EMERGENCY ROOMS HERE PROVIDE ONLY CERTIFIED PHYSICIANS, SAY DOCTORS

Physicians at both Cape Girardeau hospitals believe emergency room patients at the local hospitals receive quality care by competent doctors.

The doctors said that patients at St. Francis Medical Center and Southeast Missouri Hospital are treated in the emergency rooms by board-certified physicians who are employed full time by the hospitals.

According to a national report to be released Monday by the National Board of Medical Examiners, only half of emergency room doctors are certified to provide emergency care.

Dr. Charles Pancoast, an emergency room physician at St. Francis, said: "That may be in some places -- maybe even some other places in Missouri -- but not here in Cape Girardeau. The emergency rooms here are staffed really well."

Pancoast said St. Francis hires full-time physicians to work in its emergency room. Physicians are certified, not interns or moonlighting doctors, he said.

Dr. Michael Kolda of Southeast Missouri Hospital's emergency room said of the national report: "This particular concern doesn't apply to Cape Girardeau. We only hire physicians who are certified."

Kolda said emergency room medicine has evolved greatly over the last 30 years, and Cape Girardeau is keeping pace with the latest techniques in emergency room care and qualified physicians to administer care. At Southeast, emergency room physicians have a combined 21 years of formal training since medical school, he said.

Both physicians said their respective hospitals have stringent requirements for emergency room personnel. Kolda said Southeast has a credentials process that physicians must endure before a candidate is permitted to work in the emergency room. "We might go with an ER position not filled for a while before we find someone to meet our qualifications," Pancoast said of the hiring practices at St. Francis.

Kolda said the national report may cause patients to question emergency room physicians and their treatment. He said people in inner cities and isolated, rural areas might have to worry about their emergency room care, but not emergency room patients in Cape Girardeau.

"The public should have good faith in the doctors in the emergency room here," said Pancoast.