Emergency Room Medical Officer
ACCOUNTABLE TO: Director of Emergency Medical Services Administration of the Hospital The Patients
SPECIAL FUNCTIONS: Performing resuscitation and other life-saving procedures.
REQUIREMENTS
- Bachelor’s degree in Medicine from an accredited institution.
- At least 2 years’ experience as an Emergency Room doctor.
- A license to practice medicine.
- In-depth knowledge of current medical treatments and procedures.
- Up-to-date certification in Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS)
- Great attention to detail with excellent analytical skills.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal abilities.
- Ability to think and act quickly in a stressful environment.
The following are list of duties that the doctors are expected to carry out:
NON-EMERGENT PATIENTS
- Interview and examine patients to generate a differential diagnosis list
- Review previous notes as available
- Order appropriate investigations
- Interpret the results of these investigations
- Initiate initial management of patients
- Make further decisions regarding the patient management, i.e. admission, transfer, or treatment as an out-patient
- Refer patients to the appropriate specialty team or transfer patients in a timely manner as necessary
- If the patient is to be treated as an out-patient the ER doctor must decide on the appropriate medication and the appropriate place for follow-up if necessary
- Perform minor procedures
- Generate referral letters for any patient being sent to a clinic to be reviewed
EMERGENT PATIENTS
Decisions made in the management of these patients usually make the difference between life and death. The ER Doctor must therefore:
- Assess patients that enter the emergency room immediately and oversee emergency patient’s recovery
- Make the decisions to and perform the initial ABC’s of resuscitation
- Institute appropriate means of hemostasis where necessary
- Make decisions regarding the use of electrical therapy in the treatment of a cardiac arrest and carry out this function as necessary
- Decide when to and perform life-saving procedures (listed below)
- Inform the appropriate specialist service and maintain hemodynamic stability until they arrive, or patient is transferred
- Other actions/procedures as directed by the Director of Emergency Medical Services
PROCEDURES TO BE PERFORMED BY THE ER DOCTOR
- Insertion of intravenous cannula
- Taking of blood
- Suturing of lacerations
- Applying plaster splint
- Reduction of dislocated joints
- Reduction of simple fractures
- Emergency intubation
- Defibrillation
- Relief of tension pneumothorax and insertion of thoracostomy tubes
- Pericardiocentesis
- Cricothyroidotomy
- Catheterization
- Emergency deliveries
- Incision and drainage of simple abscesses
- Perform and interpret arterial blood gases
- Wound debridement
- Removal of foreign bodies
- ECG interpretation
- Other actions/procedures as directed by the Director of Emergency Medical Services
ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES
- Make recommendations to the head of department regarding improved efficiency of the service
- Assist in maintaining quality of care
- Be a link between the customer (the patient) and the department head, providing the necessary feedback information on customer satisfaction, queries, and recommendations
TEACHING AND RESEARCH
- Preparation and presentation at academic meetings assigned for continuing education in the department
- Providing adequate patient records
- Collecting and analyzing data for writing and publishing research papers
ADDITIONAL DUTIES
- As assigned by Director of Emergency Medical Services