Hospital Leaders: Are all of Your ED Physicians Certified in Emergency Medicine?

At the American Board of Physician Specialties® we urge hospital leaders to ensure that all of the emergency department physicians in their hospitals are board certified in emergency medicine. Increasingly, having board certified physicians on staff is becoming invaluable and it is extremely important that the men and women working in your emergency department are able to demonstrate their mastery of emergency medicine. Yet, at the ABPS, we also recognize that many hospitals are staffed by highly trained and experienced physicians who completed their ACGME or AOA residencies in a primary care discipline other than emergency medicine. Through our own Board of Certification in Emergency Medicine (BCEM), we offer an option for certification in emergency medicine.

Why Physician Board Certification Matters

Board certification has become a trusted indicator of a physician’s skill in his or her field of expertise. As medicine has become increasingly specialized, patients, employers, and insurance companies have used board certification to identify the very best physicians in their area. However, this leaves physicians behind who didn’t necessarily intend to spend their careers in the emergency department but elected to anyway in order to address the needs of their communities.

Eligibility Requirements for BCEM Certification

While physician board certification is a completely voluntary process, it represents an exceptional commitment to patient care on the part of the physician. As a nationally recognized choice for physician board certification, the ABPS is committed to helping the very best physicians in North America to receive the commendation that they deserve through board certification:

• Have accumulated a minimum of 7,000 hours of work in an emergency department over the last five years
• Successfully completed an accredited residency in a primary care specialty
• Meet the other stringent eligibility requirements outlined here

Once certified by the ABPS, a physician becomes a member of a community of like-minded professionals who prioritize the advancement of patient care and safety, rather than the business side of medicine. In short, ABPS certification sends the right message to patients, whose decisions about where to go for medical treatment often depend on a physician’s credentials, whether at a hospital, clinic, or private practice.

A Board Certification Solution for Career Emergency Medicine Physicians

Being a medical director in an understaffed hospital is an unenviable position. We know that these dedicated professionals work hard to make the most out of the limited resources available to them in order to best serve the community. If you have physicians in your emergency room who do great work but have not been given the opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of the specialty they practice, the ABPS may be able to offer a solution. We urge hospital CEOs and other leaders to encourage their career ED physicians to pursue board certification through the BCEM and demonstrate their extensive experience in this growing field.

To learn more about the benefits of board certification with the BCEM, contact the ABPS. We are committed to bringing well-educated, well-trained, and highly skilled emergency medicine physicians into the nation’s emergency rooms.