Article about the needs of the Danish EMS

On the occasion of Emergency Medicine Day I have written a feature article together with Henrik Ømark and Annette Jakobsen about emergency medicine in Denmark. At home, as in the rest of the world, skilled emergency doctors and emergency nurses have been crucial to hospitals’ handling of the COVID pandemic. It has created respect for our young specialty and shown us the need. But it has also shown us the vulnerability. We didn’t cancel anything under COVID, but took care of all emergency patients who came to us. COVID or not. In a system at the capacity limit, each new task will take something from someone else. We need robust staffing of our emergency departments and, in particular, the need for specialist doctors is critical. With the Danish Health and Medicines Authority’s proposal for a dimension plan, we will not achieve the necessary number of specialists in emergency medicine for many, many years.