Emergency Rooms Are Losing Doctors

David Trammel's picture

The lessons learned from the Pandemic and the way we as a country reacted to it are many and will have long-lasting changes. Probably in no bigger area than medicine.

"The match just occurred and the new physicians are fleeing the field of Emergency Medicine. For the uninitiated, the match is where new physicians who have just completed medical school are matched with the specialty and the hospital the Want to go into. Emergency medicine is typically a very competitive specialty and only the best and the brightest physicians can get a good residency. Resident is the grueling 3-4 years a physician spends in hands on training for their given specialty. Competitive residencies in EM are typically heavy in trauma and treating patients who have severe or unique pathology.

This year there are 216 unmatched emergency medicine residences. 216 programs that failed to get applicants. In a given year there are usually less than 10 positions unfilled. It is clear from these stunning results that future physicians have watched what the current EM physicians went through ( lack of PPE, salaries cut, violence in the ER) and are deciding not to pursue Emergency Medicine. What this means for the lay person is that they will see less qualified people in the ER in the future. Patients will be forced to see non physician practitioners (NP’s and PA’s) while being charged the same. The ER docs that are coming into the field May have gotten there, not because they wanted to be an ER doc, but because it was the only job available.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Residency/comments/te2vj6/em_unfilled_spots/?ut...

https://www.reddit.com/r/emergencymedicine/comments/te4xz0/residency_mat...

Ken's picture

NONE of the doctors that I've known ever wanted to be ER docs. The ones that wound up in the ER were there because they couldn't get into a surgical residency. Unless you are a glutton for punishment, the emergency room has never been a place you want to work. Why do you think the ER and the VA are frequently staffed with foreign born doctors? They didn't go to the "right" school or have the right connections... As far as "less qualified" people in the ER, I think you are better off with a good paramedic than a sleep deprived, ego driven over-achiever resident anyway. The ER is for triage and keeping patients alive long enough to get them into surgery or wherever they are headed. Every nurse I've ever known hated the ER as well and I can only imagine how miserable it was during covid. There will be plenty of Grenada medical skool graduates that will take those residencies...