A DevelopingEM Elephant?

Planning the social events associated with DevelopingEM conferences is not exactly hard work.

In fact it has been one of the most enjoyable parts of the lead ups to the four previous conferences.

The world of business is very foreign for a lifelong public servant like myself but there are some perks.

When looking for venues one has to search high and low through dozens of bars and restaurants until you find the perfect one.

If that search is outside Australia then every meeting, every flash of a business card, is accompanied by at least an offer of a free coffee or beverage, and indeed in Cuba it could often mean a free meal and cigar.

In Sri Lanka not only is there a civilized welcoming approach to these type of negotiations, there is also usually the offer of an elephant for one’s event.

I have to admit when I first realized this was the case I said to myself “Yes DevelopingEM Must have an elephant”.

We thought about a cartoon mascot for the website named Lanky.

I even pictured EM Royalty getting photos with a real Lanky at our Gala Dinner.

When I excitedly mentioned to Lee the prospect of a DevelopingEM elephant I think he shuddered at my naiveté as he explained some of the controversies regarding domesticated elephants.

In Sri Lanka elephants have been part of culture and life for many thousands of years.

Domesticated elephants have been integrated into society for this whole period, participating in religious ceremonies all the way through to being used as beasts of burden.

It’s a dynamic that reflects man’s use of animals right around the globe, sometimes enlightened but often purely for the benefit of only one half of the human, animal relationship.

The human elephant relationship in Sri Lanka is mutli facetted in the same way and increasingly complicated.

The cultural importance of the elephant is delicately balanced against the use of a decreasing number of domesticated elephants for the profit of their owners in a wide range of activities, often without the capacity to assure high levels of animal husbandry.

There is certainly much more to the debate than I ever could have imagined and it is way too complicated to fully explained here.

In the end we have decided rather than have an elephant as part of DevelopingEM that we would promote and support the amazing work being done by the Sri Lankan Wildlife Conservation Society (SLWCS).

The SLWCS is a NGO committed to developing a sustainable model for wildlife conservation in Sri Lanka.

Their focus is on helping people and wildlife co-exist peacefully and a big part of their work is related to preventing and minimizing Human Elephant Conflicts, as well as developing elephant sanctuaries for rescued domesticated elephants unable to be returned to the wild.

The New Life Elephant Sanctuary being developed by the SLWCS is one such centre where previously domesticated elephants can live out their lives without chains, with room to roam and without having to work or perform.

The work of this organization has been recognized around the world and you can learn about their story at their website, Facebook page and through the following media publications about their work:

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/140302/plus/the-crowded-corridor-87177.html

http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2014/03/02/spe02.asp

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15664908,00.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11596075

http://www.equatorinitiative.org/images/stories/winners/144/casestudy/case_1348258269.pdf

http://www.humanelephantconflict.com/

So Lanky wont be part of DevelopingEM, but we will be supporting Ravi Corea and the SLWCS with their amazing work.

Perhaps you can do the same.

Nick Taylor is the Director of Emergency Medicine Training at The Canberra Hospital.

He’s spent the last five months in Galle in Southern Sri Lanka, teaching, working and learning with our Sri Lankan colleagues.

Our brief article on the Teaching Hospital Karapitiya (THK) gives you a taste of the type of critical care medicine that has surrounded Nick and his colleagues in Galle.

Check out the website Nick helped to establish with his trainees to assist the progression of  EM practitioners in Sri Lanka- SLEM.

As well as working and educating Nick and his family, Mahani, Rowan and Julian, have been experiencing every aspect of Sri Lankan life and culture.

Their blog Taylors in Sri Lanka is a beautiful record of their time in this amazingly wonderful country. Check out their spectacular photos and humorous travel advice in this great travel diary.

If you register now for DevelopingEM 2016 you can join Nick and the entire DEM team and still be eligible for a substantial early bird discount.

So register now and we’ll see you in Sri Lanka.

Early bird expires: Only 5 days left

We have received a tremendous response to the 2016 Sri Lanka
launch, and are looking forward to an exceptional DevelopingEM experience this December.

To register, please follow the link to our live registration portal.

REGISTER NOW!

We thank you for your interest and support,
Mark, Lee and Sanj

Please follow event developments on Facebook

Also follow our progress on Twitter.

We hope you can join us in 2016, to enjoy the outstanding DevelopingEM experience with colleagues – worldwide.

‘An Emergency Medicine & Critical Care Conference with a Conscience’

As you know our annual conference for 2016 will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka between December 5^th and 8^th 2016, and registration is now open.

A range of pre and post workshops will bookend the plenary sessions.

The conference is to be held at the unsurpassable Galle Face Hotel in wonderful Colombo.

Whether you are an emergency physician, intensive care specialist, anaesthetist, prehospital specialist or general practitioner this conference will offer you an outstanding learning experience and a fantastic opportunity to meet and learn from your Sri Lankan colleagues.

If you get in now you can take advantage of our first round of early bird specials which end on the 4th of March.

We hope you can join us in 2016, to enjoy the outstanding DevelopinbgEM experience with colleagues from the region.

GDay DevelopingEMers

During my recent planning trip to Sri Lanka I was lucky enough to visit the Teaching Hospital Karapitiya (THK) in beautiful Galle in southern Sri Lanka.

Specifically I took a brief look at the Emergency Treatment Unit (ETU) within the Emergency Trauma Centre (ETC).

The Victorian Government assisted in the rebuilding and redesign of this Centre following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The responsibility for capacity development within the centre was taken on by The Alfred Emergency and Trauma Centre clinicians.

As a result of this collaboration THK has a fully functional Level One ETC. The ETU here will be the model for the development of similar units around the country in the next decade.

As you can see the room looks and feels very much like many of the units we have all worked within, with a central work station surrounded by 25 acute monitored bays.

There is also a 4 bed resuscitation room. This room was thankfully and beautifully air conditioned, a fact that was greatly appreciated by my unacclimated body.

Within 5 mins in the main department I was a big sweaty mess, wondering how the hard working doctors and nurses in the ETU maintained their cool in long shirts, ties and crisply pressed uniforms. They’re an amazing group, dealing with the frequent emergency presentations with calm coolness despite the heat and humidity.

Indeed the system within the ETC sees all triage category 4 and 5 patients swiftly directed over to another department, Outpatients, so the ETU can deal only with the sickest or the sick.

The patients seen in the ETU are indeed really crook.

It’s the type of emergency medicine that attracted me to the specialty 20 years ago.

Just in the hour I was in the department the case mix was incredible with phenomenal critical care happening all over the department.

There were cases most of us would see frequently including a cardiac arrest, a generalised convulsion, a Traumatic Subdural (with a twist- he was being weaned from ventilation after his craniotomy 4 days previously), and a clinically diagnosed Extradural in a 3 year old.

Then there was the routine stuff for our Sri Lankan colleagues, an organophosphate overdose and a case of Pulmonary Leptospirosis. No dengue cases but they were probably en route in a 3 wheeler (tuk tuk).

And this was a quiet day.

Many of the staff at THK will be assisting with DevelopingEM 2016 and are looking forward to interacting with Emergency Physicians from around the globe.

Their enthusiasm for our process has been incredible and this despite the fact that the average work schedule for a Sri Lankan clinician makes me feel like Im on permanent vacation when working in Australia. Our colleagues usually work 29 days out of 30. I don’t know about you but it makes me feel just a tad lazy. When we then see the type of incredible work they are all doing it’s even more impressive.

We’re hoping to have a day trip down to Galle and THK during the conference week so factor that in when our registration website opens in a few weeks.

Id like to thank the team at THK for showing me around recently and helping out with the development of our conference.

Specifically, I need to thank Ranjana Seneviratne, Krishantha Jayasekera and Nilanka Wickramaratne who really looked after Jodie and myself.

The wonderful photos you can see here and on Facebook are from Nick Taylor, the Director of Emergency Medicine Training at The Canberra Hospital, who is spending six months based in Galle, teaching, working and learning with our Sri Lankan colleagues. You can check out the blog he’s constructed to assist with local EM training here at

https://srilankaemergency.wordpress.com/

Our team is currently working hard to get the new website registration ready in the next few weeks so stay tuned and then get to registering- your Sri Lankan colleagues are waiting to show you around.

Happy New Year DevelopingEMers

We hope you all had a lovely festive season.

In the spirit of the season we just wanted to let you know about the results of our ultrasound appeal.

Well you our donors raised enough money to provide a brand new ultrasound to the Mirabelais University Hospital in Haiti.

This Ultrasound after travelling around the world a few times finally made it to Haiti and is now in use as a clinical diagnostic tool and as a training device.

We would just like to acknowledge the donors who made this possible.

Robyn Brady (and team)

Dianne Trombetta

Aaamir Shakeel

Mary Langcake

Jodie Souz

Mike and Paula Newcombe

Alvaro Manovel

Colin Banks

Amador Ibanez-Almarche

Kay Buchheit

Shenequa McLeod

Mark Dato

Marianne Gausche-Hill

Nicholas Stanley-Cary

Michael Novy

Craig Wilson

Margaret Swinton

Sue and Len Westwood

Mandy Masters

Rosey Williamson

Kath Jenner

Nate Stephens

Naomi Rosenberg

Rosemarie Hiscott

And one anonymous donor

Thank you for your amazing contributions.

The team at Mirabelais is so thankful for your help and is aiming to communicate with you directly to show you how the device is being utilised.

This year our Sri Lankan hosts have asked us to put all our resources into educational experiences and material and we are looking at supporting some workshops allied to the conference.

Once our registration portal is configured (our aim is late January) there will be sponsorship options available if you would like to support us in this endeavor.

The generosity of you DevelopingEMers continues to amaze us.

Whether it’s with time, donations or simply by registering you have stood by our efforts and believed in DevelopingEM.

This ultrasound donation is yet another example of what a great bunch of people DevelopingEM has become.

Enjoy the rest of the silly season and stay tuned for the release of our registration portal.

Thankyou.

Lee, Mark and Sanj.

GDay DevelopingEMers!!

Well after a deserved break we are back, and we’re off to Colombo, Sri Lanka for DevelopingEM 2016.

This year we welcome our friend and colleague Sanj Fernando to the management team. Sanj not only has Sri Lankan heritage but has spent a great deal of time promoting critical care education within the country. He has connected DevelopingEM with an outstanding group of local critical care clinicians who’s enthusiasm for the process has been hard to contain.

 Ive just returned from Sri Lanka and was lucky enough to be hosted by this fantastic local team drawn from the Sri Lankan Medical Association (SLMA), Post Graduate Institute of Medicine (PGIM) and the Sri Lankan Society of Critical Care and Emergency Medicine (SSCCEM).

 The interest in the DevelopingEM process from across the critical care specialties within Sri Lanka has truly been extraordinary and I think it bodes well for another amazing conference.

Between the 5^th and 8^th of December, 2016, you too can experience the unique DevelopingEM experience with colleagues from around Sri Lanka and the region.

Our fifth conference will build on the successful formats from Sydney, Havana and Salvador with

• Short, sharp, clinically relevant critical care presentations aimed at the senior clinician
• Excellent, engaging, renowned presenters
• Direct involvement of local clinicians
•  Preconference workshops
• more time for interaction and discussion
• site visits to health facilities in Colombo and the historic fort city of Galle

Of course our core objectives will remains central to this conference

• not for profit model with zero industry sponsorship
• regional delegate sponsorship and assistance
•  free open access to all DevelopingEM presentations

 We have already had great interest from incredible presenters from around the globe so we’re hopeful of another fantastic program.

 Our registration portal will be ready for action in a little over a month so stay tuned so you can take advantage of the early bird specials.

 Don’t forget to follow our progress on Twitter (@developingem) and Facebook and help us meet your needs by sending us all your ideas and feedback.

 Both Lee, Sanj, I and our Sri Lankan team cant wait to see you in Colombo in 2016.  

 Be good.
Lee, Sanj and Mark.

It’s hard to believe it but DEM2015 has come and gone.

It’s been an amazing conference and we hope that the relationships made during the event will continue to grow and develop in the years to come.

There are so many people to thank but chief amongst those are our Cuban Host Organising Committee without whom this event would not have been possible

PEDRO MONZON

PEDRO VELIZ

JEANNIE ELLIS

RAFFA LORENZO

Without you we would not have had an event and we are forever grateful for your enormous efforts and support Gracias Companeros To our incredible faculty who have joined us from around the globe, you really are the core of this conference. Your generosity is unbelievable. You have as a group made DevelopingEM what it is and we hope to continue building on an amazing group of clinicians as the years progress. In particular we must thanks our Program and workshop leads for herding the cats and getting everyone in the same place at the same time

JAMES SALWAY

BRIAN WRIGHT

ANTHONY CROCCO

JIM HOLLIMAN

REGAN MARSH

LISA CHARLES

LUIS LOVATO

MATT DAWSON

MIKE MALLIN

SCOTT WEINGART

JOE BELLEZZO

ZACH SHINAR
BRENT MYERS

JANET BRICE

JEFF BEESON

JOSE CABANAS

Thankyou and we hope to work again with you very soon To our support staff for keeping everyone happy!

KYLIE MAYER

TAYLOR HARDING

AINSLIE ASLANIS

ANNE TAYLOR

MAIRELENA ESPINOSA

MARICEL MANUEL VIDAL

Thank you for your hard work over the last year and especially during the conference.

Last but not least to our wonderful delegates from Cuba and beyond. I think we’ve collected together a wonderful group of people with a common ethos. Thankyou DevelopingEMers. Without you we would literally not have a conference.

Work begins when we return to Australia on our first venture in South Asia. In November 2016 we head to Sri Lanka to team up with the Sri Lankan Medical Association for our fifth conference. We’d love it if you can join us again, and if you would like to help out just drop us a line.

Thank You All and see you in 2016 Lee and Mark developingem@gmail.com

It is with great excitement that I can confirm that DevelopingEM 2016 will be held in Sri Lanka.

DevelopingEM is partnering with the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) as well as other Sri Lankan organisations to hold our next event in November next year.

The interest from within Sri Lanka has been overwhelming and we are very grateful to our colleagues within the SLMA for their support and enthusiasm.

This year we welcome Dr Sanj Fernando to the organising committee and he will be co-directing the event.

Sanj has helped us out by coordinating the Trauma track last year in Brazil and the CT Interpretation Workshop in Havana in 2013.

http://developingem.com/2014/05/21/this-years-trauma-program-developingem-2014-emergency-medicine-conference/

As you might imagine Sanj has a few connections in Sri Lanka and he has been instrumental in getting our 2016 event up and running.

Amongst those connections is Iyanthi Abeyewickreme who has been enthusiastically supporting our association with the SLMA.

We are very much looking forward to working with Sanj and Iyanthi in 2016 in our first foray into South Asia.

Whilst our attention at the moment is focused upon Cuba it’s never too early to think about the future and we will need your help.

If you are interested in assisting with our 2016 event please let us know.

The best ways to contact us are

• Personally at the upcoming conference
• Via email developingem@gmail.com