FP working in ER?

[white daisy]

just wondering if anybody knew if FPs can work in small ERs. I live in the sacramento area of california. am thinking about getting into family medicine and hopefully work in small ERs. is it done anywhere?

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[GeddyLee]

White Daisy,
I've heard of this being done...several of my classmates who want to do FP have told me that FP's sometimes work or moonlight in small emergency rooms. From what I know, these opportunities are more available in rural or underserved areas, basically, in hospitals that have a hard time finding ER docs to hire. Certainly your options are somewhat limited in that respect, as I think most areas that are desirable to live in probably have no problem recruiting ER docs. But if your dream is to have a family practice clinic and work part-time in the local ER, all in a relatively underserved area, then you can probably do this. I've also heard of some FP's moonlighting on the late shift. If you really want to do emergency medicine, though, do the residency, as you'll be much more likely to find a job.

Geddy

 

[bustbones26]

A small community hospital that I know of, get there roster of EM physicians:

a former surgeon that once went blind in teh middle of a procedure due to optic neuritis from MS, so now he does ER

A former urologist

A former anesthesiologist

And FP's

So yes, small community hospitals will take FP's. You probably will not find any employment in a trauma center.

 

[chillin]

O.K. so are these FP's making the same cash as ER docs would be making working at the same hospital

 

[deleted6669]

in most cases no. a few e.d.'s that I work in have a mix of fp and em folks. the em guys get $145/hr and the fp guys get 80/hr for doing the same work. benefits are the same.

 

[white daisy]

i am happy to hear that it can be done in small community hospitals... does anyone know how i can know if the hospitals in sacramento recruit FPs in the ER?

another question, ER doctors get paid by the hour? i thought they were paid per act... as in the number of patients they see...

 

[The Generalist]

Originally posted by white daisy
another question, ER doctors get paid by the hour? i thought they were paid per act... as in the number of patients they see...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't ER docs get paid by the severity of the case (Level 1-5) and as you're saying, the number of cases?

 

[seattledoc]

I usually get paid by the hour, no matter if I'm busy or not

 

[deleted6669]

the hospitals generally get paid based on acuity while the docs are on 1 of these fee schedules (from the em docs I work with):

some are on straight salary + benefits for a fixed # of shifts/mo

some are hourly with no benefits at a high rate of pay

some are hourly+ benefits

some are hourly with a production bonus+ benefits. production bonus looks at # and acuity of pts seen/shift compared to the rest of the group. sometimes production bonus can be > base salary

white daisy: check out california emergency physicians and team health em groups. I think they both use fp docs in some of their facilities in california

 

[chillin]

O.K if ER docs make 145/hour that equates to 300,000+/year for a 40 hour work week. LOOKS LIKE I'M GOING INTO ER!!!!! Or is this some wacked out, one of a kind hospital that treats its ER staff so fabulously????

 

[white daisy]

hey emedpa,

i can't find the website for the california emergency physician website. do you have a direct website address?

 

[deleted6669]

daisy:
www.cep.com


chillin: the range for em is about 175k to 350k+, low end for hmo's and more for independent groups and/or rural/undesirable areas. see the sdn em specialty area for more info on salaries.

 

[stoic]

Yo -

At a smallish community ER (20-25k vistists/year) in KS that I'm familier with the docs are ALL FP's except for one med/peds and one internal med.

These guys all make $150/hr *BUT* get no (zero, nadda, zilch) benifits.

The full time guys are working 14-15 12 hour shifts a month and the part time guys work 7 12 hour shifts a month.

 

[dj_smooth]

Do you need benefits if you're making that kind of $$? They'd be be grossing over 300K @ 150/hr 15 shifts/month....maybe I am just a bit naive.

 

[stoic]

300k is a lot, but keep in mind that these guys are dishing out ~35-50k a year on malpratice, paying for their own health insurance unless they have a spouse who gets coverage from their job, and have no retirement matching programs. I'd never contend that these docs are living a bad life, but they don't net 300k a year, either.

 

[ctsjas]

You can go to websites like:

www.phyamerica.com
and
www.emcare.com

to see what types of ERs take primary care specialties. Some have compensation listed. I'm sure the recruiters would be more than happy to tell you the compensation packages.