Dr. James Tisius

Hospital Medicine

Corewell Health's Beaumont Hospital Wayne

What inspired you to practice medicine?

I have always wanted to practice medicine, as long as I can remember. I was born at 28 weeks early and remembered, as I was growing up, how my parents would tell me how everyone that took care of me during those trying times worked so hard and were so caring and compassionate to me and my family and how they put all their love and hard work into helping me survive. When my parents would tell me those stories, I told myself that I wanted to do that for people when I got older. That’s where it started, and I have tried to carry that same compassion with me on a daily basis and treat my patients and their families the same as I was when I was on the other side. 

Share something a patient said or did that has always stuck with you.  

I had a patient, not too long ago,  who had never been in the hospital before, who was scared and anxious about being admitted for further workup. He was very vulnerable and didn’t know what to expect. Everything worked out well in his favor, and as he was leaving, he told me that he appreciated how I had made the experience as pleasant as it could be, and that I helped keep him at ease every step of the way, and that the staff was amazing from start to finish. I think this is important to keep in mind. Hospitals are not a fun place to be and come with a high amount of anxiety, fear and uncertainty. This does take a toll on the patient and family that sits on the other side, and I think it’s very important to keep that in mind. Not only do we strive to keep patients safe and set them on the right path, when they leave, but it is also important to help them through the process on a day-to-day basis and treat patients as we would want to be treated. We can work together to make it as pleasant as it can be. We might not always have the answers or solve every problem, but we all can be compassionate and caring, and sometimes, that is what people need the most during these times.

What does resilience look like to you?

I know this sounds cliché, but resilience to me, is Corewell Health Wayne. We are a small, community-based hospital, and we serve a very unique population. We have had some major ups and downs over the past few years, but we have come out stronger on the other side. We continue to get stronger daily.  We have a tight knit “work family” here and we all look out for each other for the betterment of ourselves and our patients. Everyone has a role here, and we have all worked together to make sure we work together as a group, well. We might have taken two steps back from time to time, but we always follow it up with three steps forward. We roll the with the changes, and we keep on going. Resilience is what Corewell Health Wayne is built on, and I am extremely proud to be a part of it.