An emergency physician is a physician who works at an emergency department to care for ill patients. The emergency physician is a specialist in advanced cardiac life support, resuscitation, trauma care such as fractures and soft tissue injuries, and management of other life-threatening situations.

When a patient is brought into the emergency department, he or she is usually sent to triage first. The patient may be triaged by an emergency physician, a paramedic, or a nurse, triage is usually performed by a registered nurse.