ED Workforce

EMNet’s workforce studies estimate the supply and demand of emergency medicine physicians and advance practice providers.

One major past workforce project was the development of the Emergency Physician Workforce Calculator. Based on 2005 national data, as published by Camargo et al, the calculator determined the year that the board-certified emergency physician workforce would be sufficient to staff all US emergency departments. Calculations were based on the following, admittedly conservative, assumptions:

  • No change in the national ED visit volume (115 million ED visits per 2005 NEDI-USA).
  • No change in the minimum number of full-time equivalent (FTE) ED physicians needed to staff all US emergency departments: 40,030 (assuming 5.35 FTE minimum).
  • Each EP sees 2.8 patients/hour and works 48 wks/year for 40 hrs/week, with 34% of their time spent on non-clinical requirements. Thus, the average EP sees 3,548 visits per year.

The calculator allowed users to modify the above assumptions to calculate the year in which all US emergency departments will be staffed by board-certified emergency physicians.

For more information, please contact Dr. Carlos Carmago.

Select Publications:

  1. Camargo CA Jr, Ginde AA, Singer AH, Sullivan AF, Espinola JA, Pearson JF, Singer AJ. Assessment of emergency physician workforce needs in the United States, 2005. Acad Emerg Med 2008; 15: 1317-1320. 18945242
  2. Ginde AA, Sullivan AF, Camargo CA Jr. National study of the emergency physician workforce, 2008. Ann Emerg Med 2009; 54: 349-359. 19398242
  3. Sullivan AF, Ginde AA, Espinola JA, Camargo CA Jr. Supply and demand of board-certified emergency physicians by US state, 2005. Acad Emerg Med 2009; 16: 1014-1018. 19719820
  4. Ginde AA, Espinola JA, Sullivan AF, Blum FC, Camargo CA Jr. Use of midlevel providers in US EDs, 1993 to 2005: Implications for the workforce. Am J Emerg Med 2010; 28: 90-94. 20006209
  5. Brown DFM, Sullivan AF, Espinola JA, Camargo CA Jr. Continued rise in the use of midlevel providers in US emergency departments, 1993-2009. Int J Emerg Med 2012; 5: 21. 2262170