This year’s event will be held on Thursday, 31 May and Friday, 1 June at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Symposium Organising Committee Chair Dr Sharyn Smith said: “We have worked hard to provide a program that is clinically relevant to Fellows and trainees, with an emphasis on local presenters and topics. We hope to deliver a thought-provoking program that will exceed expectations."

“Hear your colleagues with a special interest or expertise present on a variety of practical and sometimes controversial topics."

“The opening session, featuring Dr Bill Lukin and an expert panel on the topic of assisted dying and the emergency department, will certainly create debate, interest and lasting impressions.”

Dr Lukin is a dual Emergency Physician/Palliative Care Physician who currently works half time with the Older Persons Acute Assessment Service at the Royal Brisbane and Woman’s Hospital and half-time in community palliative care. He has been involved in the Queensland Law Reform Commissions’ review of the Guardianship and Administration Act and has published in the areas of Palliative Care and Futility. He has a special interest in end-of-life issues.

Register now

Visit the event website to download the program and register. A half-day registration on Thursday will be available for trainees who are interested in attending the morning sessions. The half-day registration includes all sessions up to and including lunch.

Sleeping with the enemy – Working with the Health Department

Associate Professor James Lind will be one of the presenters at the Symposium, talking about careers with the Queensland Government’s Department of Health.

Associate Professor Lind is part of The Clinical Excellence Division’s Health Service Support Team (HSST), which partners with and supports health services to help improve the capacity and efficiency of Queensland public hospitals.

“There’s no such thing as a typical day,” says Associate Professor Lind, who is medical lead in the Healthcare Improvement Unit (HIU).

“The skill set that traditionally emergency physicians have is perfectly adapted for this [a role at the HSST]. That is, the problem-solver skill set – which is a personality type that most emergency physicians are – good communicators, and conflict resolution skills, that tied together with most emergency physicians’ attitude of not being afraid to confront failure in order to achieve a goal.”

Associate Professor Lind was the director of patient access and flow at Gold Coast Hospital for three years, in which he managed bed managers, lean-thinking teams, and many others non-doctor roles.

During his emergency career he has been Director of Emergency Medicine Training and has aided major disaster relief efforts.

Associate Professor Lind welcomed events like the Symposium, saying the benefits for Fellows and trainees ranged from learning what is new and working, to forging valuable relationships with colleagues.

“They are good networking opportunities, the talks are interesting and educational, it’s good to catch up on what is current in the state, and it’s not often that we get the opportunity to get together as a group,” he said.

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