Emergency medicine focuses on the immediate decision making and action necessary to prevent death or further disability. Emergency physicians provide immediate recognition, evaluation, care, stabilization, and disposition of a generally diversified population of adult and pediatric patients in response to acute illness and injury.
A high-pressure, fast-paced and diverse specialty, emergency medicine requires a broad base of medical knowledge and a variety of well-honed clinical and technical skills. IU School of Medicine faculty practice and teach primarily in the emergency departments of nine facilities and have extensive pre-hospital emergency medicine services responsibilities. The care provided by the emergency physicians is episodic in nature and involves a full spectrum of physical and behavioral conditions.
