Academic emergency medicine in United States medical schools

To determine the current standing of academic units of emergency medicine in allopathic medical schools and to measure the attitudes of medical school deans toward the specialty.

An investigator-blinded survey of the senior deans of 123 allopathic medical schools in the United States.

Ninety-four of 123 (76%) survey instruments were completed. Fifty-six medical schools reported having academic units of emergency medicine (five divisions of the dean's office, 16 full departments, 35 divisions/sections of other departments). Twenty-five of 56 units were reported to be academically less productive when compared with other specialty academic units of similar size. When overall mission (academic plus clinical/administrative) was considered, 46 of 56 units were reported as adequately fulfilling or exceeding mission expectations. Thirty-eight schools reported not having an academic unit of emergency medicine. Only ten of the 38 reported have no institutional support or plans for academic emergency medicine.

Medical school deans are generally satisfied with the clinical/administrative performance of academic emergency medicine units but are less so with academic productivity. Despite the small numbers of full departments and disparate status of established units, it is noteworthy that only ten of the 94 respondents to this survey reported no support whatsoever for academic emergency medicine.