Do You Think Family Practice Is The Best Choice...?

[16846]

I am interested in working as an attending in the "Fast Track" area of an emergency room/Urgent Care center, and wanted some input from the various individuals here on which residency/specialty would be the best choice to proceed towards this goal.

I was thinking that an EM specialty would be the best course of action, but I was told that if I only want to work "Fast Track"/Urgent Care center then I would be better off doing a FP or even an IM residency and then possibly doing a fellowship in a field related to emergency medicine. Is this a good advice?

Furthermore, I have heard that many hospitals ER's, "Fast Track" area or not, are gravitating toward an EM only trained staff. Is this indeed the future of EM in the United States? or will there still be a place for FP & IM trained physicians as attendings in America's Emergency Departments?

For anyone who has never heard of or is wondering what a "Fast Track"/Urgent Care center is, its the area of the ER/Center that deals with injuries/illness that can typically be discharged inside of one shift and the patient usually doesn't need to be admitted or have lengthy/significantly invasive diagnostic procedures done (Think simple fractures, small foreign body removal, small lacs, non-complex infections, etc...)

Any information that can be provided regarding this topic or my queries is greatly appreciated.

Mike

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[deleted6669]

if all you want to do is fast track then fp is the way to go. IM doesn't give you enough peds or obgyn experience to do well in this area.we have IM docs rotate through our dept and they can only see folks with classical medical complaints like dyspnea or chest pain. whenever a kid/obgyn/trauma case comes up they say it is not within their scope of training... the truth of the matter though is that the trend is for fast track and urgent care areas of the E.D. to be staffed by pa's and np's predominately, perhaps with an fp doc or 2 as well in a group of 8-10 midlevel providers