Clinical emergency medicine, today and tomorrow.

Properly staffed and equipped EDs are essential to a modern system of health care. In a relatively brief period, emergency medicine has emerged as a major medical specialty. Despite formidable barriers, emergency medicine has substantially improved the quality of prehospital and ED care in the United States. If sufficient support for the specialty can be secured, the future of emergency medicine is bright. If not, the nature of emergency care in the United States will be profoundly changed for years to come.