Emergency Room Physician Assistant

During a busy shift full of needy and demanding patients, an Emergency Room Doctor might dream of having a clone. With the help of a clone, the Doctor could see twice as many patients and still be home in time for dinner. That’s where an Emergency Room Physician Assistant comes in. When you’re an Emergency Room Physician Assistant, you’re not exactly a clone, but you’re a medical professional capable of taking a significant amount of workload off the Doctor’s hands.

Each hospital has its own rules about what an Emergency Room Physician Assistant can and cannot do. Some hospitals allow you to do almost everything the Doctor does, as long as you check with the Doctor from time to time. However, other hospitals restrict your ability to prescribe certain medications or do certain surgeries, no matter how much supervision you have.

When patients enter the hospital, you’re asked to provide a short examination. Some patients need your help in order to breathe or stop bleeding. Others need advanced testing before you can determine what treatment steps to take.

During a day, you might remove bullets, repair cuts, deliver babies, provide asthma medications, or take coins out of children’s nostrils. Each day is slightly different, and most shifts move incredibly quickly.

Keeping notes about each patient is important, as the Doctor reviews your notes periodically and provides feedback about things you could have done differently. This Doctor functions as a boss and a mentor, and you use the feedback to help you learn and improve. If cases are incredibly complicated, you don’t wait for them to review your notes. Instead, you call them directly and ask them to step in.