A new attendance record was set with more than 5,970 4-day paid registrants and about a thousand more single-day registrants, guests, and exhibitors at this year’s Scientific Assembly in Las Vegas.

The previous attendance record was set in 2009, when 4,663 emergency medicine specialists visited Boston. This is the third consecutive year ACEP has seen record attendance at Scientific Assembly.

Next year’s conference will be in San Francisco; plan to attend on Oct. 15-18, 2011.

Along with featuring nationally recognized faculty members, the 2010 Scientific Assembly had many activities that annually make this conference the premier emergency medicine educational event.

Council Adopts Resolutions That Shape College Policy

Members of the ACEP Council adopted several resolutions during its 2010 meeting in conjunction with Scientific Assembly.

The 330-member Council represents all 53 chapters, 30 ACEP sections of membership, the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association, and the Association of Academic Chairs in Emergency Medicine.

The Council shares responsibility with the ACEP Board of Directors for initiating policy. The Council helps shape the strategic plan by representing the interests of its various constituencies. Resolutions can be proposed by chapters, sections, or individual ACEP members, and they are deliberated during the Council’s annual meeting. Then, the ACEP Board of Directors reviews and approves or rejects the Council’s decisions.

After one of the meeting’s most spirited discussions, the Council approved a resolution “that ACEP engage in a formal education program to assure state chapters are briefed regarding the efforts by non-ABEM and non-AOBEM entities to hold their members out as ‘board-certified’ in emergency medicine.”

This resolution also states that “ACEP engage in both national and state lobbying efforts to educate the several licensing agencies” about ACEP’s policy regarding board certification and the certifying bodies recognized by the College.

The Council referred to the ACEP Board a resolution that would define an emergency physician after much debate. Supporters said the definition would be consistent with current ACEP policy, and those in opposition said the definition was divisive and could have unintended consequences.

Several practice issues were also addressed. The Council adopted a resolution calling for ACEP to meet with the American Psychiatric Association to create a guideline for determining the medical stability of psychiatric patients that includes ACEP’s Clinical Policy on the subject.

Additional resolutions ask ACEP to create a policy supporting the discretionary use of prescription monitoring programs in every state, to support the development of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education–accredited fellowships in undersea and hyperbaric medicine, and to advocate for maximum legal penalties for violence against health care workers.

The Council also adopted a resolution calling for ACEP to promote public education and support legislative efforts to ban or limit the use of mobile devices or other distractions while driving.

Additionally, the Council agreed to give a seat to the Council of Residency Directors. This representative will join during the 2011 Council meeting.

NEMPAC Receives Record Support

NEMPAC, ACEP’s Political Action Committee, reported record fundraising efforts during the Scientific Assembly in Las Vegas, perhaps spurred by the then-upcoming November elections that many felt could change the political landscape in Washington, DC.

Members of the ACEP Board of Directors and Council donated more than $155,000 at the meeting. An additional $5,000 was donated at the NEMPAC Booth in the Exhibit Hall. Coupled with the $681,000 raised from ACEP’s general membership prior to the meeting and the collective contributions from individuals in physician group campaigns, NEMPAC is well on its way to exceeding the record of $1,167,342 set in 2009.

Outstanding EM group efforts during Scientific Assembly included CEP America’s contribution of $100,000 through its advocacy fund; EMP’s collection of $106,000 from its individual ACEP members; TeamHealth’s donations of $50,000 from its ACEP members and goal of $100,000 by year’s end; and EMA’s NEMPAC campaign among its eligible ACEP member physicians with a target of $60,000 by year’s end.

NEMPAC also is conducting an ongoing campaign with the general ACEP membership to reach this year’s goal of $1.25 million. A memberwide survey and solicitation from NEMPAC has been mailed.

NEMPAC is currently the fourth-largest physician specialty PAC behind the anesthesiologists, the orthopedic surgeons, and the radiologists – with a goal to become No. 1.

With the ongoing health care reform implementation process, it is more important than ever that emergency medicine has a strong PAC that gives the specialty an important voice and an influence in DC.

New Speakers Forum Winner Announced

Tina M. Latimer, MD, MPH, from the Department of Emergency Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, was honored with the Rising Star Speaker Award during Scientific Assembly.

The award is given as part of the annual New Speakers Forum, where the Educational Meetings Committee gives the opportunity for fresh talent to be evaluated and considered to speak formally for the College at future meetings.

Dr. Latimer gave a 15-minute presentation on “Avoiding Harm During Vascular Access Procedures."