Emergency medicines are lifesavers
Introduction
The medical specialty known as emergency medicine deals with treating illnesses and injuries that need to be treated right away. In the United States, emergency physicians, or “ER doctors,” are always learning new techniques for treating unplanned and undifferentiated patients of all ages. They are the primary resuscitation and stabilization initiators, working in tandem with emergency medical services, and carrying out the initial examinations and actions required to identify and treat illnesses or injuries in the acute phase. Intensive care units, pre-hospital settings provided by emergency medical services, and hospital emergency rooms are where emergency physicians often practice. However, they could also work in primary care facilities like urgent care centers.
Care delivery in different sectors
Rural-The delivery of emergency care has considerably increased and evolved across varied settings in relation to cost, provider availability, and general usage even though the practice has just recently begun. Prior to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), “uninsured or underinsured patients, women, children, and minorities, all of whom typically encounter difficulties to getting primary care,” were the main users of emergency medicine. Although this is still the case today, as was already noted, it is crucial to take into account the setting in which care is provided in order to comprehend the population and system difficulties associated with overutilization and high costs.
Urban- In contrast, emergency medicine in urban areas is provided by a variety of provider groups, including doctors, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and registered nurses. These groups work in conjunction with specialists in both inpatient and outpatient settings to meet the needs of patients, particularly those in the emergency department (ED). EMTALA requires EDs to do a medical evaluation for anybody who arrives at the department, regardless of ability to pay, for all systems, regardless of funding source. According to the ACA, non-profit hospitals and health systems must offer a minimum amount of free care “by aggressively ensuring that those who qualify for financial assistance obtain it, by charging reasonable rates to uninsured patients, and by avoiding unusual collection methods.”
Medical error- Emergency medicine is particularly prone to medical errors and near misses due to a number of factors, such as frequent patient transfers and crowded, noisy, and chaotic ED settings. According to one study, an academic ED had an error rate of 18 per 100 registered patients. According to another study, “an average of 8.8 teamwork failures occurred per case [and] more than half of the deaths and permanent disabilities that occurred were judged avoidable” in cases where a lack of teamwork (i.e. poor communication, lack of team structure, lack of cross-monitoring) was implicated in a specific incident of ED medical error. Medical errors and near misses are unfortunately frequently not disclosed to patients and other parties, due to specific cultural and structural features of emergency medicine.
