DevelopingEM is now accredited for CME/CPD through the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM).  For each hour of conference and workshop education ACEM allocates 1 CME/CPD point.

The program is now accredited for 33 points for the plenary from December 3-6, 2018 and 9 points for the NAEMSP Workshop on Sunday, December 2, 2018.

North American, British and European colleges do not directly accredit conferences organised outside of these regions. Despite this ACEP, AAEM, CAEP, UKEM and EUSEM all allow individual delegates to apply for CME/CPD for internationally endorsed conferences.

So for our North American, British and European colleagues attending DevelopingEM 2018 Fiji there is the capacity to utilise the conference for your CME/CPD.

DevelopingEM will be providing conference certificates displaying the ACEM accreditation achieved during your attendance and we are happy to provide further information if required by your college.

Come to DevelopingEM 2018 Fiji – We are accredited!

The SPC is the principal scientific and technical organisation in the Pacific region, proudly supporting development throughout the region since its establishment under the Canberra Agreement in 1947.

It is an international development organisation owned and governed by the 26 country and territory members stretching from Papua New Guinea, in the West, to the Pitcairn Islands, in East, and Hawaii, in the North, to New Zealand, in the South.

The mission of the SPC is to work for the well being of Pacific people through the effective and innovative application of science and knowledge, guided by a deep understanding of Pacific Island contexts and cultures.

A central goal of SPC is to ensure that Pacific people reach their potential and live long and healthy lives.

The importance of public health surveillance and response, and the crucial role of emergency medicine as a part of this response has been recognised by SPC.

A few months ago DevelopingEM was introduced to Dr Berlin Kafoa of the SPC by our regional partners.

Berlin is the Team Leader of the Regional Clinical Services Program (SSCSIP) based at the Pacific Community.

Apart from other regional clinical activities the program supports the participation of Pacific Clinicians, including nurses, in regional clinical forums not only for capacity building opportunities but also to discuss regional clinical issues and solutions.

We at DevelopingEM were enormously honoured by Berlin’s subsequent suggestion to combine our efforts and support the attendance at DevelopingEM 2018 Fiji of as many regional Pacific clinicians as possible.

The supported attendance of local and regional clinicians really is the heart and soul of DevelopingEM and we leapt at the chance to expand the reach of the conference by teaming up with Berlin and SPC.

Since our initial discussions we have formulated an initial plan to support the attendance of clinicians from 10 regional nations.

The involvement of the SPC means this years’ conference will have more supported regional delegates than any of our previous events and we are extremely thankful for Berlin’s enthusiastic support.

As well as supporting regional attendance Berlin is going to coordinate a regional EM development forum during the December conference. More on this soon!

So all in all this partnership is a very exciting development for DevelopingEM and we already know that our relationship with Berlin and SPC will make this years’ event very special indeed.

Join us for what will be the most unique conference of 2018.

The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) and the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia (CENA) have both in the last week formally come out to support the Colombo Declaration.

It is truly amazing that our local EM colleges have supported this important Declaration.

Our next efforts to further spread the word will focus on involving other national medical bodies and governmental agencies at all levels before formally approaching the United Nations.

We encourage you to help as well.

Visit www.stopbombinghospitals.org. Here you will find more information, an ‘Act Now’ page with more details on how you can help stop these hospital attacks including a letter pro forma that you can personalise to send to our political leaders and links to other organisations advocating for this cause.

We would also encourage you to approach your employers, specialist medical colleges, other medical associations, write to your Federal Member of Parliament and feel free to forward the Declaration.

From all of us within SSCCEM and Developing EM we thank ACEM and CENA for their support and we hope to be able to update you on our progress with this issue very soon.

 

In 2014 during our conference in Salvador, Brazil, Anne Creaton from Melbourne explained how EM was developing as a specialty in Fiji.

Check out her presentation here.

Since then Anne and many other local and international clinicians have made incredible strides in a specialty tailor made for the demands of acute medicine in the Pacific.

Check out the Friends of Emergency Care in Fiji Facebook Page to see how things continue to develop on a daily basis.

In December at DEM 2018 you will hear much more about the challenges and solutions in the development of EM in Fiji and the Pacific from local champions during three sessions devoted to these presentations.

As we have discovered during our past conferences these sessions are not only simply interesting but very often provide solutions to problems that can be taken back to our own settings.

Join us in Fiji for DEM 2018 for this years’ best opportunity to learn from and interact with the most innovative clinicians from around the globe.

Register Here!

In introducing last years’ conference Mark explains who we are, where we’re going, and where your money goes.

Check out the presentation and video from 2016.

At the time we weren’t quite sure what the future held but now as you know we’re excitedly taking the concept to Fiji and the Pacific.

We hope you can help us make this happen as part of the DevelopingEM team.

See you in Viti Levu in December!!

Over the last year DevelopingEM has been re-evaluating the way we can best make our concept sustainable in the long term and provide a better service for our delegates.

After a huge amount of thought, advice and discussion we have decided to partner with Alfred Emergency and Trauma Centre based in Melbourne.

Alfred Emergency and Trauma Centre will be collaborating with us to provide our event management for the upcoming DevelopingEM 2018 Fiji conference.

We really feel that this established organisation will be a fantastic fit for DevelopingEM now and into the future.

As you may be aware, The Alfred Emergency and Trauma Centre formalised its existing academic activities into a program of educational events, conferences and research projects in 2014. Since then the infrastructure team has been in an excellent position to provide event management and support for events such as ours. They also have gained plenty of experience in that time coordinating multiple research projects, masters programs, short course programs, fellowship programs, major symposia and international education collaborations.

Not only do they have experience but they have already focussed on improving our bottom line and are obviously on the same page as DevelopingEM by aiming to reduce overheads so we can do more for you and our regional delegate sponsorship.

This major move was suggested by Peter Cameron and Gerard O’Reilly who in their roles at the Monash / Alfred Injury Network have worked extensively with The Alfred Emergency and Trauma Centre. Peter and Gerard coordinated our trauma track last year and Peter has helped us out since our first test conference in 2012. They have both folded into our Medical Organising Committee and will be advising us on faculty and program development this year and in the future.

We will continue to have faculty input from outside Australasia and our connections in New York, Brian Wright, Peter Viccellio and Billy Mallon are developing aspects of this years’ program and already looking at options for 2019 in their neck of the woods, with the possible options being Colombia or Peru.

Its a very exciting time for DevelopingEM and we’re confident that this new direction will provide an improved conference experience for all our delegates.

Please help us welcome Ann-Maree Guirguis, Education Event & Project Co-ordinator, and Jessica Hocking, Manager of Academic and International Programs, from the Alfred Emergency and Trauma Centre.  They’re a team we’re already throughly impressed with and we get the feeling we will be working with them for many years to come.

We have some great news from the team at Developing EM.

After taking a hiatus in 2017 we are thrilled to announce that we have been officially invited to host our 2018 conference in Fiji!

The conference will be held at the beautiful InterContinental Fiji Golf Resort & Spa on the stunning Natadola Bay on the main Fijian island, Viti Levu, from

Monday, 3rd December – Thursday, 6th December 2018.

This unique event not only offers an outstanding and focused learning experience but also presents the opportunity to visit this enchanting country.

We are currently developing the agenda with our global faculty and have received extraordinary local and regional interest.

At this stage we are planning tracks in Paediatrics, Emergency Medicine in Fiji, Adult Emergency Medicine in Critical Care and Trauma. There will also be a breakout session focusing on Emergency Nursing and an optional preconference 2 day Ultrasound workshop.

DevelopingEM 2018 Fiji will be an amazing experience and we look forward to seeing you all in the hub of the Pacific.

Lee, Mark and Sanj.

 

The issue of attacks on medical facilities in conflict zones was brought to the fore by several presentations during the DevelopingEM 2016 Sri Lanka conference. The moving presentation by Kass Thomas describes the 2015 attack on the MSF run Kunduz Trauma Centre in Afghanistan. It contains emotional content and graphic images. A petition of the faculty and delegates at the 2016 conference recorded unanimous condemnation of past and ongoing attacks on health care facilities. At the suggestion of our friends and colleagues within the Sri Lankan Society of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine (SSCCEM) an attempt to crystallise the feelings of the faculty and delegates into a formal declaration was undertaken. The resultant Colombo Declaration was presented formally during the plenary session of the very recent SLEMCON 2017 conference. The Declaration is the result of 12 months of thought, discussion and consultation and all those involved are extremely grateful to the SSCCEM for fostering its development and allowing for it be formally presented during SLEMCON. As a group we would be very grateful if you consider the Declaration enunciated below.  

 

In follow up to the release of the Declaration we plan to promote the issue across a range of platforms as well as approach colleagues, medical bodies, and government with the ultimate aim being to enhance the enforcement of the Geneva Conventions and UNSC Resolution 2286.

What can you do?

Visit the Stop Bombing Hospitals website.

Spread the word.

Educate your colleagues.

Approach your employers, specialist medical colleges, and other medical associations to promote and support the Declaration.

Write to your Federal Member of Parliament and feel free to forward the Declaration

From all of us within SSCCEM and Developing EM we thank you for your support and we hope to be able to update you on our progress with this issue very soon.

Since December we have been working on acquiring a Low Fidelity Simulation set up for the National Hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Thanks to the generosity and assistance of iSimulate , you as DevelopingEMers have facilitated the purchase of a

ALSi- Advanced Patient Condition Simulator

and a

Crash Kelly Mannequin

which used together create a flexible realistic simulation based training option.

We are hoping to get the purchase to Sri Lanka in time for the first dedicated emergency medicine conference to be held in Sri Lanka- SLEMCON2017 – between the 5th and 14th of November this year.

The gear will initially be used as part of the conference but will then serve to train residents in emergency medicine at the National Hospital in Colombo.

Without your support as DevelopingEM attendees this would not have been possible.

Thank you for your help and ongoing support!!