Evaluating West Virginia's Emergency Medicine Workforce: A Longitudinal Observational Study

Objective Although the urban emergency workforce is well studied, rural departments are less understood. This study seeks to further define the landscape of rural healthcare and expand on previous studies of the West Virginia (WV) workforce. Methods During the second quarter of 2019, surveys were sent via email to medical directors' professional IDs as anonymous survey links. Hard copies were also sent to directors at their hospital addresses. Responses were aggregated with hospitals stratified based on annual census and rural classification. Data was interpreted through descriptive analysis. Results Surveys were sent to 53 departments with a 55% response rate. Of the responding hospitals, 15 of 29 were identified as rural. The average state-wide annual hospital census was 29,500 visits with board-certified emergency medicine (EM)-trained physicians covering 67% of shifts. Rural departments have a smaller census and less specialized coverage. Full-time physicians are found to have the strongest ties to WV, with 65% attending medical school, residency, or growing up in the state. Conclusion Board-certified EM-trained physicians provide some level of coverage in most emergency departments in WV but remain underrepresented in rural locations. This specialized coverage has increased by 20% in the last 15 years. Additionally, a majority of hospitals have access to basic consulting services (surgery and primary care); however, other specialists are rare in rural WV.