If we are being completely honest the career I had in mind at the beginning of the year was not exactly an emergency physician, it was actually a nuclear and radiological engineer. While yes engineering more closely matches my personality type and newly sparked interest, the title of emergency physician still very much intrigued me. Even though I am still torn between the two I have chosen the Emergency Physician career to further explore in depth. Growing up I always thought I would later pursue a career in the medical field whether it be a pediatrician to even a cardiovascular surgeon. But as the years progressed in high school I realized two things. One being if I were to become a pediatrician I would be dealing with infants and young
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Their primary job is to “resuscitate or stabilize patients and get them into the proper emergency departments” (“Emergency Physician: Job Description”). Because of this there are no set specific job tasks, as an individual in this career you are expected to be prepared for anything whether it be treating minor stomach aches to treating a person that has a traumatic injury where it is either life or death for them. In most hospital work settings, especially in the emergency department, emergency physicians are expected to work eight to twelve hour shifts three to seven days per week (Emergency Medicine). But since the emergency department is dependent on the number of patients they see that work schedule can vary so there is truly no “regular schedule”- (“Our Everyday Life”) for an emergency physician. Along with the “irregular” work hours, the work that you will be dealing with requires endurance, mental acuity, and the ability to maintain a clear head in stressful situations (Emergency Medicine). As of 2016 the median salary of an emergency physician is $264,949. But as an entry level physician, according to salary.com you can have a starting salary of $225,805 but as the years progress and you gain more experience in your field a person can make up to $310,341 per year. Before any of this is accomplished an individual needs to have gone to a four-year undergraduate college and obtain a bachelor’s degree in biology, chemistry, anatomy, or even physics. From there that person would need to take the MCAT, get into medical school, and later complete a three to four-year residency at a hospital. By the time you are finished with medical school you are expected to be UMLE certified or else you will not be able to practice at all. There are no minimum qualifications in this field, you either have the qualifications listed above or you are not able to practice medicine at
Their primary job is to “resuscitate or stabilize patients and get them into the proper emergency departments” (“Emergency Physician: Job Description”). Because of this there are no set specific job tasks, as an individual in this career you are expected to be prepared for anything whether it be treating minor stomach aches to treating a person that has a traumatic injury where it is either life or death for them. In most hospital work settings, especially in the emergency department, emergency physicians are expected to work eight to twelve hour shifts three to seven days per week (Emergency Medicine). But since the emergency department is dependent on the number of patients they see that work schedule can vary so there is truly no “regular schedule”- (“Our Everyday Life”) for an emergency physician. Along with the “irregular” work hours, the work that you will be dealing with requires endurance, mental acuity, and the ability to maintain a clear head in stressful situations (Emergency Medicine). As of 2016 the median salary of an emergency physician is $264,949. But as an entry level physician, according to salary.com you can have a starting salary of $225,805 but as the years progress and you gain more experience in your field a person can make up to $310,341 per year. Before any of this is accomplished an individual needs to have gone to a four-year undergraduate college and obtain a bachelor’s degree in biology, chemistry, anatomy, or even physics. From there that person would need to take the MCAT, get into medical school, and later complete a three to four-year residency at a hospital. By the time you are finished with medical school you are expected to be UMLE certified or else you will not be able to practice at all. There are no minimum qualifications in this field, you either have the qualifications listed above or you are not able to practice medicine at