Questions On The Role An Emergency Room Doctor Plays in The ER

[KdnJnks]

Hello, I am Kayden and recently I've been considering (as Im going into 10th Grade) if I should change my course path to HST (Health Science Technology) because my school offers that program. The reason for which is because I am also considering persuing a career as an Emergency Physician and I had a few question on the role that they play and what sort of procedures they do.

Question One- What is the most common invasive procedure done by an Emergency Physician?
Question Two- What is the most invasive procedure done by an EP?
Question Three- How often would an EP have to perform a thoracotomy?

I have this phobia of opening someones chest cavity (if you can beleive it) and I just wanted some reassurance on this desicion.

Thanks,
Kayden

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[WingedOx]

1. Focus on high school and come back when you're older.

2. High schools having students choose "majors" or "paths" is one of the stupidest ideas in education over the last 20 years.

 

[KdnJnks]

1. Focus on high school and come back when you're older.

2. High schools having students choose "majors" or "paths" is one of the stupidest ideas in education over the last 20 years.

Thanks for the input but the school is a Magnet school for HST and I qualify to join it... The thought of medicine seemed awesome to me since I was around 8 but only now am I trying to persue it.

 

[darkjedi]

If you don't work at a trauma center as an attending, which the majority of hospitals in the US are not, then you would really never need to do an ED thoracotomy.

That said, you will see far worse things than thoracotomies during med school. Medicine is not for the squeamish.

 

[WingedOx]

That said, you will see far worse things than thoracotomies during med school. Medicine is not for the squeamish.

Yup... and it's not just the icky parts of the human body that will mess with you.

 

[KdnJnks]

If you don't work at a trauma center as an attending, which the majority of hospitals in the US are not, then you would really never need to do an ED thoracotomy.

That said, you will see far worse things than thoracotomies during med school. Medicine is not for the squeamish.

Thanks for the input I guess I'll just need to toughen up! The worst its gotten so far is when my biology teacher made us do a presentation on teratoma which scared the entire class.

 

[sonofva]

Hello, I am Kayden and recently I've been considering (as Im going into 10th Grade) if I should change my course path to HST (Health Science Technology) because my school offers that program. The reason for which is because I am also considering persuing a career as an Emergency Physician and I had a few question on the role that they play and what sort of procedures they do.

Question One- What is the most common invasive procedure done by an Emergency Physician?
Question Two- What is the most invasive procedure done by an EP?
Question Three- How often would an EP have to perform a thoracotomy?

I have this phobia of opening someones chest cavity (if you can beleive it) and I just wanted some reassurance on this desicion.

Thanks,
Kayden

Emergency medicine is the best specialty! The Emergency Physician (EP), helps lead a team in the ER that consists of nurses and techs and clerks and EMS. The goal is to:

1) Pick out who has life threatening illnesses, resuscitate them if needed, and then coordinate to get them transferred to the appropriate inpatient care.
2) Treat and diagnose patients who don't have life threatening illnesses, and get them out patient follow up as needed.

Some people will argue that we are just triage, and that it is an easy job, but it is anything but easy. It is incredibly difficult to pick out who is actually sick from among a sea of garbage medical complaints. It is also great because you have instant gratification. You have all the labs and xr and ct you need right at your fingertips. And you can help people with problems that they actually care about.

The most common invasive procedure I do every day is probably a pelvic exam. The most invasive procedures are probably peri-mortem c-section, or ed thoracotomy. You could potentially go an entire career without doing a true open ED thoracotomy, but you will have to do many tube thoracostomy procedures throughout your career. You will at least have to crack chests in cadaver lab. And as said above, there are many more gross things to be had in medicine...

 

[KdnJnks]

Emergency medicine is the best specialty! The Emergency Physician (EP), helps lead a team in the ER that consists of nurses and techs and clerks and EMS. The goal is to:

1) Pick out who has life threatening illnesses, resuscitate them if needed, and then coordinate to get them transferred to the appropriate inpatient care.
2) Treat and diagnose patients who don't have life threatening illnesses, and get them out patient follow up as needed.

Some people will argue that we are just triage, and that it is an easy job, but it is anything but easy. It is incredibly difficult to pick out who is actually sick from among a sea of garbage medical complaints. It is also great because you have instant gratification. You have all the labs and xr and ct you need right at your fingertips. And you can help people with problems that they actually care about.

The most common invasive procedure I do every day is probably a pelvic exam. The most invasive procedures are probably peri-mortem c-section, or ed thoracotomy. You could potentially go an entire career without doing a true open ED thoracotomy, but you will have to do many tube thoracostomy procedures throughout your career. You will at least have to crack chests in cadaver lab. And as said above, there are many more gross things to be had in medicine...

Awesome response! Really gave me a good idea of what I could and will be doing. Thanks for the input.

 

[AttemptingScholar]

Hello, I am Kayden and recently I've been considering (as Im going into 10th Grade) if I should change my course path to HST (Health Science Technology) because my school offers that program. The reason for which is because I am also considering persuing a career as an Emergency Physician and I had a few question on the role that they play and what sort of procedures they do.

Question One- What is the most common invasive procedure done by an Emergency Physician?
Question Two- What is the most invasive procedure done by an EP?
Question Three- How often would an EP have to perform a thoracotomy?

I have this phobia of opening someones chest cavity (if you can beleive it) and I just wanted some reassurance on this desicion.

Thanks,
Kayden

I don't have the first-hand experience like sonofva, but keep in mind that emergencies physicians and trauma surgeons are different jobs, if you are worried about a lot of invasive procedures and thoracic surgeries.

 

[sonofva]

Awesome response! Really gave me a good idea of what I could and will be doing. Thanks for the input.

No joke I just had to do an open thoracotomy. I spoke too soon...

Sent from my SM-G930V using SDN mobile