Hi DevelopingEMers- yes we’re back and as usual the program is our early focus.
We like to give you a near complete program as soon as possible so you can make a decision early about joining us.
This year we are aiming to strengthen the clinical components and broaden the experiential elements of the conference.
Our clinical sessions will return to providing next day pearls for the experienced clinician who’s heard it all before.
Our experiential sessions will broaden to cover how challenges have been overcome in Saint Lucia, the Caribbean and around the globe.
And our range of workshops will have both clinical and structural focuses.
Lets look at the Plenary Sessions
Morning Clinical Tracks:
Adult Emergency Medicine & Critical Care
Brian Wright and the team from Stonybrook return with high level talks on bridging the gap between the ER and the ICU.
Brian has been with us since 2014 and his team of experts will be again covering critical care management across the spectrum from asthma to tox to scape to sepsis and much more.
Always one of the best sessions of DevelopingEM.
Paediatric Emergency Medicine & Critical Care
April Kam from McMaster returns as well with a team or paediatric critical care specialists from across North America.
This year will cover the latest PEM evidence as well as covering topic areas all the way from the febrile child, to Paediatric POCUS and the management of Respiratory Failure.
The track will also include fascinating paediatric insights from our host country, Saint Lucia.
Trauma
Neil Ballard is arguably the most experienced prehospital and retrieval physician in Australasia and this year he leads our trauma medicine track. Along with a group of trauma surgeons and critical care clinicians, he will lead discussions in some of the controversies of current trauma management, from transfusion to prehospital thoracotomy, this track has it all.
And then there are the
Afternoon Experiential Tracks:
Emergency Medicine in Saint Lucia
This track centres on the host nation and will be led by local experts.
Expect discussion around:
• Workflow realities
• Staffing models
• Governance
• Locally driven innovation
Emergency Medicine in the Region
This session creates space for regional delegates (that your registration payment has supported to attend) to present practical experiences from across the Caribbean.
International Emergency Medicine
Nat Thurtle (with us since 2012) returns with a team to share experiences of developing systems from around the globe. Always a highlight it will be amazing to have Nat back.
And Now the Workshops:
Paeds BASIC (2 Days)
Paeds BASIC is NOT an introductory paediatric course.
It is a two-day program designed to extend emergency paediatric skills to the intensive care level. It builds beyond APLS and focuses on structured recognition, physiological understanding, and escalation pathways for critically ill children.
Participants will work through advanced respiratory failure, circulatory shock, congenital and cardiac pathology, neurological emergencies, and crisis resource management. The course emphasises disciplined assessment, team communication, and stabilisation in environments where PICU access may be limited or delayed.
This is a significant step above standard life support training — aimed at clinicians who already manage children but want to elevate care to a higher systems and physiological level.
Advanced Emergency Ultrasound (2 Days)
This two-day advanced course is designed for emergency physicians who already use point-of-care ultrasound and want to move beyond basic scanning.
Run by the Alfred Health team, the workshop focuses on advanced integration of ultrasound into decision-making. Expect in-depth work on shock protocols, advanced cardiac assessment, procedural optimisation, and refining diagnostic accuracy in complex presentations.
The emphasis is not on image acquisition alone — but on how ultrasound changes management. Participants should leave with sharper image interpretation skills and a more disciplined framework for integrating POCUS into real-time emergency decisions.
Radiology Interpretation
This workshop is designed for the working emergency physician who relies daily on X-rays, CT scans, and ultrasounds — often before formal radiology interpretation is available.
The focus is practical and high-yield:
• Subtle but critical X-ray findings
• Early CT signs of life-threatening pathology
• Novel bedside ultrasound options
Quick tips, structured review strategies, and pattern recognition refinement form the backbone of this session. The aim is simple: reduce misses and increase diagnostic confidence.
ECG Interpretation
Similar in philosophy to the radiology workshop, this ECG session is built for clinicians who already read ECGs regularly but want to tighten their system.
The workshop emphasises:
• Systematic interpretation under time pressure
• Recognising high-risk but subtle ischaemic patterns
• Differentiating dangerous mimics
• Avoiding premature closur
This is not basic ECG teaching. It is about discipline, consistency, and eliminating avoidable error in cardiac emergencies.
Saint Lucian & Regional Delegate Workshops
Two workshops are specifically designed to strengthen local and regional system development and it is your registration fees that are allowing these to occur.
Emergency Nursing
Focused on triage optimisation, resuscitation leadership, and interdisciplinary coordination, this workshop recognises that emergency system performance depends on nursing leadership and structured team function. It addresses workflow control, crisis communication, and practical leadership strategies within resource-variable environments.
EMS System Management Workshop
This workshop focuses on prehospital system development and governance. It is aimed at strengthening system reliability across the entire emergency care pathway — from first contact to definitive management.
So that’s it another fabulous program for clinicians who already practise emergency medicine daily and want to refine judgment, elevate skill, and strengthen systems.
We’re back — not to repeat what you already know — but to sharpen how you deliver it.
Join us and your Caribbean colleagues in Saint Lucia this November for DevelopingEM 2026.
