Ethics in Emergency Medicine Training

While 97% of surveyed emergency medicine residency programs across the United States and Canada use only human-relevant training methods, some medical centers continue to use live animals.

When animals are used, a range of invasive procedures may be performed, including cricothyroidotomy (an incision in the neck to relieve an obstructed airway), pericardiocentesis (removing fluid from the sac that surrounds the heart), chest tube insertion (draining blood, fluid, or air to allow the lung to fully expand), venous cutdown (an incision in a vein to insert a catheter), and diagnostic peritoneal lavage (an incision into the abdomen to insert a catheter in order to detect internal bleeding). In all instances, the medical centers kill the animals at the end of the training sessions.

Yet all emergency procedures can be taught using methods relevant to human medicine, including human-patient simulators, human cadavers, 3D-printed models, and partial task trainers. These methods can bleed, breathe, and even “die” when medical errors occur.

In 2013, the Physicians Committee began a survey of emergency medicine residency programs in the U.S., which was eventually expanded to include Canada. Due to the more recent creation of new programs, the survey is ongoing.

In the emergency room, when every second counts, physicians shouldn’t have to adapt what they learned on a pig to the human patient in front of them.

Kerry Foley, MD, retired emergency medicine physician, Physicians Committee spokesperson

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Here are some of the emergency medicine programs the Physicians Committee is actively working to change. Please take a moment to urge each to replace animals with human-relevant methods.

Ethics in Emergency Medicine Training

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