The American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM) acknowledges and honors the contributions to emergency care by other providers, including non–Emergency Medicine physicians and advanced practice clinicians. However, other providers do not have the required training and expertise of an ABEM-certified physician, and therefore are not equivalent to an ABEM-certified physician.
ABEM believes that the delivery of emergency care is best led by physicians who are specialty-trained in Emergency Medicine. Emergency Medicine training should be through an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education–accredited Emergency Medicine residency program.
Since the late 1980s, initial ABEM certification requires successfully completing an Emergency Medicine residency and successfully passing high-stakes, secure, written and oral examinations. ABEM believes that a single point-in-time assessment cannot sufficiently assure the public that a physician is keeping up with advances in medicine. Therefore, ABEM certification is time limited, and physicians must engage in professional development in accordance with national standards for Emergency Medicine to remain certified.
President Comment on Position Statement
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