A national survey of board-certified emergency physicians: Quality of care and practice structure issues

The opinions and experiences of board-certified emergency physicians regarding employment structure and finances, professional society policies, and quality of patient care have never been formally studied. A survey questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 1,050 emergency physicians certified by...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American journal of emergency medicine 1998, Vol.16 (1), p.1-4
Main Authors: Plantz, Scott H, Kreplick, Lance W, Panacek, Edward A, Mehta, Tejas, Adler, Jon, McNamara, Robert M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Data Collection
Emergency Medicine - economics
Emergency Medicine - standards
Emergency Medicine - statistics & numerical data
Emergency physicians
group practice
Health participants
Medical sciences
politics
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
quality of care
Quality of Health Care
Societies, Medical
Specialty Boards
survey
United States
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Summary:The opinions and experiences of board-certified emergency physicians regarding employment structure and finances, professional society policies, and quality of patient care have never been formally studied. A survey questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 1,050 emergency physicians certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine. The survey contained 29 multiple choice questions. Of the 1,050, 465 (44.3%) of the surveys were returned. Respondents averaged 13.5 years of emergency medicine practice, 83% were members of the American College of Emergency Physicians, and 44% were emergency medicine residency trained. Seventy-five percent felt they had been financially exploited by the emergency department contract holder and 49% considered leaving their employer because of unfair business practices. Fifteen percent have been terminated without due process/peer review, and 11% have been forced to leave a position, move, or pay compensation because of noncompete clauses. The majority reported encountering instances of substandard emergency medical care, most commonly in settings with multihospital contract company coverage. The majority also believe their specialty societies should address issues of employment structure and quality of patient care standards.
ISSN:0735-6757
1532-8171
DOI:10.1016/S0735-6757(98)90055-9