The efficacy and value of emergency medicine: a supportive literature review

The January 1995 to October 2010 issues of selected journals, including the EM journals with the highest article impact factors, were reviewed to identify articles of studies or commentaries that evaluated efficacy, effectiveness, and/or value related to EM as a specialty or to clinical care delivered by EM practitioners. Articles were included if they found a positive or beneficial effect of EM or of EM physician-provided medical care. Additional articles that had been published prior to 1995 or in other non-EM journals already known to the authors were also included.A total of 282 articles were identified, and each was categorized into one of the following topics: efficacy of EM for critical care and procedures (31 articles), efficacy of EM for efficiency or cost of care (30 articles), efficacy of EM for public health or preventive medicine (34 articles), efficacy of EM for radiology (11 articles), efficacy of EM for trauma or airway management (27 articles), efficacy of EM for using ultrasound (56 articles), efficacy of EM faculty (34 articles), efficacy of EM residencies (24 articles), and overviews and editorials of EM efficacy and value (35 articles).There is extensive medical literature that supports the efficacy and value for both EM as a medical specialty and for emergency patient care delivered by trained EM physicians.Emergency Medicine (EM) is an officially recognized medical specialty in over 60 countries, with the rate of specialty recognition accelerating in recent years [1]. Recent epidemiologic and demographic public health data highlight the growing need for EM, trauma, and acute care development in all countries across the socioeconomic spectrum. According to the 2006 World Health Organization studies on the Global Burden of Disease [2], worldwide demographic and epidemiologic shifts now show non-communicable diseases to have become the single largest cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Stroke, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and trauma ha