Each of ACEP’s 32 Sections held meetings at the 2012 Scientific Assembly in Denver. Here’s a recap of what members discussed and what sections are focusing on in the upcoming year.

Air Medical Transport

Section leaders plan to enlist the help of surveys, state advocacy networks, chapter presidents and lobbyists to identify the most important areas of interest in the Air Medical Transport industry. These topics will be addressed in the section newsletter. Members identified transport across state lines as a subject that would be of particular interest. Members received a liaison report that included updates from CAMTS, including the 9th edition standards that were published in October. Members were informed that Safety and Quality in Medical Transports Systems are on the CAMTS website, and CAMTS is currently changing nomenclature from “Critical Care ALS, BLS to SPECIFIC Levels of Care. Other reports were given regarding the MASGIT document and the CDC, HEMS Regional Project Report.

American Association of Women EPs

Section Chair Dr. Kerry Broderick discussed the need for continued efforts to elect more women to the ACEP Board of Directors. Discussion centered on ways for women to become more involved in ACEP leadership.

Dr. Linda Lawrence, ACEP Past President, presented a program on “The Power of Networking.” Six resident members of the Section ran for the office of Resident Representative to the AAWEP Leadership Board. An online election took place following Scientific Assembly, and Dr. Adaira Landry was elected to the one-year term.

Careers in Emergency Medicine

Section Co-Chair Dr. Sullivan Smith proposed the idea of a Resident of the Year Award. The section is planning to work with EMRA to determine eligibility criteria. Co-Chair Dr. John Newcomb described the online mentor program, which will pair seasoned emergency physicians with newer physicians or experienced physicians who wish to discuss various questions or problems. The mentor program will use an online discussion forum. Dr. Newcomb will discuss recruiting more mentors with the ACEP Council. The Section continues to recruit blog stories for its online blog, “In All My Career… Stories from the ED,” which posts monthly on The Central Line at www.thecentralline.org.

Critical Care Medicine

ABEM provided an update to the Section on pathways to Board certification for EM/CCM trained physicians.

In conjunction with the Section meeting, four educational presentations were well received and included: Emergency Neurologic Life Support (ENLS), Bleeding Patients on New Anticoagulants, The History of EM-CCM and Organ Donation in the ICU.

Section members enjoyed a networking session sponsored by nPOD immediately following the meeting.

Cruise Ship Medicine

Dr. Grant Tarling, chief medical officer with Princess Cruises, was installed as Section Chair, and Dr. Carter Hill became Immediate Past Chair. For Chair-Elect, members chose Dr. William Heymann, Medical Director of MHG Medical Consulting Services and one of the section’s co-founders. Members of the section voted to approve updates to the ACEP Health Care Guidelines for Cruise Ship Medical Facilities. The changes – which include updates to pediatric medication and equipment, trauma training and tightening vague language – are pending approval from ACEP’s Board of Directors. There was a presentation of a study about cardiac arrest at sea, an update of the implementation of electronic health records system fleet-wide, and the approach of one cruise line to employee paramedics to bring a different skill set to the crew.

Democratic Group Practice

Section members discussed a number of strategies that will be developed over the coming year to share information about Democratic Groups. The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Savoy Brummer, Chair-Elect, Dr. Michael Becker; Secretary/

Newsletter Editor, Dr. William Dalsey, Councillor; and Dr. Gary Tamkin, Alternate Councillors.

Disaster Medicine

Dr. Andrew Bern, ACEP Liaison to the ACEP Board of Directors, gave a brief history and the evolution of the DMS and touched on federal preparedness. He recognized Disaster Medicine past and current leaders. He also reaffirmed the value and importance of the DMS.

A presentation by Dr. Sam Dychter of Halozyme Therapeutics covered the origin and evolution of Hylenex. He presented the results of several studies supporting the application of Hylenex. He fielded questions regarding availability of information for parents of pediatric patients, duration of effectiveness, and the cost of Hylenex. A call for new business included discussion of establishing a working group to plan for future agenda items and projects. Also, medical students, residents and fellows were encouraged to get involved with the DMS. Dr. Ira Nemeth introduced Dr. Emily Kidd to talk about the Texas Disaster Medical System, Medical Operations Centers and Interstate Disaster Medical Collaborative (ISDMC).

Emergency Medicine Informatics

Dr. Kevin Baumlin, Chair-Elect, provided the section with an update on meaningful use initiatives and the section’s joint grant with the Quality Improvement & Patient Safety. The White Paper on Emergency Department Information Systems is on track to be completed by late December and will be submitted to he Annals of Emergency Medicine for publication. Current Newsletter Editor Dr. Steven Horng will serve as the Section’s Secretary/Newsletter Editor for 2013-2015. Current Section Chair Dr. Jeffery Neilson will serve as the section’s Alternate Councillor.

Emergency Medicine Practice Management & Health Policy

Dr. Ahbi Mehrotra, Dr. John Proctor and Dr. Justin Schaper provided presentations on physician-driven patient satisfaction assessments. The section elected new officers, including Dr. Nicholas F. Vasquez, Chair-Elect; and Dr. Heather Heaton, Secretary/Newsletter Editor.

Emergency Medicine Research

The section elected Dr. James R. Miner as Chair-Elect. Dr. Hans House presented Immediate Past Chair Dr. Brent Gottesman with the Service to Section Award for his work on the Section and Research Committee’s handbook, “Emergency Care Research – A Primer.”

Emergency Medicine Workforce

The new Section objectives would broadly incorporate emergency medicine workforce issues and emergency physician rights to create resources for the benefit of both section members and the College. Section Chair-Elect Dr. Donald Lum announced in the annual meeting that Section leaders and ACEP staff will be working on an updated section microsite, new channels for communication, and a Section member survey.

Emergency Medicine/Internal Medicine Dual Training

The Section named Dr. Joe Romano as its new newsletter editor. Dr. Romano follows Dr. Dan Hess and Dr. David Marcus, who helped the section win the 2011-12 Newsletter of the Year award. Section past chair Dr. Chad Kessler announced that he is leading a team that was recently awarded a grant to study hospital patient flow. The Section voted unanimously to change its name to the Dual Training Section in an effort to reach out to other emergency physicians who train in a subspecialty. Section officers plan to send the request to the ACEP Board for a decision in its next meeting in February.

Emergency Telemedicine

Dr. Ricardo Martinez and Dr. Phil Johnson gave a web-based presentation showcasing use of Global Med’s technology to aid faster dx, avert expensive flights to Level I centers, etc. One case included a child thrown from a horse in rural Arizona whose CT was read by a neurosurgeon in Tucson within minutes, allowing the local hospital to watch the child without airlifting him.

Emergency Ultrasound

Members provided updates on exciting initiatives, including a clinical ultrasound accreditation program, grants for ultrasound research, a sonoguide and an ultrasound exam site.

EMS-Prehospital Care

The EMS Section lunch was sponsored by Medtronic Foundation, Heart Rescue Project. Dr. Douglas Kupas discussed the HeartRescue Project’s five-year goal to improve SCA survival rates in selected states and geographies by 50 percent. This involves five partnering states and AMR developing best practices in all phases of cardiac resuscitation. New business included discussions regarding Virtual ACEP, board certification fees, future of board certification, free standing ED’s and revisiting Section subscriptions, which members decided to remain closed. Dr. Andrew Sama presented the Outstanding Contribution in EMS Award to Dr. Ray Fowler.

Forensic Medicine

The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Ralph Riviello, Chair; Dr. Heather Rozzi, Vice Chair; Dr. Sally Awad and Dr. Kelly Katzburg, Co-Secretary/Content Editors. The Section Grant project, updating the Evaluation and Management of the Sexually Assaulted or Sexually Abused Patient handbook, is almost complete.

Geriatric Emergency Medicine

The Section introduced the first draft of the Geri-ED guidelines.

International Emergency Medicine

Section members congratulated the following people for their recent board appointments for the International Federation for Emergency Medicine: Dr. Jim Holliman, President-Elect; Dr. Robert Schafermeyer, Secretary; and Dr. Terry Mulligan, North America Regional Representative. The Section recognized award winners – Dr. Jim Holliman for the 2012 James D. Mills Award, and Dr. Terry Mulligan and Dr. V. Anantharaman for the Individual Achievement Award in International Emergency Medicine.

In addition to the annual business meeting, the Section conducted four education sessions. A section grant funded a High-Tech Simulation Lab in Spanish, a Low-Tech Simulation Didactic Session and sponsored lunch, and a Low-Tech Simulation Lab. The Section was awarded the 2012 Outstanding Section Web Page Award of Distinction and created a new Research and Grants Committee.

Medical Humanities

The seventh annual Open Mic Night was a big success at Scientific Assembly in Denver. Hagan Benefits will sponsor the event again next year. Section Chair Dr. Jeff Sankoff plans to survey section members on ways to expand and improve the microsite.

In addition to the annual Writing Award (given this year to Dr. Mark Rosenberg for his piece, “22 Things”), the section plans to implement a new Visual Arts Award. Dr. Cindy Bitter is planning to submit a section grant for the purpose of creating a medical humanities curriculum.

Observation Medicine

New chapters have been submitted for the online textbook of Observation Medicine. The section will be writing a paper on the financial advantages to the health care system of having an observation unit and will be working to address the deleterious financial impact observation status has on the Medicare patient.

Palliative Medicine

At its inaugural meeting, ACEP’s newest section announced that it is looking for additional members.Section members will be developing information on how to introduce a palliative program in the ED. Section members will develop a script for emergency physicians to use when they talk to patients and families about end-of-life issues.

Pediatric Emergency Medicine

The Pediatric Emergency Medicine Section welcomed Pediatric EM pioneer Roger Barkin to their reception. This year marked the 20th birthday of the first exam in pediatric emergency medicine. The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Sean Fox, Chair-Elect; and Dr. Jason Lowe, Secretary. They will work on the newsletter together. Dr. Audrey Paul and Dr. Todd Wylie will be Co-Microsite Editors, and Dr. Mohsen Saidinejad will be Microsite Coordinator. Pediatric Section goals for the coming year include section growth, enhanced list-serv use, creation of subcommittees, further expansion of the section microsite and growth of the “Creative Commons” area. Section members are encouraged to share educational handouts, articles, videos in the Creative Commons area by submitting to Staff Liaison Stephanie Wauson at swauson@acep.org.

Quality Improvement & Patient Safety

The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Chris Beach, Chair-Elect; and Dr. Beach moved to nominate Dr. Robert Turelli, Newsletter Editor. The section will continue to hold quarterly all-section conference calls on all issues related to quality improvement. Section leadership presented the 2nd Annual Resident Quality Award to Dr. Arjun Venkatesh for “Predictors of Hand Hygiene in the ED” and Dr. Shelby Kaplan for “Effect of a Process Improvement Intervention on Inpatient Telemetry Utilization in the ED.”

Rural Emergency Medicine

Dr. Michael Wadman delivered a presentation on EM Resident Education in Rural EDs: The Nebraska Experience. See his slide presentation at www.acep.org/ruralsection.

Sports Medicine

The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Moira Davenport, Chair-Elect; Dr. Nate Donaldson, Secretary; Dr. Jolie Holschen, Councillor; and Dr. Christopher Gee, Alternate Councillor. Dr. Jeffrey Feden will remain Section Chair through 2014. Dr. Neha Raukar is the Immediate Past Chair. The Section continues its work on a grant to develop a Virtual Mentorship Program, which will provide a listing of fellowship programs and mentoring resources for those investigating further training or career options in primary care sports medicine. Completion is anticipated in Summer 2013.

Tactical Emergency Medicine

The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Richard Kamin, Chair; Dr. Gina Piazza, Immediate Past Chair; Dr. Matthew Sutter, Vice Chair; Dr. Melissa Costello, Secretary; Dr. Steward Coffman, Councillor; and Dr. Howard Mell, Alternate Councillor. The Section had a sponsored luncheon and educational presentation by Z-Medica. An educational presentation on Mass Shootings: “From Patrol Car to the ER” was presented by Dr. Gina Piazza, Dr. David McArdle and Dr. Kevin McGlothlen. A special Certificate of Commendation was presented to two representatives of the Aurora Colorado Police Department for their quick action and life-saving efforts during the Aurora shooting.

Toxicology

The Section had two informative presentations. Dr. Rais Vohra, Assistant Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at UCSF-Fresno Medical Center, presented his information on “Tropical Toxicology: Trends, Gaps and Opportunities.” Dr. Jason Hoppe, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, presented his talk on “Prescription Drug Abuse and Monitoring. Following the presentations, Dr. Hoppe and Dr. Robert Solomon, Board Liason, lead a prescription drug abuse/monitoring question and answer session along with group discussion on topic. Dr. Solomon presented Dr. David Lee with the following awards: Service to Section Award of Distinction, Service to College Award and Outstanding Newsletter. Dr. Solomon also presented the Outstanding Newsletter award to Dr. Shawn Varney. Members discussed questions raised for the ACEP Education Needs Assessment. Members addressed the need for more monitoring, training and education on prescription drug abuse. They also identified the need for more resource utilization and web-based training courses.

Trauma & Injury Prevention

The Section had a presentation from Sara Patterson from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, CDC, who described many of the Center’s programs, including, motor vehicle injuries, prescription drug overdoses, and traumatic brain injuries, where they are looking for close collaboration with ACEP.

Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine

Dr. Robert Sanders provided an educational program on dysbarism related hypobaric environments based on personal experience.The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Derek Cooney, Chair-Elect; and Dr. Bruce Derrick, Secretary/Newsletter Editor. The Section will draft revisions to the operational guidelines in the coming year and plan to change the terms of office for section officers to two years.

Wellness

The Section discussed “compassion fatigue” and ways to recognize it and how to deal with it.

Wilderness Medicine

The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Marion McDevitt, Chair-Elect; Dr. Lori Weichenthal, Secretary; and Dr. Susanne Spano, Alternate Councilor. Dr. Michael Caudell is now Chair and Dr. Grant Lipman is the Immediate Past Chair. The Annual Wilderness Medicine Section Photo Contest was extremely successful again this year with 121 photos submitted. A slide show of the photos was presented in the registration area of the Colorado Convention Center during Scientific Assembly. The winner of the contest is Cody Hood for “Castle Mountain” and the runner up is Andrew G Park, DO, for “Post-reduction film – Ladakh, India.”

Young Physicians

The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Russell D. Radtke, Chair-Elect; and Dr. Eric Maur, Alternate Councilor. Work continues on a section grant to update the ACEP 101 booklet. The section held a caucus the morning of the Council meeting to interview Board and Presidential candidates.