The Division of Emergency Medicine at Dalhousie University has become only the second in Canada to receive departmental status. The move, approved by the university's Board of Governors in June, means that Dalhousie joins Queen's University in having a full-fledged Department of Emergency Medicine.
Dr. Douglas Sinclair, who will head the new department, said there are great variations in the way academic emergency medicine is treated across the country. "I think this is another sign of the maturing of the specialty and recognition of the work we are doing," he said, adding that the move will help put emergency doctors on an equal footing with other specialists, such as anesthetists and obstetricians.
Emergency medicine was already a free-standing division with its own budget at Dalhousie, and its budget will not grow because of its new status. "This will not change the academic and research activities we have been involved in," added Sinclair, "but it better reflects what we do. It is certainly nice to have this distinction and recognition among our peers in the academic community."
Sinclair is convinced that the Dalhousie decision will be repeated elsewhere because "emergency medicine has shown that it has a unique body of knowledge. At the moment, though, there is great variance across the country in the way the specialty is treated."
The new department has 40 part-time faculty members, spread throughout the Maritime provinces.
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