The specialty of emergency medicine

We have focused on those features of emergency medicine that distinguish it as a separate and independent specialty. We have emphasized rapidity and efficiency in approach to emergency patients with chief complaint, set of vital signs, and general appearance, mandating an appropriate history, physical examination, and generic differential diagnosis. The most serious illness (not the most probable) is considered first and the patient protected against the morbid complications of the most serious disease(s). We have pointed out that the development of a rapid rapport with patients, prioritization of care between patients and even between organ systems in a single patient, and a breadth and depth of expertise and technical skills in dealing with the initial presentation of a variety of common acute illnesses are intrinsic to emergency medicine. It is true that emergency physicians and other physicians overlap at times with regard to each of these characteristics. However, as a whole, these facets define a constellation of special expertise. The key to the specialty of emergency medicine is the ability to successfully manage the acute deterioration and pathophysiology of any life or limb threat. There are many technical skills pertinent to this management which are often shared with other disciplines, but the judgment required to manage this acute deterioration, in fact, defines the specialty of emergency medicine.