In reply

Abstract

We thank Dr. Falk for his kind words and for his leadership in emergency medicine and critical care medicine.We agree that expanding critical care training and practice opportunities for emergency physicians will help bring us closer to the late Dr. Peter Safar’s vision of “seamless” critical care from ED to ICU. We are advocating change and change can often be difficult. Ultimately, it will take a commitment from all specialties to address the critical care crisis, and new, non-traditional alliances will be necessary between specialties, disciplines, and departments that may not have worked closely together in the past.Dr. Falk’s comments regarding the many emergency medicine residents whose interest in critical care was discouraged by the lack of a route to certification deserve emphasis. This represents a loss of a generation of physicians over the last 20 years who could have been trained as intensivists. Clearly, policy that discourages motivated physicians from seeking further training is not ideal, and merits reevaluation and revision. We would like to emphasize to emergency medicine residents strongly interested in critical care, that regardless of certification issues, if your passion is critical care, you can train to be and work as an intensivist.In conclusion, many in emergency medicine are fully committed to helping resolve the critical care crisis, and we hope that we will be allowed to help to the fullest extent possible. We thank Dr. Falk for his kind words and for his leadership in emergency medicine and critical care medicine. We agree that expanding critical care training and practice opportunities for emergency physicians will help bring us closer to the late Dr. Peter Safar’s vision of “seamless” critical care from ED to ICU. We are advocating change and change can often be difficult. Ultimately, it will take a commitment from all specialties to address the critical care crisis, and new, non-traditional alliances will be necessary between specialties, disciplines, and departments that may not have worked closely together in the past. Dr. Falk’s comments regarding the many emergency medicine residents whose interest in critical care was discouraged by the lack of a route to certification deserve emphasis. This represents a loss of a generation of physicians over the last 20 years who could have been trained as intensivists. Clearly, policy that discourages motivated physicians from seeking further training is not ideal, and merits reevaluation and revision. We would like to emphasize to emergency medicine residents strongly interested in critical care, that regardless of certification issues, if your passion is critical care, you can train to be and work as an intensivist. In conclusion, many in emergency medicine are fully committed to helping resolve the critical care crisis, and we hope that we will be allowed to help to the fullest extent possible. Emergency Intensivists…Why Not Now?Annals of Emergency MedicineVol. 47Issue 4PreviewI would like to congratulate Huang and colleagues for making a most compelling argument for critical care medicine certification for emergency physicians in their “white paper” on this subject.1 Compelling arguments notwithstanding, the political nature of American Board of Medical Specialties approval has frustrated many of us over the past 20 years. The intellectual honesty and enthusiasm of this new generation of emergency physicians interested in critical care medicine is refreshing and reinvigorating. Full-Text PDF