Why Emergency Medicine Physicians Chose the Right Career

They work in some of the most stressful conditions imaginable. They treat more than 100 million patients each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevent. They never know what types of cases are going to walk or be rolled through the doors. People who cannot speak, hear or see depend on them for life. 

And more often than not they succeed at keeping their patients alive. 

They are emergency medicine physicians, and their careers are as challenging and exciting as they are rewarding. 

Here’s a look at why many emergency medicine physicians don’t hesitate to say they chose the right career:

• Variety. No two days are alike for emergency medicine physicians. According to the CDC, there are more than 136 visits to emergency departments each year in the United States. Of these visits, more than 40 million are injury related, 16.2 million result in hospital admissions,  2.1 million result in admission to critical care units, and more than 2 percent end in a patient being sent to a psychiatric or other type of hospital. 

  If you are the type of physician who likes variety, you’ll find it in the emergency department. Throughout the course of a single shift, many emergency medicine physicians find that they treat patients who need emergent or urgent resuscitation, interventions, procedures or obstetric care. 

• Leadership. Emergency medicine physicians are on the front line of medicine. They are often the first in the country to be faced with emergency public health issues, whether related to chemical dependency, disease, or outbreaks and epidemics. 

  For these reasons, physicians who work in emergency departments are able to play important leadership roles in addressing public health problems. They are often called upon for leadership in the areas of injury and illness prevention, emergency medical services response and legislative advocacy. 

• Relevancy. According to a study conducted by the American College of Emergency Physicians, the number of visits to emergency departments is on the rise. In addition, 44 out of every 100 people in the country visit an emergency department each year, according to the CDC. 

  Emergency departments are open 24-hours a day; they never close and they don’t turn anyone away. The physicians who work in emergency departments–whether in large, urban areas or smaller communities–are always relevant, in demand and respected for the service and care they provide. 

• Flexibility. Because emergency departments are such intense environments, most hospitals allow for a great deal of flexibility when it comes to scheduling. The defined shift work makes scheduling more predictable than that of other specialties, and when you’re off the clock, you’re off the clock. 

  Emergency medicine physicians rarely carry pagers, unless they are on call, so they can dedicate their time out of the emergency departments to their families, friends, recreational activities or professional development. 

• Community. Physicians who practice emergency medicine have created a tight-knit community. Its members have a reputation for being extremely supportive of one another, connecting and collaborating on everything from professional development to research. 

  In fact, there are four professional associations dedicated to advancing the profession, offering professional development opportunities, conducting research and connecting emergency medicine physicians with one another. They include the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association, the Society for Academic Emergency, the American College of Emergency Physicians and the American Academy of Emergency Medicine. 

• Satisfaction. Physicians, in general, are a hard group to satisfy, but according to Medical Practice Insider, emergency medicine physicians are more contented than those who practice plastic surgery, cardiology, radiology, anesthesiology, orthopedics, urology and general surgery. In fact, the only specialty groups with higher satisfaction rates are pathology, psychiatry and dermatology. 

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If you are interested in an exciting emergency medicine provider career, consider working for Elliot Health System.