The UAB Emergency Medicine Residency Program's first class of six residents has graduated — four of these emergency medicine physicians will practice in Alabama, one joining the UAB faculty full time and three accepting part-time appointments.

"Alabama has a serious lack of board-certified emergency physicians," Emergency Medicine Residency Program Director Edward Jedd Roe, MD, says. "Emergency departments in Alabama typically operate with only 10% to 20% of ED physician staff as board-certified emergency physicians, compared with 60% to 70% nationally. Obviously, Alabama needs more residency-trained, board-certified emergency physicians, and our program is addressing that need."

States with numerous metropolitan areas tend to attract more board-certified emergency physicians, while more rural states do not," Dr. Roe adds. "Consequently, family physicians staff many rural Alabama hospital emergency departments."

According to the American Board of Emergency Medicine, the need for emergency medicine as a specialty emerged in the 1960s, when the public demanded improved care in hospital emergency departments. In the 1970s, emergency medicine became the 23rd recognized medical specialty by the American Board of Medical Specialties.

Emergency Medicine trainees begin in their second postgraduate year (PGY), after completing either a transitional PGY 1 residency or preliminary medicine residency. "Because emergency medicine physicians must be proficient in acute-care aspects of most disciplines, our 3-year program exposes them to critical-care aspects of anesthesiology, toxicology, trauma, burns, pediatrics, obstetric, gynecology, medical and surgical subspecialties, prehospital care, and more," Dr. Roe says. "Because of increased patient volume in the new University Hospital Emergency Department, we have increased our residency positions from six to eight."

The program has become increasingly popular with medical students, as well, Dr. Roe reports. "Eleven School of Medicine (SOM) at UAB students chose emergency medicine residencies last year, and two of them will join our class next July. "Since all 11 candidates matched for an emergency medicine residency, we are pleased they did so well," he says. "As emergency medicine continues to grow and achieve recognition, we hope to see such a continued level of interest in our program from SOM students."