The Death of Emergency Medicine?
I make reference to this recent article posted in the BMJ: https://www.bmj.com/content/390/bmj.r2051
It's written by an Emergency Physician, and it talks about the shifting culture, away from clinical judgement and towards defensive practice and extensive documentation.
He says that this is "because of fear rather than curiosity", and adds that they're "all terrified—of missing something rare, of complaints", and as such "they end up immobilised".
He concludes with this:
"The deeper solution may be a genuine culture shift....the system must value the time it takes to give patients explanations. Ordering a test can be done in seconds but talking through uncertainty takes much longer. The system must recognise that those minutes are what make medicine safer... It’s about replacing “what if” with clinical courage."
Share your thoughts on this below!