Will “Disaster Medicine Physician” be Automated?

Core Skills & Abilities

• Collect and record patient information, such as medical history or examination results, in electronic or handwritten medical records.

• Perform such medical procedures as emergent cricothyrotomy, endotracheal intubation, and emergency thoracotomy.

• Communicate likely outcomes of medical diseases or traumatic conditions to patients or their representatives.

• Monitor patients' conditions, and reevaluate treatments, as necessary.

• Stabilize patients in critical condition.

• Conduct primary patient assessments that include information from prior medical care.

• Evaluate patients' vital signs or laboratory data to determine emergency intervention needs and priority of treatment.

• Discuss patients' treatment plans with physicians and other medical professionals.

• Refer patients to specialists or other practitioners.

• Select and prescribe medications to address patient needs.

• Direct and coordinate activities of nurses, assistants, specialists, residents, and other medical staff.

• Assess patients' pain levels or sedation requirements.

• Identify factors that may affect patient management, such as age, gender, barriers to communication, and underlying disease.

• Perform emergency resuscitations on patients.

• Analyze records, examination information, or test results to diagnose medical conditions.

• Consult with hospitalists and other professionals, such as social workers, regarding patients' hospital admission, continued observation, transition of care, or discharge.

• Select, request, perform, or interpret diagnostic procedures, such as laboratory tests, electrocardiograms, emergency ultrasounds, and radiographs.