American Academy of Emergency Medicine

The purpose of this study was to assess the perceived impact of an emergency medicine residency program in the eyes of program directors of non-emergency medicine specialties. Residency directors in medicine, surgery, pediatrics and OB/GYN were surveyed and found to have a generally positive view of emergency medicine as a specialty and as an important component of their own residents' education. According to this study, the presence of an emergency medicine training program appears to have positively influenced their attitudes, improved their resident's education, and improved emergency care.

The data presented here indicate that emergency medicine is an important valued off-service rotation for other specialties' resident education. The presence of an emergency medicine residency program has generally enhanced the perception of emergency medicine as a distinct specialty, has improved emergency care, and has not impacted rotators' emergency medicine education negatively. Emergency medicine programs in existence more than five years are perceived as improving emergency care and rotator education to a significantly greater degree than newer programs.