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EMERGENCY
MEDICINE

THE FUTURE
OF
EMERGENCY
MEDICINE

By Mike W. Thomas

If someone walks into an emergency room and collapses, their At the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
survival may depend on how rapidly doctors can diagnose their con- a new program is underway to train medical interns to become
dition and effect the right treatment. emergency care physicians. Dr. Bruce Adams, professor and chair
of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Health Science
Did they have a heart attack? Then they need a certain kind of Center, said the new Emergency Medicine Residency Program is
treatment before being sent to a cardiologist. dedicated to providing an excellent educational environment which
will prepare graduates to successfully complete the American Board
Did they suffer a stroke? Then they may need a different kind of of Emergency Medicine certification exam and help them enter the
treatment and should be sent to a neurologist. career pathway of their choice.

Or maybe they collapsed due to blood loss from a gunshot wound “We are still just at the beginning of a period of exciting change
or any number of other medical conditions. and tremendous growth for emergency medicine here in South
Texas,” Adams said. “In just three years we transitioned from a clin-
Emergency medicine is all about the acute care that is delivered ical division to a full academic department recognition by the Uni-
in those first few minutes of medical trauma and the decisions the
doctors make in those moments can make a critical difference in the
outcome of a patient’s condition.

18 San Antonio Medicine • March 2016