title: Emergency medicine as a growing career in Iran: an Internet-based survey.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In Iran, few studies have evaluated emergency medicine as a career option. In the present study, we aimed to find out how Iranian emergency-medicine specialists view their specialty as a career.
  
  
  METHODS
  Following a qualitative study, a Likert-scale questionnaire was developed. Iranian emergency physician specialists who had at least two years' job experience were contacted via email. A uniform link to a Web-based survey and a cover letter that explained the survey were sent to the recipients. We used the Kruskal-Wallis test and post hoc analysis to determine the differences between demographic subgroups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 109 eligible responses were received, a response rate of 72.63%. Of the responders, 57.8% were 30-40 years of age, 86.2% were male, 86.2% were single, 84.4% were faculty members and 90.8% had fewer than 10 years' job experience. The main problems occurring during the career of Iranian emergency physicians were: insufficient income, inadequate recognition of the specialty by the community, inadequate union support, insecurity in the emergency wards, overcrowding, job stresses and night shifts. Despite insufficiency of income, Iranian emergency physicians (EPs) did not care about the financial benefits of patient care. Academic activity had positive effects on the perspectives of Iranian emergency physicians regarding their careers.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Iranian emergency physicians and leaders in emergency medicine should struggle to improve the present situation, aiming at an ideal state.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Imam Khomeini Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14117-13137, Iran.
authors.forename: Shervin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Farahmand
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14117-13137, Iran.
authors.forename: Ehsan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Karimialavijeh
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14117-13137, Iran.
authors.forename: Hojjat Sheikh Mottahar
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Vahedi
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Shariati Hospital, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14117-13137, Iran.
authors.forename: Amirhossein
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jahanshir
keywords: Career; Emergency medicine; Survey