Annual Report 2011 - ACEM

forward to trainees being able to
access advanced training in rural and
remote facilities.
We continue to promote and support
the various individual and project
applications to the Rural Health
Continuing Education program
supported by DOHA.
In line with other College committees,
we have welcomed a trainee
representative, Anna Fairbairn,
to the group.
Through the new option on the ACEM
Fellow Information Sheet, which now
allows Fellows to nominate as Rural/
Regional practitioners, we can now
communicate more effectively with
that group.
Our admin support has passed from
Corinne Millane, to Pam Jadeja and
now rests with Bec McPhee. Thank
you to all three for their support
over the year.
Niall Small, Chair
Scientifi c Committee
The Scientifi c Committee has had a
very productive year undertaking a
major review of the ‘Guidelines for
Conduct of the College Scientifi c
Meetings’. This document now
combines updated guidelines for
both the Annual Scientifi c Meeting
and Winter Symposium and provides
comprehensive information to ensure
that the meetings run smoothly and
consistently. In addition, the guidelines
now include a set of resources
to assist conference organising
committees with the planning and
coordination of the meetings.
One of the more signifi cant changes
includes the requirement of total
separation of trade and industry from
the scientifi c program. This allows the
scientifi c program to be free from
infl uence, yet still provide an exhibition
forum for industry to showcase their
products and services.
Scientifi c meetings are run to ‘breakeven’,
however, meetings often
produce surpluses. The Scientifi c
Committee and Council are fi nalising
guidelines as to the use of any surplus.
Broadly speaking, surpluses will be
used to promote research within
emergency medicine, enhance the
quality of future meetings and to
support attendance at the meeting
by delegates from economically
challenged countries.
The Committee continues to have
broad representation on a number
of external committees and regularly
reviews external guidelines and
policies for endorsement.
The Committee has recently endorsed
the NHMRC pain management
guidelines and work continues with
the Royal Australasian College of
Anaesthetists on joint guidelines for
procedural sedation.
I would like to thank Committee
members for the hard work and time
they have given to the Committee this
year. Thanks also to Anthony Cross,
the previous Chair, who instigated
much of the workplan for this year.
Yusuf Nagree, Chair
Standards Committee
The new College administrative
structure has provided continuity
of support, allowing the Committee
to conduct an enormous amount
of work. The backlog of document
reviews and work around new
documents has been completed. All
documents are now up to date and
catalogued under the new system.
Documents are catalogued under
each specifi c group of statements,
policies and guidelines respectively.
All future documents will have
continuous numbering relevant to each
group, rather than the old system of
continuous, single sequential numbering
across all groups. All documents
created by the College since inception
have been identifi ed and allocated
numbers within each group. Crossreferences
have been applied where, for
example, a guideline has transitioned
to a policy. The new system now tracks
every document from creation to
implementation. Document review and
creation processes have been refi ned
and simplifi ed to ensure the shortest
time to implementation is achieved.
Advice and information sheets have
been developed to assist document
reviewers and creators.
The Committee is in the process of
developing orientation packages for
subcommittee members and chairs,
Standards Committee members and
the Standards Committee Chair. It is
hoped this will improve the transition
for new members. A review will be
conducted after implementation as a
quality measure.
New documents developed or in the
process of development this year
include: Emergency Department Role
Delineation – completely new format
and structure; new Management
of Blood Products Policy (jointly
with the Red Cross); and Role of
Nurse Practitioners in Emergency
Departments (jointly with CENA
and ACEN).
The IT special interest group has
been developed and the ED Design
Subcommittee has been reconstituted.
Both have new terms of reference and
should provide a valuable resource for
the College.
The subcommittees have done
an incredible job this year. Special
mention should be made of the
Quality Management, ED Ultrasound
and Pre-Hospital Subcommittees,
which have developed a new quality
framework, new credentialling processes
for ultrasound use and a proposal
for transition to a Pre-Hospital and
Retrieval Committee respectively.
On behalf of my Committee
members, subcommittee chairs and
subcommittee members, I would like
to express my sincere thanks, gratitude
and admiration for the tremendous
amount of work done and dedication
applied. Particularly, I want to thank
Bec McPhee, the Standards Committee
support offi cer whose persistence,
hard work and organisational ability
has been invaluable.
Chris May, Chair
ACEM Annual Report 2011
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