Scope of practice...

[bionicokie]

I was curious about a FP's scope of practice. I know that the program I am interested in will let you moonlight in ER. I would be interested in working ER but I don't want to do an ER residency because as I understand it, ER docs can't practice family medicine. On the flip side, I understand a family med doc can do ER. Am I right? Anyone else have a different take on this?

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[hsak]

Hi,
I am a second year FP resident, and one of the things that drew me to Family Practice is the wide variety of options after you graduate. It is true that an FP can work in a ER but a ER doc can't be an FP. We have a resident that finished an ER residency 15 years ago and has been working. And then decided to go into FP, and was told that she would have to do an FP residency. A lot of my friends that have graduated work in a ER for 1-2 years to make some money and then go into practice.

 

[bionicokie]

Thanks for the reply. Options are definitely what I'm looking for. I'm glad you verified what I had heard. I have a friend that can't decide between FP and ER. Maybe this will help her out a little.

 

[Newdoc2002]

Keep in mind that FP's are becoming more limited to smaller town ED's as hospitals and insurance companies are starting to require board certification and residency training in EM. This holds true for the higher level trauma centers. Many of the FP's you find working in the bigger centers are grandfathered in by an alternate board certification in EM for FP's. It is my understanding that this route is now closed to new FP graduates. I still think you will find many opps for FP's in EM. Remember that EM's historically have had a high burn-out rate. Good Luck!

 

[DrQuinn]

The burn out rate for EM will continue to drop as it has in the past. The big reason for the burn out rate in the 80s and 90s was that no one was residency trained. People did EM because they liked it, but they were not trained for it formally.

Now with the blossoming of many EM residencies, people go into EM because they like it, but know what to expect from the beginning and are trained for every aspect of it. You get people staying in the EM field much much longer now...

With the boom of EM residencies, and with hospitals/insurance companies requiring board certification in EM, slowly the EDs will be filled with only residency trained EM physicians. But like the above poster said, the real small rural EDs may not attracted the EDs (although I think eventually they all will be filled by EM trained docs).

Right now the outlook is good though for FP trained attendings to work in low volume community EDs. How long this will last is anyone's guess. Mine is 10-15 yrs.

 

[bionicokie]

Thanks for the feedback. All of the answers work well for me. When I finish my FP residency I was hoping to work part time in a rural ED for a couple of years. Thanks again...