Ryan Coughlin, MD, is an emergency medicine physician who treats all emergencies in all specialties.
“Emergency room visits come with built-in stresses,” says Dr. Coughlin, who tries to ease patients’ worries by including them in decision-making using language they can understand. “I love meeting all kinds of patients with all kinds of complaints and being placed, by chance, into an intense relationship with them,” he says. “I love knowing how to diagnose and manage time-sensitive emergency conditions related to all subspecialties of medicine. Respecting the unknown, both about a patient and about their condition, makes every shift exciting.”
Dr. Coughlin embraces the opportunity he has to educate resident physicians, medical students, and advanced practice providers. “Medical education is a career-long endeavor, and we are growing together,” he says.
Dr. Coughlin is an assistant residency program director for Yale’s Emergency Medicine Program. He is also a member of the Sponsor Hospital Area Response Physician (SHARP) Team, the only state-certified EMS physician response team in Connecticut. He has specific interests in independently directed practice improvement, austere emergency medical support, such as wilderness, tactical, and disaster preparedness.
He is an instructor with the West Hartford Police Tactical & Protective Medical Branch Cadre, providing education for Connecticut State Police, SWAT, marshal, fire, and paramedic personnel. His current research projects include high-performing trainees in medical training, mass casualty preparedness, cardiac arrest, wilderness medicine, and prehospital ultrasound.
