Are Emergency Physicians board certified?

More and more Emergency Physicians are board-certified in Emergency Medicine, one of the specialties recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties.  Some board-certified Emergency Medicine physicians received their specialty board certification by "grandfathering in", meaning that they were in practice long before the Emergency Medicine was recognized as a specialty and before Emergency Medicine residency training was widespread.  However, since about 1992, almost all board-certified Emergency Medicine physicians have completed a residency in that specialty, usually of three to four years duration.
In order to become and remain board-certified in Emergency Medicine, a physician must complete a two-part examination (oral and written) and must continue to complete an examination in Emergency Medicine each year.  He or she must then recertify every ten years, by taking additional examinations and demonstrating competence in practice.
Some physicians working in Emergency Departments are "board-eligible" meaning that they have the qualifications to take the Board exams but have not passed those exams yet.  Other physicians working in Emergency Departments may be board-certified in other specialties, often Family Practice or Internal Medicine.  It is becoming increasingly unusual to find a physician working in an Emergency Department who does not fall into one of the these categories. 

Board certification (BC) specialty status is not a given for the Doc that cares for you in an ER. However it is up to the hospital that employs/staffs the ER to set the requirements. In 2009 there were 4,967 ERs and 127,120,372 visits and only 26,394 MD BC -ER docs. It is obvious there are not enough at present to staff all the ERs 24/7 nationwide. The MD Board and DO Board each have specific examinations to certify and re-certify (every 10 years) in the specialty of Emergency Medicine (EM). Those BC are required to do yearly ongoing education before being able to 'sit for recertification. This is similar to DO BC in EM Docs. Commonly, more than ever, the Doc is helped by Physician Assistants (PAs) or nurse practitioners with experience in EM. This will become more common not only due to shortage but given the economics of health care.