Emergency medicine is the specialty that deals with the diagnosis, care and treatment of a broad range of life-threatening or limb-threatening conditions in patients, ranging from acute asthma attacks to cardiac or respiratory distress, bullet wounds, etc. The first concern of the emergency physician is to timely and properly diagnose or assess the patient's condition to save the patient's life, and then to stabilize the patient's condition as much as possible before transferring the patient to the care of one or more other appropriate medical or health care providers when indicated. In certain hospital environments, emergency physicians also become involved with the diagnosis, care, and treatment of patients with postoperative complications involving development of airway compromise due to hematoma, hemorrhage, or obstructions under various circumstances.
Emergency medicince medical expert witness specialties include emergency medicine, hospitalist medicine, EMT, pediatric emergency medicine, hospital administration, and emergency nursing.