• Marcel Émond, Jennifer D Artz, Laurie J Morrison, Carolyn E Snider, Shelley McLeod, Natalie LeSage, Ian G Stiell, and Jeffrey J Perry.
• Faculté de médicine, Département de médicine familiale et de médicine d'urgence, Université Laval, Laval, Quebec City, QC.
• Can J Emerg Med. 2020 Jul 1; 22 (4): 477-485.

ObjectiveOur study objective was to describe the Canadian emergency medicine (EM) research community landscape prior to the initiation of a nationwide network.MethodsA two-phase electronic survey was sent to 17 Canadian medical schools. The Phase 1 Environmental Scan was administered to department chairs/hospital EM chiefs, to identify EM physicians conducting clinical or educational research. The Phase 2 Survey was sent to the identified EM researchers to assess four themes: 1) geographic distribution, 2) training/career satisfaction, 3) time/financial compensation, and 4) research facilitators/barriers. Descriptive analyses were conducted, and results were stratified by Canadian regions.ResultsA total of 92 EM researchers were identified in Phase 1; 67 (73%) responded to the Phase 2 Survey. Of those, 42 (63%) reported being clinical researchers, and 19 (45%) had a graduate degree. Three provinces encompassed most of the researchers (n = 35). Of the respondents, 61% had a research degree, 66% felt adequately trained for their research career, 73% had financial support, 83% had access to office spaces, 52% had no mentor during their first years of their career, 69% felt satisfied with their research career, and 82% suggested that they will still be conducting research in 5 years.ConclusionEM researchers reported being adequately trained, even though only a little over half had a graduate degree. Only two-thirds had financial support, and mentorship was lacking in one-third of the participants. Not all respondents had a form of infrastructure, but most felt optimistic about their careers. The Canadian EM research environment could be improved to ensure better research capacity.

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