Zika Virus: What emergency department providers need to know
The Zika virus outbreak has recently been put on “Level 1” activation status by the Emergency Operations Center at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). If you haven’t already thought about this affecting your emergency department, you should starting now. A Level 1 status has been triggered only 3 times in the recent years: Ebola (2014), H1N1 (2009), Hurricane Katrina (2005). The following are some key facts and resources.
Emergency physicians (EPs) have been successfully training in and practicing critical care in the ICU for decades, though until recently board certification remained closed to EPs. In the last few years, however, we have seen monumental changes in training opportunities for EPs, including national standardization of training programs, and most importantly, the establishment of three distinct pathways to board certification. Though the details of some of these pathways are still being worked out, much more concrete arrangements have been reached in the last 6 months. If you are an EM resident interested in applying to critical care fellowships, this is what you need to know.