countries Archives

We currently published an article about countries recognize Emergency Medicine (EM) as a specialty. There is a huge interest from the international EM community. We received feedback from many FOAMed followers/enthusiasts. There were 70 countries on our list. After the new information and feedback, the countries reached 82. What an amazing help! And, What a fantastic specialty growing and spreading all around the globe.

70

82 If you have new information or update about countries please let us know!
We will be happy to update our list.

Cite this article as: iEM Education Project Team, "Update on Countries Recognize EM As A Specialty," in International Emergency Medicine Education Project, May 17, 2019, https://iem-student.org/2019/05/17/update-on-countries-recognize-em-as-a-specialty/, date accessed: December 3, 2022

As health care professionals working on Emergency medicine, our history is still being written. Let’s say you would like to learn which countries officially recognize Emergency Medicine (EM) as a specialty, and want to make a beautiful interactive infographic depicting these countries with their official EM recognition years (Because, why not?). It should be an easy task, right? WRONG.

What is your guess?

How many countries recognize Emergency Medicine as a specialty?

How many countries recognize Emergency Medicine as a specialty?
Acil Tıp kaç ülkede bir uzmanlık dalı olarak kabul edilmektedir?
— İbrahim Sarbay (@ibrahimsarbay) May 12, 2019

Even though it seems like a simple question which should have a clear answer, the answer is somewhat of a conundrum. There are a few difficulties for the answer. First of all, what is the definition of “recognition”? Could it be possible to consider having an EM residency program or the presence of EM specialists in a country as recognition? Probably not. Secondly, some of the countries recognize EM as a specialty but the exact year of recognition is unclear. Also, the answer may vary between articles and makes it hard to choose one. To make things clear, we have accepted the definition of “recognition” as a country’s official approvement of Emergency Medicine as a primary specialty. Countries recognizing EM as a supra-specialty (such as Switzerland) were also considered as a recognizing country in our list.

Anyway, we have rolled our sleeves up and dug deep. Many articles and tweets later, we had all the data available on this topic. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time an article or blog post lists EM’s official dates of recognition for the entire world. We have also taken one step further and showed them on a neat interactive map.

So here we go: As of 05/2019, there are 82 countries in the world which recognize EM as a specialty. 13 countries from Africa, 27 countries from Asia, 13 countries from the America, 27 countries from Europe, and two countries from Oceania recognize EM.

As a well-known fact, the first two countries to recognize EM as a specialty are the United States and the U.K. Which are the latest? Germany and Denmark are the most recent of these countries, as both of them recognized EM in 2018. Perhaps, one year later, there will be new countries which welcome EM specialty. Who knows?

Shall we take a look at the current situation in an eye-pleasing way? Of course! You can view our interactive map right here. You can view maps with colors corresponding to the years of EM recognition for each country in the world (darker the color, earlier the date) in Figure 1. You can also view continental maps for Africa, Asia, Americas, Europe and Oceania in Figures 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, respectively.

Figure 1. Countries Recognize Emergency Medicine as a Specialty

WORLD

Figure 2. Countries Recognize Emergency Medicine as a Specialty

AFRICA

Figure 3. Countries Recognize Emergency Medicine as a Specialty

ASIA

Figure 4. Countries Recognize Emergency Medicine as a Specialty

AMERICA

Figure 5. Countries Recognize Emergency Medicine as a Specialty

EUROPE

Figure 6. Countries Recognize Emergency Medicine as a Specialty

OCEANIA

For the ones who believe nothing is better than a list, all countries are listed in alphabetical order in Table 1. Table 1. List of counties which recognize EM as a specialty (alphabetical order).

Table 1. List of counties which recognise EM as a specialty (alphabetical order).

Country Name	Year of Recognition
Albania	2011
Argentina	2010
Australia	1993
Bahrain	2001 *
Belgium	2005
Bulgaria	1996
Botswana	2011
Brazil	2016
Canada	1979
Chile	2013
Colombia	2005
Costa Rica	1994
Croatia	2009
Cuba	2000 §
Czech Republic	2013
Denmark	2018
Dominican Republic	2000
Egypt	2003
Estonia	2015
Ethiopia	2010
Finland	2012
France	2015
Georgia	2015
Germany	2018 #
Ghana	2015
Greece	2017 #
Haiti	2014
Hong Kong	1997
Hungary	2003
Iceland	1992
India	2009
Iran	2002
Iraq	2013
Ireland	2003
Israel	2009
Italy	2008
Japan	2003
Jordan	2003
Kenya	2017
Laos	2017
Lebanon	2012
Libya	2013
Lithuania	2013
Malaysia	2002
Malawi	2010
Malta	2004
Mexico	1986
Morocco	2002
Myanmar	2012
Netherlands	1998
New Zealand	1995
Nicaragua	1993
Norway	2017
Oman	1999
Pakistan	2010
Peru	1999
Philippines	1988
Poland	1999
Qatar	2000
Romania	1999
Rwanda	2013
Saudi Arabia	2001
Serbia	1992
Singapore	1984
Slovakia	2003
Slovenia	2006
South Africa	2004
South Korea	1996
Sri Lanka	2011
Sudan	2011
Sweden	2015
Switzerland	2009 #
Taiwan	1998
Tanzania	2011
Thailand	2003
Tunisia	2005
Turkey	1993
United Arab Emirates	2004
United Kingdom	1993
United States	1972
Vietnam	2010
Yemen	2000

* Exact year of EM recognition in Bahrain is unknown and establishing of The Bahrain Emergentologist Association (BEMASSO) in 2004 accepted as the recognition year for this infographic.
§ Cuba has an EM/intensive care unit (ICU) training program which was begun in 2000.
# EM is considered as a supra-specialty in Germany, Greece, and Switzerland.

That is all for now! Please feel free to share it and comment on this list. Also, please tell us if we had any countries left behind or if there were any mistakes. EM family grows every day!

Together we are stronger!

References and Further Reading

Swanson RC, Soto NR, Villafuerte AG, Emergency medicine in Peru, J Emerg Med. 2005 Oct;29(3):353-6, DOI:10.1016/j.jemermed.2005.02.013
Garcia-Rosas C, Iserson KV, Emergency medicine in México, J Emerg Med. 2006 Nov;31(4):441-5, DOI:10.1016/j.jemermed.2006.05.024
Al-Azri NH, Emergency medicine in Oman: current status and future challenges,Int J Emerg Med. 2009 Dec 11;2(4):199-203. doi: 10.1007/s12245-009-0143-6.
Sakr M, Wardrope J, Casualty, accident and emergency, or emergency medicine, the evolution, J Accid Emerg Med. 2000 Sep;17(5):314-9.
Pek J.H., Lim S.H., Ho H.F., Emergency medicine as a specialty in Asia, Acute Med Surg. 2016 Apr; 3(2): 65–73, doi: 10.1002/ams2.154
Fleischmann T, Fulde G.,Emergency medicine in modern Europe, Emerg Med Australas. 2007 Aug;19(4):300-2.
Partridge R., Emergency medicine in Cuba: an update, Am J Emerg Med. 2005 Sep;23(5):705-6, DOI: 10.1016/j.ajem.2005.03.006.
MacFarlane C, van Loggerenberg C, Kloeck W.,International EMS systems in South Africa–past, present, and future,Resuscitation. 2005 Feb;64(2):145-8,DOI:10.1016/j.resuscitation.2004.11.003

Cite this article as: Ibrahim Sarbay, Turkey, "Countries Recognize Emergency Medicine as a Specialty," in International Emergency Medicine Education Project, May 13, 2019, https://iem-student.org/2019/05/13/countries-recognize-emergency-medicine/, date accessed: December 3, 2022