FACEMs, Program Support Officers and ACEM staff all came together this week in Brisbane to discuss Emergency Medicine Education and Training (EMET).
The ACEM EMET Network Meeting, held across two days, allowed for a wide variety of discussions, including hearing about the success of the program and how it was improving access and quality of emergency patient care across Australia.
Participants also provided an opportunities to address challenges, workshop solutions and identify opportunities for the program.
EMET provides education, training and supervision to the large number of doctors and other health professionals working in emergency departments and emergency care services – particularly in rural, regional and remote Australia – who are not specifically trained in emergency medical care.
ACEM contracts with a Hub hospital, typically a larger regional hospital, to deliver EMET activities, including training and supervision in hospitals and emergency services within their region or network.
ACEM supports 50 EMET Hubs from Alice Springs Hospital in the NT to Geraldton Hospital in WA to Coffs Harbour Hospital in NSW.
EMET also provides supervision and support for doctors working in emergency departments to complete the Emergency Medicine Certificate (EMC), and Emergency Medicine Diploma (EMD).
FACEM Dr Zeena Tawfik, from Albury Wodonga Health, said EMET “was a great program”.
“I believe the EMET program is reaching out to other hospitals in rural areas and building the medical expertise as well as concentrating on team-leading, teamwork, scholarship and decision making,” she said.
Dr Tawfik benefited from hearing from colleagues about the “shared’ challenges faced by FACEMs, including the number of FACEMs available to deliver the program, compliance requirements, travel time to Hubs, engaging GPs to participate in the training, and resources.
FACEM Dr Titiosi Adegbija, from the Central Queensland Hub in Rockhampton, said: “It has helped us to be able to streamline our approach to delivery of patient care.”
Participants were also updated on the launch of the ACEM EMET resources website and provided tips on how to promote their activities and training sessions in the media.
A second ACEM EMET Network Meeting for FACEMs and Program Support Officers will be held in Adelaide on August 20 and 21.
Background
EMET is funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Health.
Read more about EMET