Emergency medicine
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Emergency medicine is a branch of medicine that is practiced in a hospital emergency department, in the field (in a modified form; see EMS), and other locations where initial medical treatment of illness takes place.
Emergency medicine focuses on diagnosis and treatment of acute illnesses and injuries that require immediate care. While not usually providing long-term care, EM physicians and pre-hospital personnel still provide care with the aim of improving long-term patient outcome. In the United States, some people use the emergency department for outpatient care that could be provided at a doctor's office. As a result, much of emergency room care is plain old good general practice (coughs, colds, aches, pains). The patients are better treated in an urgent care, which is a center focused on problems for which the patient desires immediate care, but do not reach the acuity that requires care in an emergency department.
In the USA, the American College of Emergency Physicians is the primary member organization of emergency physicians. The American Board of Emergency Medicine provides board certification to emergency physicians who have successsfully completed a residency in emergency medicine and have received a passing score on the board exam in emergency medicine.
See medical emergency for specific lists of medical emergencies and how best to respond.
See also
- CPR
- Toxicology
- Emergency medical service
- Traumatology
- Physical trauma
- Wound care
- First aid
- Paramedic
- Golden Hour
External links
- American Board of Emergency Medicine (http://www.abem.org/)
- Urgent Care defined (http://www.ucaoa.org/urgent_care.htm)
| Health science - Medicine |
| Anesthesiology - Dermatology - Emergency Medicine - General practice - Intensive care medicine - Internal medicine - Neurology - Obstetrics & Gynecology - Pediatrics - Podiatry - Public Health & Occupational Medicine - Psychiatry - Radiology - Surgery |
| Branches of Internal medicine |
| Cardiology - Endocrinology - Gastroenterology - Hematology - Infectious diseases - Nephrology - Oncology - Pulmonology - Rheumatology |
| Branches of Surgery |
| General surgery - Cardiothoracic surgery - Neurosurgery - Ophthalmology - Orthopedic surgery - Otolaryngology (ENT) - Pediatric surgery - Plastic surgery - Podiatric surgery - Urology - Vascular surgery |