Welcome to Emergency Medicine Physician Assistant Life

Complaint of the Month:

Chest Pain

Anyone can admit a patient for further work-up or look up a treatment plan for a confirmed diagnosis, but patients don't typically present with a firm diagnosis or a label that says, "Admit me."

The CC: Series will give you a framework and usable template for common complaints including all the obscure, but can't-miss, diagnoses that you should consider before discharging potentially high-risk patients. 

Take it from an expert witness, you should be documenting all considerations for dangerous diagnoses before every disposition, including admission. A missed diagnosis inside or outside of the hospital is a potential litigation

We are not perfect, and things will get missed, but you can protect yourself AND speed up your documentation by creating personalized templates that remind you of the important historical clues, high-risk features, physical exam findings, and tests and tools to consider using on these common presentations. 

This month we will look at...

EMPALife Online Courses

EMPALife Online Courses

The online course format will allow you to track your progress as you learn new skills to implement in your personal and professional life.

Coming Soon!!!

What is EMPALife?

Purpose: Provide education about work and life for emergency medicine workers, specifically PAs who have a unique role in medical care as well as unique needs and perspectives

Goals: Provide useable advice that you can implement today to improve your work efficiency, job satisfaction, and achieve life goals outside of the ER.


  • One-on-one video conferencing to help develop an actionable personalized growth plan that addresses the mental, emotional, and physical health of emergency care workers.

  • With 20+ years in emergency medicine, experience as chief advanced practice provider, and PA educator, I offer expertise in standard of care and best practices.

  • How well is your department utilizing PAs? There are simple, effective interventions from triage to admission that can improve patient flow and ED efficiency.

Looking for an Expert Witness?

Would you like a one-on-one meeting or consultation for your department or personal career?

Contact me!