Administrative fellowships in emergency medicine

Physicians today need to be effective managers, as well as clinicians. In previous years, physicians gained managerial experience either through on-the-job training, degree programs, or continuing medical education courses. The specialty of emergency medicine began its first administrative fellowship in 1990 in California. Currently, three administrative fellowships exist nationally in emergency medicine. This article will describe the purpose of the fellowships and their curricula. Each fellowship has a different emphasis, with the goal to educate physicians who are interested in developing administrative skills to manage emergency departments or management groups or accept roles in hospital leadership. The existence of these fellowships will ideally influence the establishment of administrative fellowships in other specialties.