Career in Emergency Medicine
Emergency and Acute care is a stream of Medicine which deals with management of patients in Casualty/Emergency Room and Intensive care units.
Emergency room is the face of any hospital and the most high tension area of the hospital. At many hospitals trauma centers are also attached with the ER.
Career in Emergency Medicine as ER Physician:
Although ER is a multidisciplinary management, but a ER physician plays a important role in acute care of patients and leadership. In most tertiary care hospital ER and trauma centers the ER team consists of the following
- ER Physician (& Team Leader)
- General Physician
- Orthopaedician
- General Surgeon
- Neuro Surgeon (if available)
Role of ER Physician: ER physician act as a team leader in ER. All patients entering to er are first attended by er physician. After examination he decides about which specialty or super specialty doctor the patient requires and give a call to the concerned specialty, meanwhile he treats the patient for any immediate care he needed.Most patients in ER are critical and need urgent treatment and many patients like that of stroke and MI which are time sensitive, so a ER physician should be active and skilled with emergency procedures eq intubation, CPR etc and with clear mind. He is also required to know standard protocols of all emergency conditions which presents to casualty.
How to become ER Physician:
Emergency Medicine career is perfect for those who like adventure and promptness at their work place. ER Physician also need to be patient and cool headed to handle emotionally charged patients and attendants.
A. MCI/MOHFW approved courses.
1. MD in Emergency medicine –
# 3 years full time training. Degree is awarded after successful completion of 3 years training and passing exit exam.
# Recently following govt hospitals have started MD in Emergency Medicine (the list may not be comprehensive as more seats are being added).
- G.M.C, GUWAHATI
- B.J.M.C, AHMEDABAD
- G.M.C, SURAT
- GMC, Kozhikode
# Admission is via AIPGMEE (All India Pre PG Medical Entrance Exam) conducted once every year in December by NBE.# Eligibility: MBBS or equivelent recognised by MCI and have completed 1 year rotatory internship.
2. DNB in Emergency Medicine
# 3 years full time training. DNB is awarded after successful completion of 3 years training and passing exit exam.
# Recently following govt/private hospitals have started DNB in Emergency Medicine.
- Max Super Specialty Hospital, Saket, New Delhi
- Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, New Delhi
- Apollo Hospital, Bangalore
- Narayana Hrudayalaya, Bangalore
- Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences, Trivandrum,
- Malabar Institute of Medical Sciences Ltd. KOZHIKODE
- MES Medical College & Hospital, Malappuram Dist. Kerala
- Pushpagiri Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Centre, Pushpagiri Medical College Hospital, Tiruvalla – 689101 Kerala
- Apollo Hospital, Chennai
- Apollo Hospital, Madurai
- Apollo Hospital, Hyderabad
- Yashoda Hospital, Hyderabad
- Fortis Hospital, Noida
# Admission is via DNB CET conducted twice every year in July/august and Nov/December by NBE.
# Eligibility: MBBS or equivalent recognized by MCI and have completed 1 year rotatory internship
At present most ER and ICU are headed by anesthesiologist or respiratory medicine consultants and EMOs are MBBS doctors with experience in ER. There are hardly any emergency medicine trained doctors working in ERS mainly due to non availability of trained doctors and also because most hoapitals are satisfied with MBBS doctors alone. Cost is also one factor in private sector why hospitals are not engaging specialists in ER.
In government hospitals also there are no specific posts for ER specialists at present. Most casualties are under Internal Medicine department.