How many years of education do you need for emergency medicine?

To become a residency trained Emergency physician, you need four years of undergraduate work, 4 years of medical school, and 3 or 4 years of an Emergency medicine (EM) residency. EM residency is 3 or 4 years because there are two paths to training in Emergency medicine: 3 year residencies and 4 year residencies. Noone knows exactly why there are two paths, there just are - mostly for historic reasons. There are no differences in ability to obtain a job or likelihood of passing board certification exams between the two pathways.