mrm Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I am currently a second year PA student. I am interested in someday working in an ED in a rural/remote area that likely involves solo coverage. Of course, such a job is not ideal for a new graduate. Would working as a hospitalist in a non-academic hospital for a few years offer adequate experience to switch over to an ED job? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medic25 Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Not really; inpatient medicine and EM are two very different fields. If you're serious about going the solo ED route, get a position in a busy ED, preferably with plenty of learning opportunities. Treat your first few years out of school as your residency; learn from your attendings /senior PA's, see as much pathology as possible, and keep reading as if your still in school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcdavis Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 no, not completely. But it WOULD start giving you a solid basis for med pathology and treatment with will help a lot when you do transition to EM. EM is its own critter... everyone rotates thru it and things "oh hell, this is easy", not understanding that not only do we need to know the absolueltes in each specialty, but our own absolutes as well.. And after you get comfortable seeing patients , building a ddx and are pretty family at least with one set of drugs, the only way to learn ED is to do it under the tuteledge of engaged and interested teaching attendings, or work in an academic center learning along side the residents, or go to residency yourself. IMHO unless you have been thru residency or done at least 5-10 YEARS of ED medicine with guidance and good oversight, there is no way you should even consider a solo gig.. both for the patient's sake and yours. Not to belittle you or your capacities, but the truth is EM is a pretty treacherous job, and potentially brutal if you are alone. Start preparing yourself NOW,... reading every night, leaing as much as you can about every patient's diagnoses and past diagnoses. This will become your data bank that starts the formation of your your differential diagnosis/ es good luck. davis HEY MEDIC 25!! I started the answer inbetween patients and posted my response w/o reading yours. Woulda saved me a buncha time if i'd read yours.. we are saying the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator EMEDPA Posted June 29, 2011 Moderator Share Posted June 29, 2011 good advice from all above. get as educated as you can if you want to do em, especially if you want to work solo. do a residency, there is no better training than a structured experience like that. get as many extra skills as you can. courses like atls, pals/apls, abls, difficult airway, u/s courses, etc while not required at most jobs will give you extra skills and knowledge many pa's don't have. 5 yrs of hardcore em at a busy place is a bare min. I think for most folks before working solo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medic25 Posted June 30, 2011 Share Posted June 30, 2011 HEY MEDIC 25!! I started the answer inbetween patients and posted my response w/o reading yours. Woulda saved me a buncha time if i'd read yours.. we are saying the same thing. Like they say Davis, great minds think alike!! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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