Members of an American College of Emergency Physicians/Society of Academic Emergency Medicine Task Force brought together to collaborate with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to advance emergency medicine research were recently rewarded with a momentous event to mark their efforts: the announcement of a national K12 career development grant program specifically for emergency medicine researchers.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Research Career Development Programs in Emergency Medicine Research grant will allow emergency medicine researchers to secure advanced training in research techniques that they can then apply directly to questions affecting patient care. According to its Web site, the NHLBI intends to commit approximately $1.08 million in 2011 and $20.79 million in total costs over a 5-year period in support of the program.

“Emergency medicine research can directly impact the quality and duration of patients’ lives, and emergency physicians strive every day to enhance the quality and quantity of their patients’ lives,” said Dr. Charles B. Cairns, professor and chair of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine’s department of emergency medicine and ACEP/SAEM Task Force co-chair.

“Now, with the NIH’s interest in supporting patient-focused research, we’ll have a formal research structure to address some of the key issues affecting their practice,” he said.

The federally funded program “is a major step forward, and it reflects the sincerity of the NIH’s commitment, especially in these difficult financial times, to support emergency care research,” said Dr. Roger J. Lewis, professor of medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center’s department of emergency medicine and ACEP/SAEM Task Force co-chair.

‘for emergency medicine to have a major initiative within the NIH is a remarkable accomplishment for our field.’

Dr. Robert W. Neumar, associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine and ACEP/SAEM Task Force member, agreed.

“This is the first NIH funding initiative specifically targeted to emergency care research, and we believe this is a landmark event and the first tangible evidence that the efforts we’ve engaged in over the past 5 years are paying off,” Dr. Neumar said.

Earlier this year, task force members met with Dr. Francis S. Collins, NIH Director, to continue discussions about emergency medicine research that originated at individual NIH institutes during the 2005 ACEP Scientific Assembly in Washington, D.C.

“Emergency physicians can take to heart that the NIH is listening to actual practicing emergency physicians regarding what kind of research we need to be doing in the future to improve the quality of care provided to our patients,” said Dr. Lewis, adding that the NIH is going to great lengths to address areas of concern, such as exactly which institute or center emergency care research falls under at the NIH.