Department of Emergency Medicine

Emergency Medicine is the field of practice concerned with the treatment of acute and urgent medical conditions. Emergency practitioners treat the full spectrum of patients using skills ranging from those of a general practitioner to specialists. They diagnose emergency conditions and undertake acute interventions to stabilize the patient. Some of many skills include:

• Trauma resuscitation
• Advanced cardiac life support
• Advanced airway management
• Assisting women in labor
• Management of drug overdoses

In July of 2009, the Yale School of Medicine’s Section of Emergency Medicine was elevated to departmental status, reflecting both the reputation of the section and the maturation of emergency medicine as an academic discipline. The Section of Emergency Medicine, formerly part of the Department of Surgery, was created in 1991. It has grown in size from five to 40 faculty members, who have responsibility for 72,500 patient visits a year at Yale New Haven Hospital and 21,600 visits annually at the Yale-New Haven Shoreline Medical Center in Guilford.

The department’s focus increasingly involves elements of public health and prevention, including screening for hypertension, diabetes and HIV, and treatment and referral for drug addiction, domestic violence, mood disorders and other mental health issues.