Emergency medicine
emergency medicine, health emergencies, emergeniology, emergentology or emergency medicine is the specialty of medicine that acts on a medical emergency or medical urgency or on any illness in its acute moment, defined as an injury or illness that poses a immediate threat to a person's life and whose assistance cannot be delayed. Absence of medical care may result in serious jeopardy to the patient's health, serious impairment to bodily functions, and serious dysfunction of any bodily organ or part.
Any response to a medical emergency will depend heavily on the situation, the patient, and the availability of resources to assist them. It will also vary depending on whether the emergency occurs inside a hospital under medical care, or outside a hospital (for example on the street), in this case we are talking about prehospital medicine.
Hospitals have services called emergency or urgency. These services are led by a doctor specializing in Emergency Medicine or Emergencies, who have the capacity to guide both academically and healthcare-wise the entire healthcare group in charge of dealing with any emergency. The specialty worldwide has been growing on all continents, having a strong impact on the comprehensive care of acute and critical patients. There are associations on all continents that promote the growth of the specialty and grouped worldwide by the International Federation for Emergency Medicine.
Answer
For out-of-hospital emergencies, a key component is summoning pre-hospital medical services (generally an ambulance that can be land, air or naval), asking for help by calling the appropriate emergency telephone number. For the member states of the European Union, 112 and in other countries various numbers such as 911 in the American continent. Emergency operators generally work through a protocol of questions to determine if you can receive outpatient treatment or assess whether it is necessary to send a certain medical resource to your aid.
Those trained to perform first aid can act within the limits of their knowledge, while waiting for the next level of assistance. People who cannot perform first aid can also help by staying calm and being with the injured or sick person. A common complaint from EMS personnel is the propensity for people to crowd around the victim and the scene of the accident, which is often unhelpful, stresses the patient (which can be very damaging), and obstructs the smooth operation of emergency services.
The principles of the chain of life are applied in medical emergencies where the patient has no breathing or no heartbeat. This involves the early access stages of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), defibrillation, and advanced life support.
Casualty mobilization and evacuation requires special knowledge and skills, and unless the situation is particularly dangerous, and further harm is likely to occur to the patient, it should be left to emergency medical professionals, both physicians and nurses, as medical transport technicians, as well as the fire service.
Clinical response
Adequate staff are generally present within a hospital to deal with a medium emergency situation. ER and ER physicians and nurses are trained to handle most medical emergencies and maintain certifications in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced life support (ALS). In catastrophes, most hospitals have protocols for quickly summoning on-duty and off-duty staff.
Out-of-hospital emergencies seek immobilization and stabilization of the patient (using the means at their disposal) in order to quickly transfer them to a useful hospital center. Emergency rooms follow the basic protocol of advanced life support. Regardless of the nature of the emergency, vital signs, breathing, and pulse are required to be maintained.
National Emergency Medicine Organizations or Scientific Societies
Peru
The Peruvian Society of Emergency and Disaster Medicine (SPEMED) was created in the 80s, when the country was going through terrorist attacks and natural disasters with multiple injuries. In 1992, the specialty of Emergency and Disaster Medicine was created. The program has been spreading in the country and currently there are 10 regions of the country that have the program. In 2018 the Ondas de Latinoamerica association created an agreement to carry out the first Fellowship program "Emergency Ultrasound" in Peru under the supervision of subspecialties of the Highland Hospital, year from which the training of Fellows has continued.
Argentina
In the Argentine Republic, the Sociedad Argentina de Emergencias is the main emergency medicine organization. There are several emergency medicine residency programs. It is also possible to achieve the certification of specialist in emergency medicine by accrediting a number of years of assistive medicine and attending a postgraduate university course.
Chile
In Chile, Urgency and Emergency Medicine began its journey with the first specialty program in the early 1990s, at the University of Chile. It is currently a primary specialty legally recognized by the Ministry of Health since 2013, and has multiple specialist training programs, highlighting those of the University of Chile, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Clínica Alemana - Universidad del Desarrollo [1], San Sebastián University - MUE and University of Santiago de Chile (USACH). Currently, and with the aim of strengthening the specialty at the country level, initiatives have emerged such as #ChileEM that brings together the programs of the San Sebastián University / MUE and the University of Chile, with the aim of holding joint clinical meetings between the main training programs, periodically and open to the entire health team that works in the field of urgency. The specialists already trained are grouped in the Chilean Society of Emergency Medicine (SOCHIMU).
Columbia
Emergency Medicine in Colombia began in 1989 at the hands of Dr. Hernando Vélez, an associate professor at the University of Antioquia, who suggested the creation of a medical school for emergency medicine, however, due to poor reception from these ideas at that time, it was not possible to materialize said project until 1996 when the first Emergency Medicine program was born in Colombia by the CES University in the city of Medellín. Programs are progressively developed in the main cities of the country: 3 programs in Bogotá (Universidad del Rosario, FUCS University, Javeriana University), 2 programs in Cali (Javeriana University Cali headquarters and ICESI University) and 1 in the city of Manizales (Caldas University). Coverage has been progressively achieved in the main attention centers nationwide, being present in Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Pereira, Ibagué, Manizales, Neiva, Tunja, Villavicencio and among other cities. In 2004, the Colombian Association of Specialists in Emergency and Emergency Medicine (ACEM) was founded, it is the group of specialists in the country, and as a society it is a member of IFEM (International Federation of Emergency Medicine) and ALACED (Association Latin American Cooperation in Medical Emergency and Disasters).
Costa Rica
Starting thanks to the HOPE project, Emergency Medicine in Costa Rica is a growing specialty that little by little is positioning itself strongly in the different health centers around the country. The national residency program is carried out through the Center for Strategic Development and Information on Health and Social Security of Costa Rica. The most important entity in this regard is the Costa Rican Association of Emergency Physicians (ASOCOME), in charge of a large number of academic activities aimed at optimizing health care.
Emergency Medicine in Costa Rica is also characterized by great participation on the web and social networks through the effort of ASOCOME; some examples include:
- Emergency Medicine
- Intensive Medicine and Emergencies
- Emergencies and Radiology of Costa Rica
Spain
In Spain the main organization is the Spanish Society of Emergency and Emergency Medicine. And also the SAMUR
Venezuelan
In Venezuela, the SVMED (Venezuelan Society of Emergency and Disaster Medicine) is the organization that brings together emergency medical specialists.
There is also the FVP (Venezuelan Federation of Paramedics) in which graduates of the Higher University Technicians (TSU) and/or Graduates in Prehospital Emergencies (EPh) are associated, the paramedics are responsible for giving and applying care prehospital medical together with emergency doctors and / or emergency doctors.
El Salvador
In El Salvador, the Salvadoran Emergency Association (ASAE) was recently founded, becoming a union group that includes doctors, nurses, psychologists, respiratory therapists, physiotherapists, firefighters, paramedics, lifeguards and other professionals related to care necessary.
Panama
In Panama, the Academic Association of Emergency Physicians of Panama (ASAMUP) was founded in 1995, made up of general practitioners and specialists who were exclusively dedicated to medical emergency care, then the Panamanian Association of Emergency Medicine (ASPAME), who bring together all the specialists in emergency medicine in the country, the specialty was created in 1999 within the residency program of the Social Security Fund, with a duration of 4 years. The specialty was approved by the Ministry of Health on May 25, 1998, even before the specialty was created, since there were three specialists graduated from Mexico and Costa Rica in the country.
Currently, the specialty is the fundamental pillar of hospitals of 3.er and 2. º Level of Complexity with a total of 25 specialists. Many of the headquarters of the emergency services are directed by specialists in emergency medicine due to a clear understanding of the administrative, legal and operational needs for the proper functioning of the system and the correct response for the patient. The main emergency referral hospitals in the country are the state hospitals, the most modern, equipped and specialized being the Santo Tomás Hospital and the Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid Metropolitan Hospital Complex.
Ecuador
The first Emergency Medicine program in the country was approved in 1989 and since 1993 there have been specialists in Emergency and Disaster Medicine; University training programs in this specialty are run by the Central University of Quito, San Francisco de Quito University, and the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. In 1987 the Ecuadorian Society of Emergency Medicine (SEMED) was founded and in 2008 the organization E.L.I.T.E. Physician that is made up of emergency physicians for teaching and research purposes in the field of Emergency and Disaster Medicine.
The national need for Emergency Surgeons is high and the government has prioritized the preparation of this human resource during its administration. Over the last 30 years, the specialty has gained recognition and currently a large part of the country's hospitals, both private and public, have this technical resource and a large percentage of Emergency Services are managed by specialists in these areas.
Mexico
The Mexican Society of Emergency Medicine, A. C. Which is a full member of the International Federation For Emergency Medicine. This Society holds annual congresses with workshops, conferences and poster contests. It also projects monthly sessions through its social networks and with direct links for active members of society.
Continuing education in urgent and emergency medicine
In parallel to the formal medical education programs (specialties, courses, master's degrees, diplomas and others), the FOAMed (Free Open Access in Medical Education) movement (in Spanish, "free and free access medical education& #34;) has great momentum and has been led by emergency specialists across the globe.[citation needed]
In Chile and Latin America, the MUE team, with more than 80,000 followers, has excelled both in the creation of paid online courses, as well as in the creation and distribution of FOMAed material in Spanish.