Rıfat Urnal, MD

Rıfat Urnal, MD is an emergency medicine physician who sees patients in the Emergency Service of Acibadem Altunizade Hospital in İstanbul, Türkiye. He has more than 19 years in medicine, and his listed areas of expertise include emergency interventions, trauma care, toxicology, drowning and acute hypoxia, airway obstruction, bee stings, and tick bites.

Dr. Urnal graduated from Gülhane Military Medical Academy Faculty of Medicine in 2007. From 2008 to 2010 he served as a medical officer with the Kayseri 1 Commando Brigade 4th Battalion, and from 2010 to 2011 he worked as an emergency department physician at Doğamed Medical Center. From 2011 to 2012 he was a health consultant with Bilkent Sports International. He then completed his specialty training as an emergency medicine resident at İzmir Katip Çelebi University Atatürk Training and Research Hospital between 2012 and 2016. After residency, he worked in the emergency department of Erzurum Palandöken State Hospital from 2016 to 2018, and in 2018 he joined Acıbadem Healthcare Services.

Clinical focus

Dr. Urnal’s work centers on the acute assessment and initial management of patients presenting to the emergency department. His listed areas cover emergency interventions and trauma care, as well as toxicology, which concerns poisoning and exposure to harmful substances. He also lists drowning and acute hypoxia, airway obstruction, bee stings, and tick bites, conditions in which timely recognition and early treatment matter. The care of each patient depends on the clinical picture at presentation, and further management may involve other departments of the hospital when this is needed.

His published work is dated between 2016 and 2017 and reflects emergency medicine topics. He is a co-author of a 2017 report describing cerebral venous sinus thrombosis complicated by hemorrhagic infarction as a rare and fatal cause of seizure in the emergency department, of a 2016 study on the application of scoring systems with point-of-care ultrasonography for the bedside diagnosis of appendicitis, and of a 2016 paper on chronic eosinophilic pneumonia as a diagnosis to consider in patients with persistent cough.

How Dr. Urnal works with international patients

Dr. Urnal consults in Turkish and English, and interpreters can be arranged for patients who speak other languages. The Acibadem international patient team coordinates the collection of prior medical reports and imaging, arranges appointments, and organizes the hospital visit. A first consultation typically covers the patient’s history and symptoms, a review of existing imaging and previous treatments, a clinical examination, and a discussion of the options. Video consultation is also available for international patients. Any recommendations that follow depend on the individual findings and are discussed with the patient in a way that reflects the uncertainties involved.