Emergency medicine is not a primary care specialty. The two fields can easily be described with opposite characteristics. Emergency medicine is short term care reactive to an acute injury or illness. Primary care, particularly family medicine, offers ongoing, long term care. Ideally, primary care is proactive and preventative; primary care providers also help manage a patient’s chronic conditions and coordinate care among specialists, if necessary.
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Effective primary care has the potential to keep many people from needing emergency care at all. However, in practice, we know this isn’t always the case. Just as emergency medicine physicians and advanced practice providers will treat individuals who can’t or won’t visit a PCP to manage chronic conditions and routine illnesses, primary care practitioners will see emergencies in their practice. Identifying and quickly making informed decisions about not-so-obvious emergencies requires up-to-date knowledge of common yet potentially life-threatening conditions.
Emergency medicine CME designed for primary care physicians, NPs and PAs can help you effectively treat patients experiencing a medical emergency, even if the patient doesn’t realize it. Primary care providers see a wide range of patients with incredibly diverse symptoms and circumstances; maintaining and updating your knowledge of emergency medicine is essential.
When choosing your CME, look for topics related to the types of emergencies your patients are likely to experience. Common topics include:
Head trauma and headaches
Neck and back pain
Mental health emergencies, including suicidal thoughts and eating disorders
Breathing difficulties, such as asthma attacks and COPD exacerbations
Hypertension crises
Sexually transmitted infections
Fevers, infections and wounds