Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:Introduction to Health Care and Public Health in the U.S.
Unit:Delivering Health Care - Part 1
Lecture:Structure and Function of Health Care Facilities and Hospital Units
Slide content:Personnel Who Provide Serious Acute Care - 1 Emergency Medicine Encompasses verity of medical problems Specialty dedicated to life threating problems Short term care EMTs and Paramedics Perform basic care Paramedics have extra training 17
Slide notes:In most cases, people who provide acute care are emergency medicine physicians and critical care physicians, along with nurses and other personnel working as a team. Serious acute care encompasses medical problems such as heart attack, stroke, unexpected childbirth, or sudden complications of surgery. It also includes accidents such as poisoning, or trauma from such events as car crashes, gunshot or stab wounds, falls, or burns. Emergency medicine is a medical specialty dedicated to saving patients with life-threatening problems. It is a high-stress field where physicians must make difficult decisions quickly, often with limited information about the patient. The goal is short-term care, to immediately stabilize the patient so he or she can move on to more definitive treatment. Emergency physicians work in EDs. When possible, however, patients receive treatment from emergency medical technicians, or EMTs, before reaching the hospital. EMTs travel to sites of emergencies, perform basic medical care, and transport patients to hospitals by ambulance. Paramedics are EMTs with extra training that allows them to perform some medical procedures right at the scene, before transport. 17