ACEM has developed a rich history through its growth over the past 35 years and we are excited to announce the production of an interactive digital timeline to celebrate this fact.
The timeline will be launched at the upcoming ASM, but take a sneak peek of a section of the timeline below.
1970s – Grass roots emergency medicine associations develop in Australian states
The Association of Casualty Supervisors of Victorian Hospitals (ACSVH) was the first body in Australia to focus on Emergency Medicine. Its formation followed Peter Bush’s 1973 report on the Royal Melbourne Hospital’s Casualty Department and observations of similar facilities in Western Australia, the USA and the United Kingdom.
The group met regularly for clinical and business meetings and rapidly expanded to 50 or so members drawn from metropolitan and country hospitals.
At this point Victoria was the only jurisdiction with a formally constituted organisation. In Western Australia, since the arrival of Tom Hamilton as the Director of the Emergency Department at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in 1977, a group of doctors had met informally to discuss local problems and share clinical information. This group developed as the Western Australian Society for Emergency Medicine (WASEM) with the specific aim of improving standards of practice, training and research in WA.
In Queensland Frank Garlick and Noel Stephenson instituted training and developed systems for better management of emergency departments. Both men were instrumental in setting up the Queensland Casualty Association in the later 1970s. In South Australia those in charge of casualty departments in the major public hospitals met informally from the late 1970s. In both New South Wales and Tasmania, the major hospitals were improving emergency facilities but associations of medical personnel were not developed.