Emergency Medicine

mergency Medicine, E medical specialty concerned with the care of patients suffering from sudden and often life-threatening injury or illness. Specialists in this field usually work in a hospital unit known as an emergency room, where injured or ill patients are treated 24 hours a day (see Hospital). Although emergency medicine physicians are specialists, they are trained to treat a wide range of ailments, from minor cuts and infections to cardiac arrests and other life-threatening conditions. In many cases, emergency physicians provide patients with urgent lifesaving care to stabilize their condition before transferring them to the appropriate hospital unit for specialized care. In addition to physicians, other health professionals play vital roles in emergency medicine. Paramedics, technicians trained to provide emergency care in any location, transport patients to the hospital in an ambulance or helicopter, providing lifesaving care on the way if necessary. Hospital emergency rooms are also staffed with nurses who are specially trained to deliver emergency treatment. Emergency medicine professionals are trained to give priority to those patients with the most serious traumas, a medical technique called triage that was developed during World War I (1914-1918). In hospitals set up near combat, there usually were not enough doctors or medical supplies available to treat all wounded soldiers. Physicians developed the triage system to prioritize treatment procedures. Today emergency medicine professionals use similar principles to prioritize treatment of the innumerable conditions seen in emergency rooms, ranging from serious or life-threatening cases (such as seizures, strokes, heart attacks, injuries from assaults or car accidents, poisonings, drug overdoses, and acute asthma attacks) to minor cuts and broken bones. In many situations patients come into an emergency room

complaining of unfamiliar or distressing symptoms, such as chest pain or shortness of breath, and it is up to emergency medical professionals to quickly diagnose the cause of these symptoms and begin treatment immediately. Speed and technology are indispensable components of emergency medicine. When a patient complains of chest pain, for instance, emergency medical professionals will likely hook the patient up to an electronic monitor to measure heart and respiratory function, take a chest X ray, determine electrical activity of the heart using a procedure called electrocardiography, and perform a series of blood tests, all within a matter of minutes. In recent years a number of emergency medicine subspecialties have emerged to better cope with the wide variety of medical needs in the emergency room. These include disaster medicine, the treatment of large numbers of people injured by catastrophic events such as earthquakes; and trauma, the treatment of patients with severe injuries such as gunshot wounds and injuries from car accidents. Trauma centers and emergency room facilities are very expensive to operate and maintain. The number of emergency room visits increases yearly as more and more people rely on emergency room facilities for basic medical services, usually because they do not have health insurance or access to a physician. Under the increasing financial burden, many small and medium-size urban emergency rooms have closed down, leaving one or two regional trauma centers responsible for providing emergency care for large populations. Those seeking a career as an emergency medicine physician must obtain a medical degree, complete a three-year in-hospital training program called a residency, and pass a certification exam. The specialty is regulated by the American College of Emergency Physician