Emergency medicine in China: redefining a specialty.

The People's Republic of China (PRC) is developing a unique system of emergency medical facilities based on its own conditions, adapting elements of both North American and European models, as well as creating some of its own. This ongoing evolution of a system for provision of emergency medical care reflects a society that is itself in rapid transition. There have been great strides in the advancement of this specialty over the last two decades. China now has an Emergency Medicine (EM) association, training programs, and specialty journals. Nevertheless, although an organizational framework now exists, development of EM in China as a whole can be said to be at an early stage. The number of trained practitioners is still small, and EMS providers are generally not trained or integrated except in a few large cities. By all estimates, the pace of growth of EM in China will continue to accelerate as China's economy and demographics approach those of the west, but the final form they will take is still uncertain.