International Emergency Medicine and the Role for Academic Emergency Medicine

Abstract

International emergency medicine continues to grow and expand. There are now more than 30 countries that recognize emergency medicine as a specialty. As the field continues to develop, many physicians are reaching across borders and working with their colleagues to improve patient care, education, and research. The future growth and success of the specialty are based on several key components. These include faculty development (because this is the key driver of education), research, and curriculum development.Each country knows what resources it has and how best to utilize them. Countries that are developing the specialty can seek consultation from successful countries and develop their academic and community practice of emergency medicine. There are many resources available to these countries, including distance learning and access to medical journals via the Internet; international exchanges by faculty, residents, and medical students; and physicians who are in fellowship training programs. International research efforts require more support and effort to be successful. This report discusses some of the advantages and hurdles to such research efforts. Physicians have a responsibility to help one another succeed. It is the hope of the authors that many more emergency physicians will lend their skills to further global development of the specialty.

Perceptions of graduates from Africa's first emergency medicine training program at the University of Cape Town/Stellenbosch University

“…The three most commonly cited strengths of their program were diversity of clinical rotations (85%; 95% Perceptions of graduates from Africa's first emergency medicine training program 2012;14 (2)CI 81-89), autonomy and procedural experience (63%; 95% CI 57-69), and importance of being pioneers within Africa (52%; 95% CI 47-58). Specific comments regarding each of the strengths are compiled in Table 2.…”

“…1 In the last several years, some developing countries have begun to incorporate EM as a specialty and to develop their own training programs. 2 South Africa is a country of 50 million that lies at the southernmost tip of Africa. It has the second wealthiest economy in Africa and is considered a middle-income country, ranking twenty-fifth in the world by gross domestic product.…”

Randomized trials in emergency medicine journals, 2008 to 2011

“…The large contribution of non-US researchers is particularly noteworthy because in many countries emergency medicine has only recently been recognized as an independent medical specialty and infrastructure for both emergency medicine-related research and clinical training remains under-developed in much of the world. 10 …”

International Emergency Medicine: A Review of the Literature from 2007

“…Wilson and Itagaki 5 evaluate the international EM literature itself, estimating the relative proportion of EM research published in various countries and types of journals, as well as common (and uncommon) funding sources of EM research. Finally, Alagappan et al 6 provides a commentary on how academic EPs can best aid their colleagues around the world in developing the specialty.…”