Physicians on ambulances? As a career?

[Just Plain Ruff]

If you are wanting the autonomy of working alone, all by yourself or just with one other person, there are tons of remote gigs that would kill to have a physician who would give up his/her freedom to move to the boonies, live on packaged meals, have limited supplies and possibly be stuck in an area where the safety of themselves would be suspect at best and evac would and could be hours if not days at best.  

DWAYNE you out there!!!!  

But if that is what you are looking for, there's jobs out there for you.  

[ERDoc]

Chances are that you could work on an ambulance, but would have to stay within the scope of practice for a paramedic, mostly because the company you are working for would stock the unit to that level, and would be insured to that level. That would be extremely frustrating for someone who had invested the years and money to get the MD. I don't understand why a busy ER would not suit you - So much more you can do with the skilled staff, the support, the tools to do the job.

If it is the rush, believe me, it wears off after a while.

It's hard to explain but the rush is different.  I hate traumas in the ER, but I miss traumas in the field.  Maybe it is the situation surrounding the field trauma, the lights, the noise, the smells, etc, I don't know.  Maybe it is just nostalgia from an old guy who misses his younger days.  I think it all depends on where you are. Where I came from, if you wanted to carry a central line kit, you could carry it and use it.

[MedicNorth]

Don't get me wrong, Doc - the rush and the rectal pucker is still there for some calls. I work in a remote area with a very small hospital, and very often don't get to quit once I hand off my patient since the local docs are far less experienced with trauma than we are as EMS crews. We frequently work for several hours in the ER after the official handoff. There is nothing in my scope that I have not done, and I have probably pushed the envelope more than I will admit. My only real point is that being an MD in most north American services would be extremely frustrating because you would be unable to use the training and knowledge you have. It would be like being a paramedic in a service that didn't carry any meds... You know what needs to be done but simply are unable to do it. Some major changes would have to appear before it could be fulfilling as a career choice.

[Carl Ashman]

I think it's fair to say that a physician in EMS will have a limited scope of practice. Of course, the OP's has other options as a native English speaker. Take a look at

this.

 

And they really are doing some cool stuff like REBOA:

 

Presentation EMS Physician Garreth Davies

 

Carl

 

 

 

[paramedicmike]

I'm curious by what you mean when you refer to an EMS physician's limited scope of practice.  Care to expand?