The 2007 Model of the Clinical Practice of Emergency Medicine: The 2009 Update

the Residency Review Committee for Emergency Medicine (RRC-EM); and the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM). Development of the EM Model was based on an extensive practice analysis of the specialty. The practice analysis relied on both empiric data gathered from actual emergency department (ED) visits and several expert panels. 1 The resulting product was first published in 2001 2,3 and has successfully served as the common source document for all EM organizations. One of its strengths is incorporating the reality that EM is a specialty driven by symptoms, not diagnoses, requiring simultaneous therapeutic and diagnostic interventions. The task force that developed the EM Model recommended that a new task force, composed of representatives from all six organizations, be formed every 2 years to assess the success of the document in accom-plishing its objective of supporting the ongoing development of the specialty of EM, to consider alterations to the EM Model suggested by the collaborating organizations, and to recommend changes to the six sponsoring organizations.