Dear DGINA homepage visitors,
The members of the German Association for Emergency Medicine (DGINA) see themselves as a creative force for the continuous improvement of emergency medicine. DGINA regards the emergency department as the central interface in the emergency medical care chain.
Emergency medicine – inter professional, spanning specialties and transsectoral
Modern emergency medicine with the correct resources and conditions can guarantee the optimum medical care for all people who are hit by sudden illness. Initial assessment, stabilisation, rapid diagnostics and providing the immediate treatment needed are the individual steps taken for the care of all emergency patients.
In an emergency situation, rapid and symptomorientated work must come before an organ-focused treatment to prevent errors which can be medically dangerous and also cause financial costs. This role demands quick decision-making, a high level of medical expertise and close cooperation between all professional groups involved in emergency medicine.
Inter-professional and interdisciplinary work is absolutely essential for modern emergency medicine. Transsectoral working is a further feature of modern emergency care. Close links are created between hospital emergency departments, family doctor practices providing emergency care, the ambulance service and pre-hospital emergency doctors.
Modern emergency departments are often simultaneously the location for pre-hospital emergency physicians and have often integrated emergency practices provided by family doctors.
Emergency medicine demands specific expertise from doctors and nurses
Emergency patients have a confirmed right to be treated by physicians of specialty standard.
A training curriculum for emergency medicine physicians which leads to a usable professional qualification reflecting the working expertise demanded by modern emergency medicine is a reality in the Anglo-American regions and many European countries. But in Germany this has not yet been achieved.
In Germany, the medical knowledge and the necessary practical skills needed to provide comprehensive emergency medicine are currently divided among several medical specialties. But no single medical specialty currently represented in Germany can meet all the demands needed to provide profound and comprehensive emergency medical care – care which also must include the necessary organisational know-how.
DGINA is seeking a concentration of emergency medical expertise. DGINA is calling for a new qualification as a specialty emergency medicine physician to be introduced in Germany which meets the demands created when seeking to provide the highest quality of emergency care. For this goal, we support the training curriculum for a European specialty physician for emergency medicine set down by the European Society for Emergency Medicine which involves a training period of at least 5 years.
DGINA is also calling for Germany to introduce a separate training programme for emergency physicians which meets international standards and would so be recognised by other European countries. Simultaneously, we also demand that specialty physicians for emergency medicine from other European countries should be recognised as specialty physicians in Germany under the terms of the relevant EU directives. Doctors who have long worked in emergency medicine have a right for their commitment and expertise to receive specialty recognition and must have the right to freely select their place of work inside Europe.
Nursing personnel in emergency departments have their own specialist work which requires specific training. In this sector too, DGINA supports initiatives to increase professionalism which in turn helps to raise the attractiveness of the emergency department as a place to work.
DGINA is a dynamic and young society which has the goal of supporting all those who have chosen independent emergency medicine as their professional goal. We are facing up to the current medical, organisational and economic challenges in our sector. Our activities in DGINA in congresses and working groups aim to spread the expertise needed to meet these challenges and to seek answers to the current questions facing our sector.
We believe emergency medicine is a fascinating and varied profession which in Germany will surely face a decisive period of further development in the coming years. We invite you to become a part of this development. Everyone who as a member of DGINA wants to help support transsectoral, interdisciplinary and highly-professional emergency medicine in Germany is warmly welcome to be a member.
Your C. Dodt