A new report, released by the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University of Albany in New York, suggests that the aging population and rising ranks of the uninsured, combined with the current workforce shortages and “maldistribution” of staff in the emergency care field, will drive future demand for emergency medical services.
Among the problems outlined in the report are the current RN shortage (particularly the shortage of RNs trained in emergency medicine), the potential future shortage of ED physicians, and the recruitment and retention of EMTs.
The report also determined that geographic location and urban or rural designation played an important role in the composition of the emergency medical response workforce; for example, rural states had 7.7 ED physicians per 100,000 people, compared with 9.3 ED physicians per 100,000 residents in more urban areas; similar patterns were found among ED RNs and physician assistants (“Emergency Care Workforce in the U.S.,” August 2006).