An attending physician and a resident confidently waltzed into the patient’s room.  

“I’m so glad you’re here,” the patient gasped between crackling coughs.  “I’m super short of breath and my heart is racing.”

“Let’s take a look,” the senior physician said as he pulled out a stethoscope and pulse oximeter. He then carefully auscultated THE RESIDENT’S heart and lungs, pausing every so often to take HIS OWN radial pulse.  The resident then took the pulse oximeter and applied it to the index finger of his mentor as the patient watched in bewilderment.

“Everything looks and sounds great!” the doctors said in unison.

“But what about me?” the patient wheezed.

“Most likely anxiety. We’re sort of immune to that around here, so we’ll start the process of getting you to some folks who handle that type of thing.  There’s really nothing more we can really do for you.”

Nodding smugly, the physicians exited the room and retreated to their Echo Chamber.

Several days later, a message was relayed to the Chamber.  The patient had died.  Sepsis secondary to bacterial pneumonia.  After a moment of solemn silence, the physicians shook their heads and spoke in unison:

“Stress kills.”

You might feel like you’re personally doing quite well, but are your employees, patients, or students struggling to breathe? 

Do you really have a pulse on the situation, or are you merely hearing the reverberating echoes of your own heart desire for validation?