Emergency medicine is unique in that, in general, the public sees us very differently than other physicians.
What Family/Friends Say
Wow, you work in the ER? You must love excitement. How do you handle all the stress? I bet you’ve seen some crazy things. Do you see a lot of car wrecks and shootings? Are you just exhausted? You must really know a lot to be able to take care of whatever walks through the door.
Respect Level: High, right there with surgeons.
What Non-Emergency Physicians Say
Freaking ER, another inappropriate consult. These guys drive me crazy with their laziness and their cookbook defensive medicine. Did you even examine the patient? Do you ever even think, or do you just scan everyone? You guys are a bunch of hacks, basically glorified triage nurses. I can’t believe you know so much less about my speciality than me.
Respect Level: Slumming it with the family docs and psychiatrists.
November 19, 2007 at 7:07 am
With some docs it’s even worse than scorn, but active contempt and antipathy: an assumption that the ER doc is an idiot (since I know less about his organ than the specialist does) and mis-directed anger at me for the stuff that walks in the door.
Frankly, I’d rather have the respect of the general public. I think they’re more on target on this one.
November 19, 2007 at 2:23 pm
I’d prefer the public thought we/you were all idiots so they’d go to their smart primary care physicians or specialists except in, you know, emergencies. It can be our little secret that we’re really not idiots, K? K.
basically glorified triage nurses
Hey now…
November 19, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Had a lady today who came in from the NH with afib/rvr and obvious right sided heart failure.
her PCP didn’t come to the hospital, so after the appropriate workup and initiation of the cardizem gtt, called cardiology hoping they’d admit.
BUT NO! from the cardiologist: “WHY CAN’T MEDICINE ADMIT? I’d be happy to consult, but I won’t admit this patient because I don’t want to manage her other co-morbidities”
talk about inappropriate. we try to do what’s best for the patient, like getting a specialist to manage a specialty problem, but then get it shoved in our faces that it’s inappropriate.
November 19, 2007 at 5:54 pm
So true, we get no respect from any other specialty. But guess who gets called when medicine can’t intubate their patient or OB doesn’t know how to code their SOB s/p C-section?!
November 20, 2007 at 4:47 am
Came across your site and enjoyed. I am a middle aged F.P., and my Dad was a country Doc. I have all respect for E.R. Docs because I remember small town life before they came along, and what the change meant to my Dad. Before full time ER coverage, he had to go to the E.R. whenever someone showed up. If you fell asleep and left your phone was off the hook, the operator would send the sheriff out to the house to fetch you.
It might sound like Mayberry, but I thought it was going to do him in. Nowadays I always tell me E.R buddies I don’t know exactly how many lives they’ve saved today, but at least they saved mine!
Visit me at drtombibey.wordpress.com. As far as I know it is the world’s first physician bluegrass fiction writer’s weblog in the history of the world.
Best wishes,
Dr. B
February 16, 2008 at 11:16 am
Try being an answering service operator, cry me a river people *wink*
April 3, 2008 at 1:50 am
No doubt, Lumpy!! I will never forget being yelled at by a patient’s father for not being able to call the physician @ 2200 for an Rx for head lice shampoo (so Medicaid would pay) on a Friday night for a case of head lice that had been going on for 3 months… or a physician yelling at me because he couldn’t figure out how his pager worked… or a young mother asking if it really was okay to bother the doctor even though her baby had been “kinda blue” and not eating well… or having one doc on one line yelling at me and another on a different line calmly speaking with the most profanity I’ve ever heard from a professional…
Being an answering service operator, unit secretary, etc., takes a lot of skill, patience, and charm… kudos to you
April 8, 2008 at 11:20 pm
That is hilarious.
September 17, 2008 at 6:52 am
i don’t care about respect from the other specialites, i think it’s all a sham and truly pathetic and each one of the specialities hide in their 6×7 box that they control and congratulate themselves like idiots that they have achieved mastery and conquered their 6×7 box, and thus thinking that everyone are idiots because it makes them feel so smart. Geeks! happy in their false sense of security. ther real reason they have “no respect” for ER physicians is to hide the fear and incompetence and also to hide their laziness. they just do not want to see or admit patients! Simple. While the phiposophy of ER docs is to save as many lives as possible and fix as many people as possible in one day, the other specialties aim to exist in their little boxes and never have any perspective.
in my opinions, ER physicians are courageous,smart, cool, capable of broad lateral thinking and really make a difference to people’s lives.