Hi,
Is an ICU and an ER the same thing?
Do physicians/MD's preform life saving activities? (AED etc...)
Lets say i owned a School Of Medicine which had a hospital, would that hospital be used to treat real life threatening patients (Cardiac Arrest etc...) and also have an EMT/Ambulance service?
What are the typical hospital departments?
Thanks,
Latchy
Ok, I'll be kind.
As you've already learned, the ER and ICU are not the same thing. The ER is where patients who have, or think they have an emergent medical condition can walk in and be seen by a physician specifically trained to manage emergent conditions.
Its also where ambulances bring patients... And some ERs are specialized, and some hospitals have specialized services and so, ambulances will bring the patient to an appropriate hospital. Examples are in cases of Trauma, Stroke, Psychiatric emergency, Pediatrics...
Its also where a private physician can send a patient if the private doc thinks that the patient is experiencing an emergent medical condition.
The ICU is where a patient is admitted when a physician (in the ER, OR, or on the medical/surgical floor) decides that said patient needs some combination of - highly trained 1:1 nursing, constant or invasive monitoring, medication which is complicated to administer, life-support... etc.
Yes, physicians provide life-saving measures. This varies depending on the specialty of the physician. Emergency Physicians do those glamorous things you see on ER. But an OB/Gyn can safe the life of a patient or two by performing a C-section. A dermatologist might argue that they saved the life of a patient by removing skin cancer. Physicians do not use AEDs - the AED computer analyzes the heart rhythm and delivers a pre-set level of electricity. Physicians and Paramedics use manual defibrillators where they analyze the heart rhythm themselves, and then determine the amount of electricity to deliver.
Forget about owning a med school for a minute. If you owned a hospital, the hospital would likely have an emergency department. In some places (NYC for example) not all hospitals have an ER. And in this time of economic downturn, many hospitals which had an ER are shutting them down. ER's can not turn anyone away, regardless of their ability to pay for the service, or for the legitamacy of their medical complaint. And so, ERs burn more money in providing the service than they gain from the patients they serve. OK enough about that. As far as operating an ambulance from the hospital. You could, but again this depends on location. In many places the ambulances are operated by the municipal Fire Department or Emergency Medical Service, and do not operate out of hospitals.
Hospital Departments... as SMQ said, there are hospital departments, and there are hospital services. In general, the larger the hospital, the more departments and services. Departments are usually physical locations - ER, ICU, OR, L&D, med-surg floor, Peds. Services are usually the clincial teams that are available in the hospital... Surgery, Medicine... interventional cardiology, neurosurgery... Of course, these terms are vague and interchangable. Google any large hospital, and on the front page you'll usually find a link to the available services. Heres one.
http://www.massgeneral.org/services/default.aspx Third link on the top
Centers and Services... vaguely translates to Departments and Services. Oh, and this isnt your typical hospital.
