The match just occurred and the new physicians are fleeing the field of Emergency Medicine. For the uninitiated, the match is where new physicians who have just completed medical school are matched with the specialty and the hospital the Want to go into. Emergency medicine is typically a very competitive specialty and only the best and the brightest physicians can get a good residency. Resident is the grueling 3-4 years a physician spends in hands on training for their given specialty. Competitive residencies in EM are typically heavy in trauma and treating patients who have severe or unique pathology.
This year there are 216 unmatched emergency medicine residences. 216 programs that failed to get applicants. In a given year there are usually less than 10 positions unfilled. It is clear from these stunning results that future physicians have watched what the current EM physicians went through ( lack of PPE, salaries cut, violence in the ER) and are deciding not to pursue Emergency Medicine.
What this means for the lay person is that they will see less qualified people in the ER in the future. Patients will be forced to see non physician practitioners (NP’s and PA’s) while being charged the same. The ER docs that are coming into the field May have gotten there, not because they wanted to be an ER doc, but because it was the only job available.
One of my emergency rooms had 16 of us covering 36 positions. Nobody lasted over a year. When one of us was injured or broke down or attempted suicide, it became 15 covering 36 positions and increased the risk to us and patients. That is not a field where you can understaff without consequences coming hard and fast.
This is horrifying.
Patients will be forced to see non physician practitioners (NP’s and PA’s) while being charged the same.
Sounds like profits :so-true:
Fuck me.
Holy shit
