Emergency medicine clinicians engaged in research are not often aware of many fundamental principles in conducting and disseminating medical research. Ignorance of these fundamentals can lead to investigator frustration, disorganized efforts, and ultimately a reduction of the emergency care researcher pool.

Fortunately, an increasingly large pool of trained investigators has focused their efforts toward emergency care research. Giving these investigators an overview of the unique challenges and opportunities in emergency care research could be valuable, if not critical, to their success in investigations.

The field of emergency medicine now has a growing number of emergency care researchers who know how to find mentors, obtain funding, design research proposals, and disseminate results. Some of this information has been presented in lectures, discussed at national meetings, printed piecemeal in review articles, and published in books. However, a pithy, consolidated, and accessible guide for the junior, novice, or evolving emergency care investigator has not been available.

ACEP’s Emergency Medicine Research Section and Research Committee recognized the need for a short manual to motivate trainees and novice investigators, and to offer an introduction to emergency care research with a hands-on guide to initiating, completing, and disseminating research.

The guide is called Emergency Care Research – A Primer. The chapters in the manual address what emergency care research is, how to identify a research topic, how to find a mentor, key issues in emergency care research, training in research, basics of grant writing, presentation of research results, getting published, top commandments of emergency care research, and how to start a research career.

This work distills the essential components necessary for novice investigators to start a career in emergency care research. Emergency Care Research – A Primer is a resource for everyone engaged in emergency care and will both motivate and encourage investigators to pursue emergency care research. The manual can be obtained at the Research section of ACEP’s website at www.acep.org/research.

Dr. Bebarta (Lt. Col., USAF) is Chief of Medical Toxicology at the Department of Emergency Medicine, Wilford Hall Medical Center, San Antonio, Tex. Dr. Cairns is a Professor and Chair of the Emergency Medicine Department at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.