The problem with "emergency medicine" is that it no longer deals with
real issues in co-operation with colleagues from other specialties.
Instead, there is a semantic war on. We do battle against the words
"casualty" and "accident" instead of fighting our corner on resources,
recognition for our work from our peers, manpower, morale, poor public
perception of our departments and a whole host of REAL issues that are,
IMHO, far more worthy of attention.
A highly ungenerous, but inescapable comparison is with the Argentinian
Junta in 1981. What did they do about their internal problems and what
was the outcome?
Neither contributor has mentioned the good in the article. That was the
promotion of rapid access chest pain clinics. (The bad was how they
proposed to staff them).
I welcome rapid access clinics. I believe that as a specialty, we would
have an important part to play in selection of patients for them.
In the future, I would welcome being able to work and plan closely with
colleagues in other specialties. I dont think that A/E folk are always
very good at the latter.
Whilst emergency care is delivered mainly by year 1 SHO's, then of
course there will be the perception that A/E doctors find chest pain
"worrying". It is an inevitable generalisation. Those of us who are not
afraid of chest pain (or anything else) will have to suffer for the time
being until one or two REAL issues are solved!
--
Stephen Hughes SpR Anything & Everything
NE Thames
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