Regionalization of Emergency Care Future Directions and Research: Workforce Issues

The provision of emergency care in the United States, regionalized or not, depends on an adequate workforce. Adequate must be defined both qualitatively and quantitatively. There is currently a shortage of emergency care providers, one that will exist for the foreseeable future. This article discusses what is known about the current emergency medicine (EM) and non-EM workforce, future trends, and research opportunities. ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2010; 17:1286-1296 (C) 2010 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.