National Study of the Emergency Physician Workforce, 2008
Received 5 February 2009; received in revised form 2 March 2009; accepted 11 March 2009. published online 27 April 2009.
Study objective
We describe the characteristics of the US emergency physician workforce.
Methods
We performed a cross-sectional analysis of the 2008 American Medical Association Physician Masterfile, which includes data on all physicians who have ever obtained a medical license in at least 1 US state. We included all physicians who designated emergency medicine as their primary or secondary specialty.
Results
There were 39,061 clinically active emergency physicians, of which 57% were emergency medicine board certified and 69% were emergency medicine trained or emergency medicine board certified. Family medicine (31%) and internal medicine (23%) were the most common backgrounds for non-emergency medicine–trained/emergency medicine board certified emergency physicians, and most (75%) graduated from residency greater than or equal to 20 years ago. Nearly all (98%) emergency physicians who graduated within the past 5 years were emergency medicine trained or emergency medicine board certified. Rural emergency physicians were much less likely than urban emergency physicians to have emergency medicine training (31% versus 57%), emergency medicine board certified (43% versus 59%), and to have graduated in the past 5 years (8% versus 19%). The density of all emergency physicians per 100,000 population was highest in New England (16.0) and in urban areas (14.5). The lowest emergency physician densities were in West South Central (10.2) and rural areas (10.3). Density of emergency medicine–trained or emergency medicine board certified emergency physicians was 10.3 in urban, 5.3 in large rural, and 2.5 in small rural areas.
Conclusion
Although newer emergency physicians are almost all emergency medicine trained or emergency medicine board certified, many non-emergency medicine–trained/emergency medicine board certified emergency physicians still provide clinical coverage of EDs. Demand for all emergency physicians will likely continue for several decades and the shortage may even increase in rural areas.
aDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, CO
bDepartment of Emergency Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Address for correspondence: Adit A. Ginde, MD, MPH, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, 12401 E 17th Ave, B-215, Aurora, CO 80045; 720-848-6777, fax 720-848-7374
Author contributions: AAG, AFS, and CAC conceived and designed the study. AAG provided statistical advice, acquired the data, and performed the analysis. All authors contributed to data interpretation, and AAG drafted the article. All authors contributed substantially to article revision and approved the final version. AAG takes responsibility for the paper as a whole.
Funding and support: By Annals policy, all authors are required to disclose any and all commercial, financial, and other relationships in any way related to the subject of this article that might create any potential conflict of interest. The authors have stated that no such relationships exist. See the Manuscript Submission Agreement in this issue for examples of specific conflicts covered by this statement.
Reprints not available from the authors.
Publication date: Available online April 24, 2009.
ABSTRACT