David Della-Giustina, MD, is an emergency medicine specialist who cares for patients’ medical, traumatic, or surgical emergencies in the Yale New Haven Hospital Emergency Department. He has special expertise in wilderness medicine, including snake bites, heat injuries, lightning strikes, and gunshot wounds. He also has additional expertise in orthopedic and sports injuries.
Dr. Della-Giustina planned to become an orthopedic surgeon, but was drawn to emergency care in medical school, and he says it turned out to be the right choice. “The thing I love about my work is that with every patient I take care of, it’s likely one of the worst days of their life. They're scared, they're anxious, and they really want help—and I can help them,” he says.
A retired U.S. Army colonel with more than 29 years of service, including combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, he studied medicine in the Uniformed Services University and Madigan Army Medical Center, and practiced as a physician during his military tours.
“We developed the ability to manage and treat any injury or illness, with limited evacuation capabilities,” he says. “There is not much that I haven't seen or treated.” He learned that one of the most important things a physician can do in urgent situations is to listen to the patient and let them know that he understands what is wrong with them and what he needs to do to help.
“That allays a lot of fears,” he says. “I talk about my experience and expertise, as well as challenges I faced in the military when people had heart attacks or broken bones or developed pneumonia in austere settings. I say, ‘I've seen this before and I know what we need to do to make you better.’”
A professor of emergency medicine at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Della-Giustina is also the vice chair for education in emergency medicine at Yale and directs 76 physicians in a four-year training program to learn emergency medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital. He is also the program director of the Wilderness Medicine Fellowship.
