"Emergency medicine is a field of practice based on the knowledge
and skills required for the prevention, diagnosis and management of
acute and urgent aspects of illness and injury affecting patients of
all age groups with a full spectrum of episodic undifferentiated
physical and behavioural disorders; it further encompasses an
understanding of the development of pre-hospital and in-hospital
emergency medical systems and the skills necessary for this
development."
The emergency medicine specialist has the direct and vicarious
responsibility for the care of all patients in the department and
must have skills and knowledge covering many facets of medicine and
surgery. Simultaneous care of more than one patient is often
required, and decisions are often made with incomplete information.
Dealing with uncertainty; multi-tasking and management at both the
micro and macro level are important skills and attributes required.
While much of the work is based in the emergency department,
specialists in emergency medicine may also be involved in
observation medicine, hyperbaric medicine, toxicology, retrieval,
pre-hospital care or academic emergency medicine.
