[robbiep]

I am a current ED/A&E/ER Doc (in Australia). It's one of my 5 3 month first year terms. About 50% of presentations are for things that don't need to come through ed. Phone lines always say come I to ed because it is a get-out-of-jail. If they say carry on and you get hurt, they get sued. And it is near-impossible to do a proper consult with someone over the phone.

Having said that the Australian health system is so radically different to that of the US (for the better) that very little in the above article applies to my working conditions