The governance structure of ACEM is comprised of a range of member-led entities that drive the activities of the College. These entities work to ensure clinical, professional, and training standards in the provision of quality, evidence-based, patient-centred emergency care.
Committees play a vital role in this by leading and supporting health system advocacy, and enhancing the ability of the organisation to meet the needs of its members and health systems across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
ACEM is committed to fostering and promoting the principles of diversity and inclusion among its members and trainees, and as part of the Governance and Leadership Inclusion Action Plan, the CEP was established.
How it works:
- Apply to experience up to three committees.
- Depending on availability, you will be invited to take part as a non-voting member when the selected committee next meets (committees meet three times per year).
- After experiencing the committee, you can express your interest in becoming a committee member.
- When the committees next spill, you will be considered to fill one of the available committee positions.
The CEP will provide opportunities to engage with the following committees:
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Health System Reform Committee
The role of the committee is to provide leadership, advice and guidance on systemic reform in relation to the College’s major priorities of access block, overcrowding and workforce capacity, including by describing and highlighting the risks that system failure presents to the safety and health outcomes of patients. This includes facilitating research to strengthen the evidence base for sustainable solutions to access block and workforce capacity, and provide information and advice on the development of statements, policies and guidelines intended to influence and shape health system reforms.
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Public Health and Disaster Committee
The role of the committee is to advocate and develop clinical resources and policies across a range of public health and disaster management issues. These issues include the health impacts of climate change on emergency departments, disaster preparedness and response, the capacity of emergency departments to deliver health care to under-served populations and the impact of alcohol harm in emergency departments.
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Quality and Patient Safety Committee
The role of the committee is to develop expertise in relation to quality improvement methodologies, human factors in clinical practice and patient safety in emergency medicine. The committee also provides expertise, guidance and leadership on the development of a systemic approach to quality and patient safety, including education and training in clinical governance, capturing and learning from incident reporting, and developing policies as applicable to emergency medicine.
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Research Committee
This committee provides strategic direction to the co-ordination, facilitation, endorsement and monitoring of multi-centre emergency medicine research, with the goal of promoting high quality research conducted by members and trainees. The committee also provides expert advice to ACEM committees on research matters pertaining to accreditation, quality and safety, and education curriculum and training. Through external advocacy and the fostering of research collaborations with external bodies (medical colleges, government, research institutes, research networks), the committee strives to raise the profile of emergency medicine in the research sphere.
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Standards and Endorsement Committee
The role of this committee is to lead and oversee the generation commissioning, reviewing, endorsing and authorising of ACEM Standards, including guidelines, policies, and position statements relating to the practice of emergency medicine. The committee also provides expertise to guide and direct activities as approved by CAPP to identify gaps, risks and duplication and redundancy in the College’s standards.
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Indigenous Health Committee
The Indigenous Health Committee is responsible for driving ACEM’s role in advocacy for issues that impact the health of Indigenous people in Australia and Aotearoa. This includes developing and promoting resources to embed culturally safe care, and to oversee collaborative partnerships with Indigenous health bodies such as the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association (AIDA) and TeORA (Māori Medical Practitioner’s Association of Aotearoa/New Zealand).
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Inclusion Committee
The primary role of the Committee relates to enhancing positive professional cultures among our membership and in emergency departments, built on respect and celebrating diversity.
The Committee is responsible for driving the projects that have arisen from ACEM’s Discrimination, Bullying and Sexual Harassment Action Plan and the Governance and Leadership Inclusion Action Plan.
A significant aspect of this is ensuring that the structure and composition of College entities reflect the diversity of the College membership, thereby improving the capacity the College overall to deliver value to the membership.
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Workforce Planning Committee
The role of the Workforce Planning Committee is to act as an advisory body to the Board in relation to the development of future strategic policy direction on the future of the emergency medicine workforce. This includes examining the current and future needs of the workforce across both Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, and the development of any relevant targets and other mechanisms by which any issues can be addressed. The committee also monitors the composition of the FACEM workforce, assessing any trends, emerging issues and potential scenarios relevant to the emergency medicine workforce.
Why join a committee?
We asked eight ACEM members about their experiences serving on ACEM committees.
Joining a committee
Please apply for up to three (3) committees of your choice via the below form.