Military Emergency Medicine

Revised and approved by the ACEP Board of Directors April 2008
Reaffirmed by the ACEP Board of Directors October 2001
Revised and approved by the ACEP Board of Directors June 1997 titled, "Military Emergency Medicine" 
Originally approved by the ACEP Board of Directors June 1988 titled, "Military Emergency Medical Systems" 

The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) believes that military emergency medical care should adhere to the same standards and provide the same quality emergency medical care as the civilian community, in addition to meeting the military mission of supporting overall operational readiness.

• Emergency physicians, as subject matter experts, are recognized as leaders in planning, implementing, and monitoring emergency care at all levels, from Department of Defense to individual military medical facilities. The military services should ensure that emergency physicians have a central role in emergency medical readiness training and contingency planning.
• The provision of emergency care and the level of emergency department (ED) staffing at military hospitals should be determined by community need, including both severity of complaints and volume of patients. At remote military sites without available civilian EDs, the military should staff and equip EDs to provide appropriate emergency care, regardless of severity of complaints or volume of patients.
• A high number of nonemergent patients can cause crowding and interferes with the ability to deliver emergency care. To prevent this situation, the military hospital should expand or develop alternate sites of care or other mechanisms to improve access.
• Military EDs must be staffed with appropriate numbers of trained emergency physicians, other providers, nurses, and technicians and ensure their maintenance of skills through clinical experience and continuing training.
• Military EDs must provide 24-hour staffing with an adequate complement of emergency physicians who are certified by entities described in ACEP’s policy, "ACEP Recognized Certifying Bodies in Emergency Medicine." Nonphysician providers and non-emergency-trained physicians may augment ED coverage under the supervision of an emergency physician who is present in the ED or available for consultation.
• All levels of medical, nursing, and technician staff assigned to the ED must meet national and professional standards for the respective professions. Physician credentialing must adhere to the ACEP policy, "Physician Credentialing and Delineation of Clinical Privileges in Emergency Medicine." Staffing the ED by floating personnel temporarily from other clinical areas does not promote quality emergency care. Staff should be consistently assigned to the ED.

Military EDs should have department or service status comparable to other major clinical services at a given facility. The medical director of an ED should be certified by entities described in ACEP’s policy, "ACEP Recognized Certifying Bodies in Emergency Medicine."