Volunteer Profile: Quinn Holzheimer, D.O.
Posted on August 29, 2007
Filed Under Medical (MD, DO), Volunteer Profiles
By Juliet Farmer
Staff Writer
Quinn Holzheimer, D.O., is a 30-year-old attending physician at Georgetown University/Washington Hospital Center Emergency Medicine Residency Program (Sonul Mehta, class of 2007), as well as a moderator on the Emergency Medicine forums.
Holzheimer grew up in the D.C. suburbs of Prince George’s County, Maryland, before attending James Madison University, where he graduated in 1999 with a bachelor’s degree in health science and a minor in biology, public health, and pre-med.
From there, he went to Nova Southeastern University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in 1999. Then it was on to Clearwater, Florida, for his medical school rotations before a residency at the University of South Florida in Tampa from 2003 to 2006, where in his last year he was also chief resident.
Although Holzheimer says he always knew he wanted to be a doctor, in the beginning he wasn’t so sure about emergency medicine.
“I always wanted to be a doctor ever since I can remember,” he explains. “I had very bad asthma as a child and was in and out of the hospital. I wanted to be in emergency medicine because of the TV show ‘ER,’ but I wasn’t sure I could handle it (based on what I saw on TV), so I did a summer shadowing in an emergency room in Alaska in 1998, and I realized that it’s not as sensationalized as what’s depicted on TV.”
As a faculty physician for Washington Hospital Center at Georgetown University Hospital, Holzheimer says he works about 30 hours a week but his shifts vary—sometimes mornings, nights, or weekends.
“We do 8- to 9-hour shifts. We clock in and clock out at the end of the shift and that’s it until the next shift, no pagers, no [being] on call,” he adds.
“Shift work in an emergency room department is different, because someone’s always staffing it 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, so we’re there like shift workers at McDonald’s.”
Holzheimer says he’s not on call unless there’s a national disaster or a local disaster.
“Some consider the schedule of emergency medicine to be a pro, some consider it a con, but we’re generally scheduled fairly, so no one person has to work all nights, weekends, or holidays,” he notes.
A decided pro for Holzheimer are the number of days off he gets, which he uses to spend time with his wife. A big fan of video games, Holzheimer says he’s even convinced his wife to play too.
The payback? He cooks for her.
As for what his wife thinks of his work schedule, Holzheimer says she’s able to work around it and enjoys the time he has off. Since she recently gave birth to their first child, a son, you can bet she puts her husband’s time off to good use these days.
According to Holzheimer, not everyone is cut out for emergency medicine.
“Know that this is what you want to do and that it’s truly for you,” he advises. “Most medical schools allow rotation into the emergency room, and if not, ask to hang out there on an off weekend to get a feel for it, because taking a patient to the emergency room is a lot different than being in it working. And ask people questions, because most people in emergency medicine are friendly and laid back.”
When Holzheimer isn’t working or changing diapers, he’s busy running his forums, keeping them free of trolls and inflammatory posts, as well as on topic.
Holzheimer is an SDN veteran, having been on the site since 1999. He used SDN as a place to talk to peers, and after several years he was promoted to moderator.
His advice for those new to SDN is to learn to use the search function.
“Any question you might have, chances are it’s been asked at least once before,” Holzheimer says. “Also join in on posts, but keep in mind that anyone can post here, so average the advice all together rather than just taking one poster’s advice.”
For seasoned SDN users, his advice is one word: “Stay.”
“SDN is popular in part because so many people give back to those who are new,” Holzheimer concludes.
To discuss this article on the SDN forums, please click here.
To learn more about Osteopathic Medicine, visit the American Osteopathic Association.
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13 Responses to “Volunteer Profile: Quinn Holzheimer, D.O.”
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What ER residency program did you go through in Tampa? Was it an allopathic program? I’m currently a 1st year at LECOM in Bradenton and currently am leaning towards EM, and would like to stay in this general area (Tampa/St.Pete/Clearwater) but haven’t heard much about any of the EM programs here.
USF in Tampa…. at TGH
Wonderful article, it gave me some insight about scheduling in the ER. I am currently considering DO as a future career and working on my secondary applications. In fact only the DO letter is holding them up. This summer I volunteered at Saint Barnabas Hopsital (Bronx NY) with the prospect of setting foot in the ER but their policies kept me out. I am so interested in the ER, but my assignment was the cardio-pulmonary department which isn’t bad for exposure, only no DO is ready to write me a letter yet since July.
Thanks for the “window” on the ER.
Quantum7x
I did my residency at the University of South Florida, from 2003 to 2006. I was in the inaugural class and was the first chief resident there.
Wonderful article, Thank you.
30 hrs a week? really?
Depending on the type of job you have in Emergency Medicine, you can work more or less than that. I have known several “ER” docs who work two full time jobs, about 60-70 hours a week. And I know some people who just work 10-20 hours a week. Your pay is obviously linearly related to the # of hours you work. And if you do academics, you may work less, but are often paid a little less as well.
Why did you choose to be a D.O vs. an M.D. ? I am currently doing some research trying to decide what the best option would be. Please help!:)
Actually, my “pre-med” advisor at my undergrad told me, and I quote, “You’ll never get into an MD school, you shouldn’t even apply. You should go to a DO school instead.” So, I never applied. I probably should have, but was a wee 20 years old at the time and relatively naive.
Now that I am finished with residency and am a full fledged attending, I realize that which medical school, or which residency you went to, doesn’t really matter in the “real world.” You just need to jump through the “hoops” that everyone has to, and do well. Be those hoops in DO school or MD school, it shouldn’t make a difference.
I tell medical students that you should have two criteria in which school to go to. Location, and tuition. That’s it. Good luck!
I am in the process of applying to D.O. schools. I am a licensed practical nurse. Do you think that will give me a good chance in the admissions process? What other things do you think will give an upper hand in the admissions process?
Although I have MD applications pending, I just found out that I have been accepted into a DO school and EM is the only reason I want to become a physician. So I was wondering if you had any difficulties getting into an EM residency and do you think, typically speaking, a person with a MD degree is more competitive in the job market as an emergency physician?
I did not have any difficulties getting into an EM residency as a DO applicant. There are over 1000 “spots” available, and as long as you are an average applicant, you should be able to find a residency somewhere. And in the job market, it makes absolutely no difference if you have an MD or a DO. In fact, I am the first DO at my institution in a LONG time.
One thing I would tell you, though, is to keep an open mind in residency about what specialty you want to go into. You may find you truly love something else! So don’t put blinders on. Good luck!
Quinn
How would you rate your experience at NOVA? As a South Florida local, I am considering NOVA and wanted to know what you thought of the school?