guidelines could change week to week, if not day to day.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nTo cope with such challenges, he\u2019s done two things: 1) learn to be flexible; and 2) help prepare his colleagues to deal with surges. \u201cOur surges are nothing like those in places like New York City,\u201d he says, \u201cbut they are something that hospitals like ours have rarely if ever seen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nAsked how he has adjusted to these types of stresses Schmidt says he was blessed with perhaps a greater in-bred capacity to deal with them. \u201cI\u2019m lucky in that traumatic events normally don\u2019t rattle me,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nHe emphasizes that the value of good training is not to be underestimated. \u201cGood training,\u201d he says, \u201cis like muscle memory. It just kicks in automatically when you need it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nHe adds, however, that the working environment in an emergency department actually <\/span>helps <\/span><\/i>medical personnel to remain steady under pressure. \u201cThe priorities of what needs to happen are usually self-evident,\u201d he says. \u201cThe more severe the illness or injury, the more obvious it is what needs to be done. Nevertheless, I do need to remind myself and my team not to get <\/span>too<\/span><\/i> comfortable. That\u2019s when mistakes tend to occur.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nSchmidt says the introduction of the new COVID-19 vaccines has been a huge relief to him personally, after so many months of dealing with acute illness and an inability to save the lives of all affected patients.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nHe notes that media commentators have been correct to highlight the exceptionally short timeframes needed to develop and manufacture the vaccines. And he believes another positive outcome of the pandemic is the degree to which competing pharmaceutical and research organizations set competitive concerns aside to serve the common good.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cDuring times of acute stress, people tend to follow their better angels,\u201d he says. \u201cCrises like COVID-19 can and hopefully do bring out the very best qualities in people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nWritten by Raymond Jones<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Tim Creedon Students who major in polymer and color chemistry at the Wilson College of Textiles often follow similar career patterns within the world of manufacturing. Dr. Ben Schmidt \u201906 broke that mold, however, when he applied to medical school and went on to earn his M.D. degree.\u00a0\u00a0 A specialist in emergency and internal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":28155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"caption\":\"\",\"displayCategoryID\":2131}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[490],"tags":[719,1208,1209,2326,2401,886,1586,1773,481,649,1241,2402],"class_list":["post-16132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-our-people","tag-centennial-scholar","tag-centennial-scholars","tag-centennial-scholarship","tag-covid-19","tag-dr-ben-schmidt","tag-dr-david-hinks","tag-duke-health","tag-nc-state-wilson-college-of-textiles","tag-pcc","tag-polymer-and-color-chemistry","tag-unifi-centennial-scholarship","tag-wake-forest-school-of-medicine"],"displayCategory":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"
Dr. Ben Schmidt '06 Serves on Front Lines of the Pandemic - Wilson College of Textiles<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n