Emergency medicine 2025: Revolution required in emergency services!

Emergency medicine 2025: Revolution required in emergency services!

On October 8, 2025, the new “Key points paper 2025 on emergency medical care for the population in preclinical and clinical settings” was published. The editor is Prof. Dr. Hartwig Marung, who heads the Rescue Management course at the Medical School Hamburg (MSH) and works at the Schleswig-Holstein University Hospital in Lübeck. This key issues paper represents the updated version of the previous document from 2016, which is considered the most frequently cited article in the journal “Emergency and Rescue Medicine”. The recommendations contained in this document have already been included in statements by the Advisory Council for Health Care and in various legislative procedures, such as medicalschool-hamburg.de reported.

Developments in the emergency services in recent years clearly show that the need for sound reforms is more urgent than ever. The number of deployments in the rescue service has increased continuously by around 4 percent per year over the last decade. The COVID-19 pandemic has added to the existing challenges in the healthcare system, further increasing the burden on emergency services. Experts and advocacy groups are increasingly arguing for a fundamental reform of emergency care to meet increasing demands and demographic change.

Challenges in emergency services

The complex challenges include, in particular, personnel management as well as the increased medical and technical requirements. Demographic change is leading to an increasing number of older, multimorbid patients, which further increases the demands on the emergency services. In addition, the introduction of the Emergency Paramedic Act (NotSanG) in 2014 significantly changed the role of the emergency paramedic. Emergency paramedics have advanced skills that enable them to carry out certain medical measures independently, which partially relieves the previous tasks of emergency doctors. Loud dgpm-online.org However, this also requires adjustments in training and professionalization of emergency service management.

A significant shortage of skilled workers characterizes the current situation in the rescue service. High fluctuation and inadequate training opportunities contribute to the exhaustion of existing staff. In addition, digitalization in the emergency services has made insufficient progress, although some digital innovations have already been implemented. The legal and financial framework varies greatly between the federal states, which makes nationwide quality assurance difficult.

The way into the future

Given the multitude of challenges, interdisciplinary collaboration becomes essential to develop evidence-based solutions. Future developments in emergency services require new qualification models for emergency doctors and rescue service personnel that impart both the necessary theoretical and practical skills. It remains to be hoped that the results from the new key points paper will be promptly implemented into concrete measures to sustainably improve the quality of emergency medical care in Germany. The Research in the field of emergency services is also underdeveloped, highlighting the urgent need for studies and data collection to address future challenges.