What does an er docter do who works in the trauma center do?

Question

do they perform emergency surgeries

Answer 1

Stabilize the patients and if necessary turn them over to the specialists.

Answer 2

Some minor procedures, but surgery is left to the surgeons. It's an oversimplification and seems to trivialize the job, but what an emergency physician does is try not to send home anybody with important missed diagnoses. That's a lot more challenging than it sounds. The obvious is not always the most important, and tests often lie to you. I was once sued when all the tests were normal, I recommended hospitalization and surgical consultation, and the patient refused "because the tests were OK." He went home and died. After the deposition, the plaintiff's lawyer (!) said all his expert witnesses were very complimentary of my care, and the case was eventually dropped.

The procedures you do tend to be pretty mundane: tracheal intubations, tube thoracostomies, and such, along with reduction of fractures and dislocations. What I'm saying is that the job is more cerebral than manual, and you have to be good at dealing with uncertainty and prioritizing. Keep in mind that you often have to deal with several unstable patients at once.