Emergency medicine
Emergency medicine is the medical speciality concerned with the care of illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians (often called "ER doctors" in the United States) specialize in providing care for unscheduled and undifferentiated patients of all ages. As first-line providers, in coordination with emergency medical services, they are primarily responsible for initiating resuscitation and stabilization and performing the initial investigations and interventions necessary to diagnose and treat illnesses or injuries in the acute phase. Emergency medical physicians generally practice in hospital emergency departments, pre-hospital settings via emergency medical services, and intensive care units. Still, they may also work in primary care settings such as urgent care clinics.
Focus
Acute illness and injury
- Physician
- Doctor of Medicine (M.D.)
- Doctor of Osteopathic medicine (D.O.)
- Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S.)
- Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB)
Sub-specializations of emergency medicine include; disaster medicine, medical toxicology, point-of-care ultrasonography, critical care medicine, emergency medical services, hyperbaric medicine, sports medicine, palliative care, or aerospace medicine.
Various models for emergency medicine exist internationally. In countries following the Anglo-American model, emergency medicine initially consisted of surgeons, general practitioners, and other generalist physicians. However, in recent decades it has become recognised as a speciality in its own right with its training programmes and academic posts, and the speciality is now a popular choice among medical students and newly qualified medical practitioners. By contrast, in countries following the Franco-German model, the speciality does not exist, and emergency medical care is instead provided directly by anesthesiologists (for critical resuscitation), surgeons, specialists in internal medicine, paediatricians, cardiologists or neurologists as appropriate.[1] Emergency medicine is still evolving in developing countries, and international emergency medicine programs offer hope of improving primary emergency care where resources are limited.[2]
Treatments[edit]
Emergency medicine is a primary or first-contact point of care for patients requiring the use of the health care system.[72] Specialists in emergency medicine are required to possess specialist skills in acute illness diagnosis and resuscitation.[73] Emergency physicians are responsible for providing immediate recognition, evaluation, care, and stabilisation to adult and pediatric patients in response to acute illness and injury.[74]
Emergency medical physicians provide treatments to a range of cases requiring vast knowledge. They deal with patients from mental illnesses to physical and anything in-between. An average treatment process would likely involve, investigation then diagnosis then either treatment or the patient being admitted. In terms of procedure's they cover a wide and broad range, including treatment to GSW's (Gun Shot Wounds), Head and body traumas, stomach bugs, mental episodes, seizures and much more. They are some of the most highly trained physicians in the world and are responsible for providing immediate recognition, evaluation, care, and stabilisation to adult and paediatric patients in response to acute illness and injury.[74]As well as being the first point of care for many patients in emergency situations.
Ethical and medicolegal issues[edit]
Ethical and medico-legal issues are embedded within the nature of emergency medicine.[97] Issues surrounding competence, end of life care, and the right to refuse care are encountered daily within the emergency department. Of growing significance are the ethical issues and legal obligations that surround the Mental Health Act, as increasing numbers of suicide attempts and self-harm are seen in the emergency department.[98][99] The Wooltorton case of 2007, in which a patient arrived at the emergency department post overdose with a note specifying her request for no interventions, highlights the dichotomy that often exists between a physician's ethical obligation to "do no harm" and the legality of a patient's right to refuse.[99]