Abstract
Colombia is an upper-middle-income country with a population of 45 million people and one of the best national healthcare and medical education systems in South America. However, its widely diverse and difficult terrains hinder healthcare delivery to rural areas, creating disparities in healthcare access and outcomes between the urban and rural settings. Currently, emergency medical care is overwhelmingly provided by general practitioners without residency training, who obtain specialty consultations based on the medical/surgical condition identified. A few emergency medicine (EM) residency programs have sprouted over the last two decades in renowned academic institutions in the largest cities, producing high-quality EM specialists. With the establishment of EM as a specialty in 2005 and increasing recognition of the specialty, there has been an increasing demand for EM specialists in cities, which is only slowly being met by the current residencies. The critical challenges for EM in Colombia are both, establishing itself as a well-recognized specialty - by increasing academic production and reaching a critical mass of and unity among EM specialists - and providing the highest quality and safest emergency care to the people of Colombia - by improving capacity both in emergency departments and in the regional and national emergency response systems. Historically, the establishment of EM as a strongly organized specialty in other countries has spanned decades (e.g., the United States), and Colombia has been making significant progress in a similar trajectory.
Highlights
Colombia covers an area of 1.1 million square miles in northern South America with a population of 45 million in 2010 [1]
Albeit the opening and expansion of residency programs across the country, emergency medicine remains a new specialty in Colombia, with a small critical mass of emergency physicians practicing
With time and exposure to emergency medicine (EM) faculty will the students and general practitioners working in emergency departments begin to see the benefit of residency training and acquisition of advanced skills
Summary
Introduction Colombia covers an area of 1.1 million square miles in northern South America with a population of 45 million in 2010 [1]. Colombia has a network of public hospitals serving both the insured and uninsured, ranging from small clinics and hospitals in rural areas to referral centers in larger cities, most of which tend to have very limited resources as they rely on government funding to provide care for the uninsured. Albeit the opening and expansion of residency programs across the country, emergency medicine remains a new specialty in Colombia, with a small critical mass of emergency physicians practicing. There are several EM specialists in leadership positions who are currently working as chairs, chiefs, medical directors, assistant directors, and program directors in several emergency departments Despite these advancements in training and leadership, there was a major setback to the national efforts to get hospitals to staff the departments with EM specialists. A core leadership group is continuing to maintain the fledgling organization and attempting to reinvigorate its membership
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