Emergency physician
An emergency physician (often called an "ER doctor" in the United States) is a physician who works in an emergency department to care for ill patients. The emergency physician specializes in advanced cardiac life support (advanced life support in Europe), resuscitation, trauma care such as fractures and soft tissue injuries, and management of other life-threatening situations.
Emergency medicine simulation | |
| Occupation | |
|---|---|
Occupation type | Specialty |
Activity sectors | Medicine |
| Description | |
Education required | Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine |
Fields of employment | Hospitals, Clinics, Helicopter Emergency Medical Service |
In some European countries (e.g. Germany, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Denmark and Sweden), emergency physicians/anaesthetists are also part of the emergency medical service. They are dispatched together with emergency medical technicians and paramedics in cases of potentially life-threatening situations for patients (heart attacks, serious accidents, resuscitations or unconsciousness, strokes, drug overdoses, etc.). In the United States, emergency physicians are mostly hospital-based, but also work on air ambulances and mobile intensive-care units.
Patients who are brought in the emergency department are usually sent to triage first. The patient may be triaged by an emergency physician, a paramedic, or a nurse; in the United States, triage is usually performed by a registered nurse. If the patient requires admission to the hospital, another physician, such as an internal medicine physician, cardiologist, or neurologist takes over from the emergency physician.