According to statistics, more than 136.9 million Americans visit emergency rooms every year. This means they are around 380,000 visits every single day. This is actually the reason why most medical TV shows always talk about ER.
So what is emergency medicine?
Emergency medicine is a medical specialty that requires emergency approaches to emergency illnesses and injuries. It can as well cover everything from EMR trained cops, firefighters, Doctors in the emergency room, and RNs. Emergency medicine has a couple of pros and cons that you should familiarize yourself with today.
Pros:
1. There are new unexpected problems from every new patient-This is one of the major benefits of emergency medicine. The new problems every year inform the studies and researches which makes it more effective.
2. The job varies widely– The other benefit is that the job of anyone working here can vary widely. One time they are dealing with a medical issue, answering medical calls, and the other minute they are dealing with trauma.
3. Saving lives-This should be the main benefit of emergency medicine. The main aim of this practice is to save lives. As a matter of fact, the staff saves so many lives in a day.
4. The job is changing constantly-The treatment protocols are changing every single day. This means that the job is constantly changing and informing the medics greatly.
5. Emergency medicine physicians who have greater control of how often they work-You might think that the physicians have a stressful career which is not the case. They have greater control over how often they are supposed to work.
6. The Physicians are trained to treat a number of ailments-This means that every time someone gets to the Accident and Emergency room, there’s someone to help on the condition at hand. They have knowledge of life-saving procedures and much more.
7. Greater opportunities-the Physicians here will have a great opportunity in this career. Over the next ten years, it is predicted that there will be unlimited opportunities for physicians working in this field.
8. Career Flexibility-It seems like IM has more promising career flexibility. What this means is that if one gets sick of hospitalist work, someone can shift to the outpatient clinic.
9. Higher chances of being involved in clinical research-Anyone working here have a couple of advantages. As a matter of fact, someone has a chance of being involved in clinical research and being part of medical advancements.
10. Lots of learning opportunities-There are always some new challenges that leave you educated and experienced than before. You have so much experience in such a scope of injuries and illnesses.
Cons:
1. High stress-Although you have a lot of learning opportunities, there’s a chance that you will always be under pressure especially when there’s a great number of cases. This job can introduce stress even to those that are naturally calm.
2. It’s emotionally Taxing-In this career, you are probable to encounter a lot of pain and tragedy that can be emotionally wrecking. Unless you are strong enough, you are likely to get emotionally affected by the cases you deal with every day, victims of domestic violence, child abuse, horrific accidents, and much more.
3. Constant Movement-You has to love moving from one place to the other or multitasking to be comfortable with this career. Some people can find multitasking and constant movements draining which can affect their entire career.
4. Emergency Physicians cannot open clinics-Unlike other medical service people, EP cannot open their clinics. They only need a level 1 hospital where there are all these specialties and major investigation functions.
5. Deaths and resuscitations are common-These are the worst-case scenarios that you will be encountering each and every day. Unless you are strong enough, this can drain you emotionally.
6. Pay scales are not pleasing– The pay scale of emergency Physicians doesn’t match the level of other medical workers. For those that want better pay, this is not the best place to be and should look for places with better salaries.
7. Work long or even odd hours– The physicians in this field are prone to working odd hours including late nights, weekends, and even holidays. This can be tiring to some people.
8. Workload-The physicians take on a heavy workload and hardly get some time to take a rest. This can be extremely exhausting.
9. Unpredictability-There are some days that you won’t have to worry about the workload and working odd hours, other days are horrible.
10. You always have a boss-Most people want to work under minimal supervision which is not the case with Emergency Physicians because they always have a boss.
