JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association
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Because of an explosive increase in the use of emergency rooms in hospitals across the country, many hospitals have found it expedient to employ full-time emergency physicians. The demand for emergency physicians has prompted the development of training programs in emergency medicine in academic medical centers. ⋯ With the increasing identification and distribution of emergency physicians, there has been an attempt to develop emergency medicine as a distinct discipline and to establish its legitimacy in the structure of academic medical centers. A variety of problems must be addressed to clarify the role of emergency medicine in the academic setting.