RESPECT EM!

Research Education and Stimulation Program Creating Tomorrow’s Emergency Medicine

RESPECT EM!

Published scholarly activity by Dutch emergency physicians has markedly trailed the overall development of the specialty of Emergency Medicine (EM) in the Netherlands. A 2013 Dutch study by Koning et al, about EM trainees revealed, “Scientific research should be facilitated more.” The same study concluded that, “Even though research and publications are essential to positioning EM as a fully qualified specialty, residents lag behind in a research role. While they were stimulated to undertake research, they received very little support.” The same is true for EM trainers, supervisors and faculty members. Another 2013 study by Ahmed et al found that structured residency research programs are associated with higher resident research productivity and publication rates.

Every medical specialist working in a teaching hospital must participate in scholarly activities and research. Development of a “Dijklander ziekenhuis scientific culture” is an important goal of our teaching hospital. The scientific domain of Emergency Medicine is not yet well developed in the Netherlands and scholarship at the Westfriesgasthuis will help establish that domain.

The Dijklander Ziekenhuis EM Residency Directors approached a US-based consultant with research and medical writing expertise and they together developed the RESPECT EM! project. The thought being that a consultant could quickly and easily “import” research and medical writing capability into an ED primed to receive that knowledge. A team of resident and faculty physicians was assembled at the Dijklander Ziekenhuis to participate in the project. We see RESPECT EM! as a possible valuable model for others in EM wishing to spur the development of their own research and medical writing programs.