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Emergency Doctor    by Edward Ziegler & Lewis R. Goldfrank Amazon.com order for
Emergency Doctor
by Edward Ziegler
Order:  USA  Can
Perennial, 2004 (1987)
Softcover
* *   Reviewed by Mary Ann Smyth

Rabid viewers of the TV series ER, should read Emergency Doctor in their hours away from the small screen. All the pathos one would expect from an emergency room is encompassed in one book. But – ah, the inevitable BUT. Emergency Doctor goes one step further to give lessons in emergency medicine, in particular what to look for when a patient is brought into the hospital comatose and unable to tell the medical team what brought him there in the first place.

EMT personnel, highly trained to spot problems and to give first aid while racing to the hospital, are an important tool for the efficient and successful emergency room. Triage, assigning priorities to the medical emergency, is a necessary part of the daily life of an emergency doctor. As is, in a city run hospital, giving care to the homeless and indigent. Most such incidents include cleaning up the patient before any care at all can be given. Feces, urine soaked clothes, maggots, and lice are commonplace. If, after reading about all the not fun things that must be accomplished to successfully run an emergency room, you are still interested, maybe you're missing the boat. Perhaps your inclinations would place you in medical school with a major in emergency care. Think about it. Were I much younger, I might consider it myself.

This book, first published in 1987, is still topical. What has changed is accounted for in an afterword that details progress made in the equipment and treatment involved in emergency care. In my humble opinion, Emergency Doctor should be on the required reading list for every medical student (and ER fan).

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