routine errata and addendums. Likewise, medication websites provide ED physicians and other staff with quick access to monographs on all prescription, nonprescription, and herbal preparations, as well as information on drug interactions and prescription costs. Many of these services are evolving to provide an increased level of integration into the clinical information system so that, for example, a provider who encountered an unfamiliar diagnosis in a patient record could read a summary simply by clicking on its name.

In addition, IT translation and visual communication tools can help providers deal with the dozens of languages that are heard in the ED. Important applications include the gathering of information for triage and diagnosis, communication regarding treatment decisions and care in the hospital, and provision of written information to patients for subsequent compliance and follow-up.

The nature of emergency medicine requires clinicians to rapidly assess a situation and execute an intervention plan, often with incomplete information. Extensive training can help prepare future emergency medicine staff for these types of challenging situations. Just as with the training of commercial airline pilots, computer-driven simulators can provide valuable educational experiences for both the development and evaluation of emergency practitioners’ knowledge (Gordon et al., 2004). Simulation also can be especially useful for training emergency medicine residents in invasive procedures (Vozenilek et al., 2004). The potential of IT-based training and simulation recently led the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine to issue the following recommendation:

Real-time population health monitoring is an emerging technology in emergency and public health informatics. Initial efforts have focused largely on regional monitoring of disease among ED patients. Interest and funding in this area were propelled in 2000 and 2001 by concerns about bioterrorism.

Front Matter (R1-R26)

Summary (1-16)

1 Introduction (17-36)

2 The Evolving Role of Hospital-Based Emergency Care (37-80)

3 Building a 21st-Century Emergency Care System (81-128)

4 Improving the Efficiency of Hospital-Based Emergency Care (129-164)

5 Technology and Communications (165-208)

6 The Emergency Care Workforce (209-258)

7 Disaster Preparedness (259-290)

8 Enhancing the Emergency Care Research Base (291-320)

Appendix A Committee and Subcommittee Membership (321-322)

Appendix B Biographical Information for Main Committee and Hospital- Based Emergency Care Subcommittee (323-336)

Appendix C List of Presentations to the Committee (337-342)

Appendix D List of Commissioned Papers (343-344)

Appendix E Statistics on Emergency and Trauma Care Utilization (345-352)

Appendix F Historical Development of Hospital-Based Emergency and Trauma Care (353-364)

Appendix G Recommendations and Responsible Entities from the Future of Emergency Care Series (365-382)

Index (383-398)