Research has been identified as one of the six strategic priorities that will guide College activities over the next three years, as outlined in the College’s new Strategic Plan.
The ACEM Strategic Plan 2019–2021: The Next Phase states that ACEM 'will ensure high quality data analysis, evaluation and research informs and supports our activities, and will work to strengthen the culture, profile, skills base and capacity of emergency medicine research'.
For FACEM Associate Professor Ed Oakley the focus on research is both important and timely.
'To truly advocate for emergency medicine we need to develop a cycle of continuous improvement in our specialty,” Associate Professor Oakley says.
'We’ve been good at training people, educating them about processes, best care at the moment and advocating for emergency medicine. What we haven’t been so good at is acknowledging that we actually need to know what the best thing is for our patients and staff. I think research fills that void. It allows us to provide evidence that we can incorporate into our training programs, into our departmental clinical care programs.
‘It is important for Fellows that the College recognises their desire to improve our care and practice, and pledges its support for them in doing that, as we have with our education needs. In that way the College will start to advocate for the needs of research in emergency departments across Australia and New Zealand.’
Following the restructure of the entities of the Council of Advocacy, Practice and Partnerships (CAPP) in 2018, an ACEM Research Committee was established. To be chaired by FACEM Associate Professor Yusuf Nagree, the Committee will hold its first meeting on March 15.
‘Its establishment is significant for the College,’ says Associate Professor Oakley, who is a Committee Member. ‘The College has a large amount of research that goes on in various guises, from trainee formats to research about processes, College policies or public health issues, as well as research supported by the ACEM Clinical Trials Network.
‘What it hasn’t had is a consistent voice, a consistent message about research, an agreed way to coordinate research.'
Research is a passion
Associate Professor Oakley trained in emergency medicine in Melbourne at Austin Health and The Royal Children’s Hospital. He gained Fellowship in 1998 and became a senior staff member in the Emergency Department of The Royal Children’s Hospital that same year. He continued in this role until 2008 when he moved to Monash Health as the Director of Paediatric Emergency Medicine, before returning to The Royal Children’s Hospital in 2012.
Associate Professor Oakley has been an Honorary Research Fellow at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) since 2002. He is an active researcher in clinical emergency medicine and is the lead researcher for the Paediatric Emergency Medicine Centre of Research Excellence housed at the MCRI.
‘For me, research is a vital part of practicing emergency medicine,’ Associate Professor Oakley says. ‘A large amount of what we do does not have a good evidence base. And if we want to be able to do the right things for our patients and our staff, we need to be part of the worldwide emergency medicine research movement.
‘It is also vitally important for our emergency departments to be involved in research because it provides an opportunity for staff to be participate in activities that put those departments in a different sphere internationally. Even though the clinical care they give might be world class, what people see from the outside isn’t the clinical care you give to your patients, it is your involvement in improving what the specialty does, the care the speciality can give.’
Get involved in consultations
Associate Professor Oakley also urges members and trainees to have their say when the College seeks views via consultations.
‘The work that the College does is driven by College members, therefore consultations and invitations for feedback are essentially requests from members to members,’ he says. ‘I think we should support each other. If there are things that we are not interested in, or don’t have expertise in, of course we don’t need to be involved. But in areas of interest or where you have expertise, we should actually want to be involved, and I would encourage everyone to be involved.
‘The College is only as good and strong as its active members.’