Jon Krohmer, MD, FACEP, who says he has “the EMS blood type,” practically had a front row seat to the growth of EMS care starting as a volunteer EMT more than 50 years ago. “The evolution of EMS really mirrors the evolution of emergency physicians.” Dr. Krohmer said.

“When EMS really blossomed, physician involvement waned a little bit because there was a very large demand as EMS programs were developing. But there weren’t the physician resources to support that need,” he said.

“But since the mid 80s, we have realized that EMS is the clinical practice of emergency medicine outside of the emergency department. So physicians need to be involved. That was the time that ACEP stepped up.”

In 1974–50 years ago this month—President Gerald Ford saw the life-saving work of EMS teams and declared a national “EMS Week” to honor these men and women and the incredible difference they make on the field and in the trenches.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the first National EMS Week, designed to honor EMS professionals.

At that time, there was physician involvement in EMS, however they weren’t necessarily emergency physicians simply because there weren’t many of them at the time. Emergency medicine wasn’t recognized as a clinical specialty of medicine until 1979. But over the last 20 to 30 years, ACEP and National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP) together have been very intentional about increasing EMS educational activities for emergency physicians, as well as increasing their advocacy for EMS initiatives.

As a result, there has been a significant uptick in emergency physicians who have focused their clinical practice on EMS. There is now an EMS subspecialty within the American Board of Emergency Medicine that to date, has produced about 1,200 board certified EMS physicians throughout the country. There are also hundreds of other emergency physicians involved in EMS as part of their practice but aren’t board certified as EMS subspecialists.

Since 1974, EMS Week has been an annual tribute to the dedication of Emergency Medical Services professionals and is celebrated during the third week of May.

According to Dr. Krohmer, this is encouraging since “it’s important that all emergency physicians have a good understanding of EMS, because they are either serving as a medical director for an EMS agency, or their clinical practice in the emergency department is significantly influenced by EMS.”