This all sounds very bleak for the future of Emergency Medicine.
Look on the bright side. We are all in it because we are expert managers of
departments that see a vast number of patients. I cannot imagine how my
physician or surgical friends would cope with the constant pressure of the
departments. There is a role for ER docs, and we must define it now. We are
also expert diagnosticians - (well perhaps not quite up to 'Houses'
standards' , but still very skilled!). We exclude serious disease - which we
are very good at doing quickly and effectively and economically. We also
treat serious disease effectively. We are educators and communicators. We
act as samaritans at times.
I wonder who'll supervise all this region activity if it is taken away from
the DGHs. I'm not sure that Mr Orthop (Cons) want to be about at 02:00am or
your friendly Neurosurgical Consultant.Which leaves......
Kind regards
Adrian K
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