see in today’s field, and what do you hope for the future of emergency medicine?
Unfortunately, I foresee the worsening erosion of professional independence with: the control of non-clinical business ownership and specific interest groups convincing boards and hospitals that they know a physician’s priorities more than we do.
I also am surprised by how quickly and passively we’ve lost the ability to triage, maybe our most important function. Now, we have to do this, that, or the other for each group that demands we take care of their patients first — regardless of what else is going on in the department.
I hope that our work in VACEP helps to regain some of that independence and bring our priorities back to the right place.
