An emergency medicine physician treats any patient rushed to a hospital’s emergency room (ER), regardless of their injury or illness. Patients they handle include people who are having a stroke or heart attack and accident victims. When put in contact with a patient, an emergency medicine physician’s primary task is to stabilize the patient before determining what medical treatment is necessary. They can provide this care for a few hours, or several days or weeks.
Procedures an emergency medicine physician perform for an ER patient include cardiopulmonary resuscitation, physical examinations to check the patient’s vital signs, blood tests to check for alcohol or pregnancy, and imaging tests like CT scans, MRIs and X-Rays. If the patient is alert, the emergency medical physician will also ask them about their symptoms, so they can more quickly determine their illness or injury.