Emergency Medicine Physicians
Make immediate medical decisions and act to prevent death or further disability. Provide immediate recognition, evaluation, care, stabilization, and disposition of patients. May direct emergency medical staff in an emergency department.
- Median pay
- $335,550
- Doing it now
- 34,900
- By 2035
- Up 3.2%
- Usually needs
- Doctoral or professional degree
a year
across the country
900 openings a year
to get in
What the work involves
- Analyze records, examination information, or test results to diagnose medical conditions.
- Assess patients' pain levels or sedation requirements.
- Collect and record patient information, such as medical history or examination results, in electronic or handwritten medical records.
- Communicate likely outcomes of medical diseases or traumatic conditions to patients or their representatives.
- Conduct primary patient assessments that include information from prior medical care.
- Consult with hospitalists and other professionals, such as social workers, regarding patients' hospital admission, continued observation, transition of care, or discharge.
- Direct and coordinate activities of nurses, assistants, specialists, residents, and other medical staff.
What to study
The fields of study the Department of Education links to this occupation, most widely taught first.
- MedicineSee 3 colleges that teach it
Who it suits
O*NET scores every occupation on six interest dimensions. This one leans hardest on these three.
Analytical and curious
Helping and teaching
Organised and precise
Careers like this one
Where this comes from: the description and the task list are O*NET, which the Department of Labor maintains. Pay, workforce size, outlook and the education normally needed are the Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections programme, 2025 wages and 2025 to 2035 projections. Half of them earn more than $335,550 a year, which means half earn less, and what you would earn depends on where you work and how long you have been doing it. The fields of study come from the National Center for Education Statistics crosswalk.