FACEM Dr Liz Mowatt recalls hanging around emergency departments as a medical student and quickly deciding that’s where she wanted to work. It was chaos.
‘I always learned the most in emergency departments. Always. Mostly I love that I can go in and make sense of chaos.’
A FACEM for twenty years, Liz now makes most sense as a part-time Emergency Physician at Cairns Hospital, where she is also the lead FACEM of the Cairns EMET Hub.
Her passions – education and people – are the pillars of a career spent largely in rural and regional areas. She is also a staunch advocate for Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori patients and whānau.
As Director of Emergency Medicine – and first FACEM in Alice Springs – she recalls the specific rewards and pleasures that come from working in remote areas.
‘The first FACEM trainee who came to Alice Springs said to me they had done more in two weeks in Alice than in two years in any of their big city training. It is a special place and there are plenty of similar opportunities right across Australia.’
Liz identifies many parallels between the health care provision to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and to rural communities in Australia; some positive, some not so.
‘I think many FACEMs working in metropolitan centres think that Indigenous health and rural health are issues for other people, but that’s just not true. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are seen in every ED across Australia every day, we just don’t create the opportunity for them to feel safe to identify. And patients from rural communities rely on the health services in metro centres. We need all the emergency medicine workforce to understand the broader contexts if we hope to close the gaps in health outcomes.’
For Liz, working towards equity has meant getting heavily involved in College activities. Following a quick stopover in Sydney to meet with one of the invited facilitators for an ASM workshop, she is visiting the College for a meeting of the Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) Steering Group, of which she is the co-chair. The Steering Group will be working on actions from the soon to be released second ACEM RAP.
She is also chair of the college’s Indigenous Health Committee and a member of its Rural, Regional and Remote Committee, Health Systems Reform Committee, ACEM Foundation and the Queensland Faculty Board.
In November, she will facilitate three workshops at ASM. The first – on cultural competence – is on the Sunday and is aimed primarily at DEMTs, although all are welcome.
‘We want to help DEMTs embed cultural safety and competence into their departmental teaching programs. The ACEM Fellowship curriculum includes these important areas, but we all know that learning happens in EDs, so that is where the teaching needs to be. It can be challenging to provide education when you have not received the training yourself.
‘We believe that cultural competence and cultural safety are integral to all aspects of emergency medicine. We are crafting an experiential workshop to make that case.’
Liz says this workshop for her is a really exciting innovation, but she personally will look to take a back seat at each of the workshops.
‘I am a bit of nerd in that I like to organise, and I also think there are others in the room who have more to say.’
The workshop will be co-hosted by FACEMs Dr Lai Heng Foong and Dr Nicole Liesis, with a stellar line up of other facilitators
Liz’s other sessions include a spoken word session* intended to give members and trainees the opportunity to promote the work or programs they are doing in rural, regional and remote areas; and an expert panel discussion with Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori health leaders on using and implementing the Reconciliation Action Plan and Te Rautaki Manaaki Mana: Excellence in Emergency Care for Māori into emergency departments.
Last week Liz attended the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association Conference in Darwin. At the conference, Liz was bestowed AIDA’s award for Associate Member of the Year 2019.
‘It was the most humbling moment. The people who are a part of that organisation are some of the most amazing people I know. To have this recognition from them is incredible to me. It churns me up.’
She is looking forward to the ASM, too.
‘It has been exciting to work with members of the organising committee as they try to craft a unique experience for delegates. For the sessions I am involved in, we’ve worked hard to create something different so that the audience can own the experience, and it’s not all resting with the people standing at the front of the room. I hope all delegates feel encouraged and enabled to participate.’
*Note: No poetry required! Walk-ups on the day are welcome, but members and trainees interested in taking a short moment to talk about their work are also encouraged to register their interest .
Background
This year’s ACEM ASM will be held in Hobart from 17 to 21 November. The theme is ‘the changing climate of emergency medicine’.
You can find Liz Mowatt at the following sessions.
Find the full program and register on the ASM website.