Christus Spohn provided a unique learning environment, far from academic settings and competing residency programs, Dr. Schmitz said. “By all accounts, it’s a wonderful place to train. It feels emotional to the people there … But people have to understand that training residents is expensive.”

Angela Gardner, MD, FACEP, an ACEP Past President and professor of emergency medicine at University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, said the cost of supporting and teaching residents outweighs the inexpensive labor they provide.

“I still believe in our mission of having an emergency department residency-trained doctor in every emergency room in the country,” she said. “I never had to lift a finger to get a job in emergency medicine. People wanted emergency doctors back then. Maybe that’s what has changed.”

Larry Beresford is a freelance medical journalist based in Oakland, Calif., with a specialty in hospice and palliative care and thorough experience covering hospital medicine.

References

1. Marco CA, Courtney DM, Ling LJ. The Emergency Medicine Physician Workforce: Projections for 2030. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2021 Dec.; 78(6): 726-737.
2. Schmitz GR, Jarou ZJ. The emergency medicine match: Is the sky falling or is this just growing pains. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2023 Nov.; 82(5):608-610.