CHICAGO—Brothers and emergency physicians Gaurav Arora, MD, MBA, FACEP, and Sunil Arora, MD, watched in professional curiosity as a technician positioned a digital vein finder over their wrists and showed them in bright colors and real time where they could insert a catheter. Then the duo took a turn passing a pair of Google Glass back and forth to perform an ultrasound on a plastic patient.

Hands-on demonstrations have been a popular part of ACEP’s annual convention, and ACEP14 is no different. Crowds have streamed into innovatED—presented by Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Durata Therapeutics—to see what one guide called the “ER of the future.” The displays are up through 3:30 Wednesday afternoon.

“Seeing it in this environment puts the item in our head where we normally see it,” said Dr. Sunil Aurora, an emergency physician at Saint Anthony Hospital in Chicago. “Seeing it on the product floor you’re just kind of getting a piece of candy and moving along. Here you’re seeing it live.”

But it’s not just the newest technology that drew crowds. A packed Exhibit Hall, the annual Wellness Center, Studio ACEP, and soirees at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Navy Pier all drew crowds of emergency physicians who came to ACEP14 not just for the classes and the keynotes.

The steady flow of activity “makes it a lot more interesting,” said Thomas Gallagher, MD, FACEP, an emergency physician at Southern Ohio Medical Center in Portsmouth, Ohio. “It’s one of the reasons I’ve attended in the past, and I’m already planning on going to Boston.”

Dr. Gallagher was one of hundreds to take advantage of the Wellness Center, which for $40 offers a flu shot, blood pressure check, blood chemistry (including lipid profile), and a Maslach burnout survey. He has done it four of the past five years at ACEP meetings, in part because a busy schedule back home never seems to leave time for an annual check-up.

“I am better at doing it here than doing it at home,” Dr. Gallagher quipped.

Back home is also too busy to offer Dr. Gaurav Arora, the chance to see cutting-edge ED products, so that’s what innovatED offers him.

“If you’re looking to replace stuff or your hospital is looking to buy stuff, just having this knowledge is very helpful to suggest, ‘Hey, you may want to look at this,’ or ‘I’ve seen something a little bit different,’” said Dr. Arora, who practices at IU Health in Indianapolis. “If you don’t know it, you can’t even make that suggestion.”