Emergency medicine

From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium

At its core, emergency medicine is the medical specialty concerned with the evaluation, management and treatment of patients with unexpected illness or injury. As opposed to most other specialties, emergency medicine has considerable involvement in working outside formal medical facilities; emergency physicians are often medical directors, and sometimes overall chiefs, of emergency medical services from first responders, through various levels of emergency medical technician including advanced paramedics, to the operation of field hospitals. An emergency physician, over a radio link, may guide minimally trained people in dealing with critical situations in remote areas, with no medical facilities in reasonable range.