Daily Responsibilities of Emergency Physicians

Emergency room physicians often see people when they are most traumatized. Family practitioners schedule appointments throughout the day and may even know why each patient is visiting. But at the hospital, where most emergency doctors work, the arrivals are unplanned and take as many different forms as there are types of injuries. Because of this, the responsibilities of an emergency room physician are unique.

Remain Current

• State and federal regulations, like the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), require doctors to remain current on emergency medical treatment. Through both independent study and continuing education, doctors constantly add to their knowledge of how to deal with any type of emergent situation.

  The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 provides patients with certain privacy rights regarding their medical history. While emergency physicians face situations requiring immediate treatment or even disclosure of a patient's medical information to another party, they must follow the law to safeguard the disbursement of such information.

Administration

• The job of a physician includes more than treating the sick and wounded. Like most jobs, medicine involves piles of paperwork, both hard-copy and virtual. According the American College of Emergency Physicians, emergency doctors should maintain basic knowledge of administrative duties such as coding, documentation and interpretation of practice revenue and expense information.

Patient Welfare

• Because many emergency patients in acute crisis are unable to give consent for treatment due to such factors as loss of consciousness or altered mental status, the emergency physician must put the patient's welfare first. However, this may require quick action, which leaves limited time for deliberation or consultation, so the doctor must be trained in and rely on established protocols.

  Since the emergency room in a hospital is part of an institutional setting, the physician must also honor regulations and norms of conduct among not only other health care professionals, but also patients who may have no other reasonable access to health care.

Serve as Resources

• The unique training of emergency physicians puts them in positions to serve as community resources for education in disaster management, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, injury control and prevention, and general public health.

  Emergency physicians are also entrusted with the duty to provide emergent health care outside the hospital setting when such treatment could prevent death or serious injury.