Reflections on becoming a specialty and its impact on global emergency medical care: our challenge for the future.

International emergency medicine development includes many activities. Among them are efforts to establish and support the development of the specialty of emergency medicine. In carrying out such activities, it is important for emergency physicians to be aware of the story of the establishment and development of the specialty of emergency medicine in the United States and to seek ways to support similar efforts in other countries.

The certification examination in emergency medicine: an update.

The 1977 field test and first administration of the American Board of Emergency Medicine certification examination produced data which support the assumption upon which it was originally developed. A total of 22 fourth-year medical students, 36 emergency medicine residents, and 36 emergency physicians participated in the field test held in Lansing, Michigan. The examination was found to be highly reliable, to distribute scores among groups according to presumed competence, and to support the concept of treating the examination as a total instrument rather than one subdivided by content areas.

Evaluation of an EMS algorithm system. American College of Emergency Physicians Algorithm Review Subcommitte.

The American College of Emergency Physicians algorithm project was a pilot study designed to identify a method for evaluating algorithms by peer review and field test. The intent of the pilot project was to make recommendations which would permit a more extensive evaluation of the logic, usefulness, and safety of various algorithms. The project yielded a report which summarized the research design and suggests possible revisions to the phases of peer review, algorithm assignment, and field test.