Your ED may have been randomly selected to participate in the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Third National Workforce Study. The Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) is a co-sponsor of the study. This study is critically important to the understanding of our current emergency care workforce, and also allows us to plan appropriately for the future. For the first time, the study will also examine ED nurse staffing issues. This study is being conducted with the financial support of multiple emergency care organizations including ENA, SAEM, CORD-EM, EMF and EMRA.

This survey has been sent to randomly selected hospital EDs, to be completed by the ED Medical Director and the ED Nurse Manager (two different and complementary surveys). Please encourage your ED colleague to complete the survey as well. The deadline for completing this survey is September 30, 2008.

With your assistance and encouragement, this EM workforce study can be the most successful of its kind. The higher the response rate, the more powerful the arguments will be when discussing EM workforce issues with legislators, government officials, regulatory agencies and the media. As a way of saying “thank you” for taking the time out of your busy schedule to complete the survey, nurse managers will be entered into a drawing for one of twenty-four $50 gift cards from ENA if your completed survey is received prior to August 8, 2008. Both physicians and nurses will also be included in a drawing to win one of five airline tickets good for travel anywhere in the continental United States.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact David McKenzie, ACEP Liaison dmckenzie@acep.org or Frank Counselman, M.D., Chairman of the ACEP Workforce Group counsefl@evms.edu. If you have questions about the on-line survey, please contact Victoria Elder at Booz Allen Hamilton at 703/984-0188.