title: [Focal point emergency departments].
abstract: The number of patients treated in hospital emergency departments in Germany has risen in recent years to approximately 20 million. This escalation also applies to the increasing numbers of patients presenting with neurological symptoms and diseases, which occur in approximately 20 % of emergency patients. In addition to patients with stroke, inflammatory or degenerative central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) disorders who need urgent treatment, more and more patients with nonspecific complaints or conditions attend emergency departments for elective treatment, not least because timely appointments with specialist neurologists in practices could not be obtained. Neurological expertise and presence in emergency departments at the level of specialist standard are therefore indispensable for providing a professional level of treatment, which also corresponds to current legal requirements. The implementation of a generalist emergency physician in Germany, as introduced in some European countries, would mean a retrograde step for neurological expertise in emergency admission management. The discipline of neurology must work together with other emergency disciplines to improve the financing of emergency departments and provide neurologists working there with a substantive curriculum of further and continuing education in emergency-related aspects of neurology. The discipline of neurology has a responsibility to emergency patients within its range of competencies and must, therefore, strengthen and improve its role in healthcare politics and concerning organizational and personnel aspects of neurological emergencies.
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Neurologie, Klinikum Nürnberg, Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität, Breslauer Str. 201, 90471, Nürnberg, Deutschland.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.affiliation: Schwerpunkt Kardiologie, Zentrale Notaufnahme, Klinikum Nürnberg, Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität, Nürnberg, Deutschland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Popp
authors.affiliation: Klinik für Neurologie, Klinikum Nürnberg, Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität, Breslauer Str. 201, 90471, Nürnberg, Deutschland. erbguth@klinikum-nuernberg.de.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Erbguth
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003479:Curriculum / Q000639:trends; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing / Q000639:trends; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055416:Evidence-Based Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education / Q000639:trends; D005544:Forecasting; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D000070516:Intersectoral Collaboration; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000639:trends; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D009462:Neurology / Q000193:education; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D020521:Stroke / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy
keywords: Acute neurological disorders; Emergencies; Emergency medicine; Neurology; Stroke