Great strides made in patient care
Despite the challenges of overcrowding, underfunding, and staff shortages, experts say emergency medicine has made great progress in the last 20 years.
"The last 20 years have brought us great success in the delivery of care, as well as hard lessons about what excellence and virtuous care will reward us with in the ED," says James J. Augustine, MD, FACEP, director of clinical operations at Emergency Medicine Physicians, an emergency physician partnership group in Canton, OH. "We should revel in the fact that we deliver excellent care and prevent premature death in people from all etiologies."
In the past 20 years, "we have built great systems for preventing people from dying prematurely of injuries or acute medical events," Augustine says. "And, we have developed an excellent reputation in the community for what emergency care can do." Accordingly, Augustine says, there are a lot of people alive after suffering one of the "big three" — trauma, burns, and cardiac arrest — who in the past did not survive. "But when people don't die prematurely, they live, and they have to come back into the ED on a regular basis, particularly people who have cardiovascular problems," Augustine notes.
The emergency medicine community also has made great advances in political advocacy, says Nicholas Jouriles, MD, FACEP, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). "With ACEP leading the way, we've been able to become a force within the national arena," he says. "We have 'branded' the names emergency medicine and ACEP, we have lots of people lobbying for us, and we have our own bills before Congress."
As an example, Jouriles notes, 10 years ago, "we were able to pass the 'prudent layperson' interpretation of emergency care, and we are called on frequently by The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times to offer our opinion."
Sources
For more information on critical developments that have shaped emergency medicine, contact:
- James J. Augustine, MD, FACEP, Director of Clinical Operations, Emergency Medicine Physicians, Canton, OH. Phone: (404) 456-6211. E-mail: [email protected].
- Robert Bitterman, MD, FACEP, President, Bitterman Health Law Consulting Group, Harbor Springs, MI. Phone: (231) 526-7970. Web: www.robertbitterman.com.
- Nicholas Jouriles, MD, FACEP, President, American College of Emergency Physicians. E-mail: [email protected].
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