Emergency Medicine Physician = Primary Care Physician?

[Polo423]

I was asked about exposure to a primary care physician, yet my volunteering and exposure took place in an urgent care in a clinic with emergency medicine physicians. would this qualify as exposure with a primary care physician?

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[Movado1]

A PCP is more along the lines of family prac, pediatrics, internal medicine. Don't think EM qualifies.

 

[illegallysmooth]

Primary care is about long term coordination of medical care. In old school terms, think "GP" "general practitioner" "family doc," etc. The doc you see when you're sick and when you're healthy. The doc whose name you know. The doc who makes sure everything is working, and refers to a specialist when a complicated problem arises. Internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics and sometimes OB/GYN and Psych count as primary care.

Emergency medicine is about someone walking into the ED, and then determining if they are sick or not. Sick ones need to be stabilized and handed off to an admitting physician. Everyone else gets sent home, and usually told to follow up with a primary care physician.

See the difference? They are, theoretically, complete opposites. However, with EMTALA and Medicaid, I can't say that's true.

 

[Captain Crunk]

No

 

[LuciusVorenus]

Primary care is about long term coordination of medical care. In old school terms, think "GP" "general practitioner" "family doc," etc. The doc you see when you're sick and when you're healthy. The doc whose name you know. The doc who makes sure everything is working, and refers to a specialist when a complicated problem arises. Internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics and sometimes OB/GYN and Psych count as primary care.

Emergency medicine is about someone walking into the ED, and then determining if they are sick or not. Sick ones need to be stabilized and handed off to an admitting physician. Everyone else gets sent home, and usually told to follow up with a primary care physician.

See the difference? They are, theoretically, complete opposites. However, with EMTALA and Medicaid, I can't say that's true.

Could you also say that EM doesn't qualify because it's much more procedure based than primary care?

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Could you also say that EM doesn't qualify because it's much more procedure based than primary care?

A lot of people tend to refer to EM as primary care on steroids.

 

[illegallysmooth]

Could you also say that EM doesn't qualify because it's much more procedure based than primary care?

No. Think about the phrase: PRIMARY care. It means that the physician's role is as a PRIMARY care provider, he/she is the patient's PRIMARY physician. The definition of primary care has nothing to do with numbers of procedures. In general, I would agree that primary care docs perform fewer procedures than non-primary care docs, but keep in mind that family practice docs can do OB/GYN, minor in-office surgery, and serve as urgent care providers in some facilities. As far as procedures go, it's a better idea to look at individual specialties and physician roles if you want to characterize it correctly.

In addition remember that while EM docs do plenty of procedures, many patients walking through the door have medical illnesses that are not corrected by a cast or a tube inserted somewhere.

 

[EpicBearMan]

Emergency medicine isn't primary care, but plenty of people seem to go to the ED in lieu of a PCP.

 

[illegallysmooth]

Emergency medicine isn't primary care, but plenty of people seem to go to the ED in lieu of a PCP.

Right - see the above comment on EMTALA and Medicaid

 

[LuciusVorenus]

No. Think about the phrase: PRIMARY care. It means that the physician's role is as a PRIMARY care provider, he/she is the patient's PRIMARY physician. The definition of primary care has nothing to do with numbers of procedures. In general, I would agree that primary care docs perform fewer procedures than non-primary care docs, but keep in mind that family practice docs can do OB/GYN, minor in-office surgery, and serve as urgent care providers in some facilities. As far as procedures go, it's a better idea to look at individual specialties and physician roles if you want to characterize it correctly.

In addition remember that while EM docs do plenty of procedures, many patients walking through the door have medical illnesses that are not corrected by a cast or a tube inserted somewhere.

Ah I see. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[empty p orbital]

In theory emergency medicine is a specialty just like any other. ER docs are highly trained to be able to recognize and then stabilize acute conditions requiring immediate or urgent medical intervention. Knowing all those protocols like the back of your hand and being skilled at making quick decisions in real time are skills that take an entire EM residency to master.

Primary care physicians, on the other hand, are "specialized" at managing the long-term care of patients in both sickness and health. They can, for example, track the effectiveness of a blood pressure medication over the years of an older man's life and adjust the dosage from time to time as necessary. Knowing how to do that efficiently is a skill that most ER docs probably aren't best suited for since they deal with acute and not chronic conditions.

 

[ArcGurren]

EM is a specialty field. It is not primary care in any way shape or form. They provide by definition *emergency* care to people coming into the ER, there's very little continuity.