Emergency department technicians in a university-county hospital: a 15-year experience.

Technicians have assisted physicians in many specialty areas in which a small number of procedures and limited expertise could be quickly mastered and used regularly. We describe a program of training and graded responsibility of emergency department technicians focusing on laceration and wound care, splinting, IV catheter placement, and other procedures for critically ill or injured patients. Infection rates of wounds sutured by technicians are comparable to those reported by physicians using similar techniques. In a time of nursing shortages, technicians are an alternative for supplementing the traditional providers of emergency care.