Emergency Medicine - Work

Work

The employment arrangement of emergency physician practices are either private (a democratic group of EPs staff an ED under contract), institutional (EPs with an independent contractor relationship with the hospital), corporate (EPs with an independent contractor relationship with a third party staffing company that services multiple emergency departments) or governmental (employed by the US armed forces, the US public health service, the Veteran's Administration or other government agency).

Most emergency physicians staff hospital emergency departments in shifts, a job structure necessitated by the 24/7 nature of the emergency department. In the United States, emergency medicine practitioners are expected to be competent in treating, diagnosing and managing a wide array of illnesses and conditions, both chronic and acute. Overall, more than half of emergency physicians report high levels of career satisfaction. Although career satisfaction has remained high among emergency physicians, concern about burnout is substantial.

In the United Kingdom all Consultants in Emergency Medicine work in the NHS. There is little scope for private emergency practice.

In Turkey, EM specialist may choose to work in private (corporate hospitals), governmental (all the hospitals under Ministry of Health) or institutional (University Hospitals) EDs. However most of the EPs work in governmental or university hospitals.

According to the American College of Emergency Physicians, the US will likely face a shortage of physicians in the near future, leading to increased employment opportunities.