State of affairs of emergency medicine in the Veterans Health Administration.
BACKGROUND
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has reformed its emergency medical services.


OBJECTIVE
This study updates an overview of emergency medicine within VHA.


METHODS
This is a cross-sectional survey of VHA medical facilities offering emergency medical care.


RESULTS
Sixty-eight percent (95/140) of facilities had emergency departments (EDs) only, 12% (16/140) had both ED and urgent care centers (UCCs), and 16% (23/140) had only UCCs. The mean (SD) ED/UCC census was 13 371 (7664). A mean (SD) of 53% (27%) of facility admissions were admitted through ED/UCCs. The median of all ED/UCC admissions admitted to intensive care unit level care was 11% (interquartile range, 7-16). Of physicians with any board certification, 16% (209/1331) of physicians had emergency medicine board certification.


CONCLUSIONS
Emergency medical care is now available at most VHA facilities. The specialty of emergency medicine has an important but minority presence within clinical emergency medical care at VHA.
Kessler
Chad
C
Departments of Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine, University of Illinois-Chicago, Jesse Brown VA Hospital, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
Chen
Jennifer
J
Dill
Curt
C
Tyndall
Gary
G
Olszyk
Mark D
MD
D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000592:standards; D002568:Certification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000592:standards; D016529:Emergency Nursing / Q000592:standards; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs / Q000592:standards*; D000078329:Workforce