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Evolution of the Literature Identifying Physicians' Roles in Leadership, Clinical Development, and Practice of the Subspecialty of Emergency Medical Services

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2011

Michael G. Millin*
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland USA
Lawrence H. Brown
Affiliation:
Anton Breinl Centre for Public Health and Tropical Medicine, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland Australia
Catherine K. Craven
Affiliation:
Welch Medical Library, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland USA
Seth C. Hawkins
Affiliation:
Emergency Medical Care Program, Department of Health Sciences, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina USA
David K. Tan
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri USA
Gina M. Piazza
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, Georgia USA
David C. Cone
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut USA
Richard W. Sattin
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, Georgia USA
*
Correspondence: Michael G. Millin, MD, MPH Department of Emergency MedicineJohns Hopkins University School of MedicineBaltimore, Maryland 21205 USA. E-mail: millin@jhmi.edu
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Abstract

Purpose: The 2007 Institute of Medicine report entitled Emergency Medical Services at the Crossroads identified a need for the establishment of physician subspecialty certification in emergency medical services (EMS). The purpose of this study was to identify and explore the evolution of publications that define the role of the physician in EMS systems in the United States.

Methods: Three comprehensive searches were undertaken to identify articles that define the physician's role in the leadership, clinical development, and practice of EMS. Independent reviewers then evaluated these articles to further determine whether the articles identified the physician's role in EMS. Then, identified articles were classified by the type of publication in order to evaluate the transition from a non-peer reviewed to peer-reviewed literature base and an analysis was performed on the differences in the growth between these two groups. In addition, for the peer-reviewed articles, an analysis was performed to identify the proportion of articles that were quantitative versus qualitative in nature.

Results: The comprehensive review identified 1,504 articles. Ninety articles were excluded due to lack of relevance to the US. The remaining 1,414 articles were reviewed, and 194 papers that address the physician's role within EMS systems were identified; 72 additional articles were identified by hand search of references for a total of 266 articles. The percentage of peer-reviewed articles has increased steadily over the past three decades. In addition, the percentage of quantitative articles increased from the first decade to the second and third decades.

Conclusions: This comprehensive review demonstrates that over the past 30 years an evidence base addressing the role of the physician in EMS has developed. This evidence base has steadily evolved to include a greater proportion of peer-reviewed, quantitative literature.

Information

Type
Comprehensive Review
Copyright
Copyright Millin © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2011
Figure 0

Table 1 Search strategies (EMS = emergency medical services)

Figure 1

Figure 1 Flow of articles from initial search to final data sets (EMS = emergency medical services)

Figure 2

Table 2 Articles published in non-peer-reviewed journals

Figure 3

Table 3 Position statements/governmental reports

Figure 4

Figure 2 Number of peer-reviewed, non-peer-reviewed, and position statements/governmental reports related to the physician's role in EMS, 1978 to 2008

Figure 5

Table 4 Growth of peer-reviewed articles compared to nonpeer reviewed articles

Figure 6

Table 5 Proportion of quantitative versus qualitative articles in the peer-reviewed set

Figure 7

Appendix Articles published in peer-reviewed journals