In addition to the annual business meeting, the Section conducted four education sessions. A section grant funded a High-Tech Simulation Lab in Spanish, a Low-Tech Simulation Didactic Session and sponsored lunch, and a Low-Tech Simulation Lab. The Section was awarded the 2012 Outstanding Section Web Page Award of Distinction and created a new Research and Grants Committee.

Medical Humanities

The seventh annual Open Mic Night was a big success at Scientific Assembly in Denver. Hagan Benefits will sponsor the event again next year. Section Chair Dr. Jeff Sankoff plans to survey section members on ways to expand and improve the microsite.

In addition to the annual Writing Award (given this year to Dr. Mark Rosenberg for his piece, “22 Things”), the section plans to implement a new Visual Arts Award. Dr. Cindy Bitter is planning to submit a section grant for the purpose of creating a medical humanities curriculum.

Observation Medicine

New chapters have been submitted for the online textbook of Observation Medicine. The section will be writing a paper on the financial advantages to the health care system of having an observation unit and will be working to address the deleterious financial impact observation status has on the Medicare patient.

Palliative Medicine

At its inaugural meeting, ACEP’s newest section announced that it is looking for additional members.Section members will be developing information on how to introduce a palliative program in the ED. Section members will develop a script for emergency physicians to use when they talk to patients and families about end-of-life issues.

Pediatric Emergency Medicine

The Pediatric Emergency Medicine Section welcomed Pediatric EM pioneer Roger Barkin to their reception. This year marked the 20th birthday of the first exam in pediatric emergency medicine. The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Sean Fox, Chair-Elect; and Dr. Jason Lowe, Secretary. They will work on the newsletter together. Dr. Audrey Paul and Dr. Todd Wylie will be Co-Microsite Editors, and Dr. Mohsen Saidinejad will be Microsite Coordinator. Pediatric Section goals for the coming year include section growth, enhanced list-serv use, creation of subcommittees, further expansion of the section microsite and growth of the “Creative Commons” area. Section members are encouraged to share educational handouts, articles, videos in the Creative Commons area by submitting to Staff Liaison Stephanie Wauson at swauson@acep.org.

Quality Improvement & Patient Safety

The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Chris Beach, Chair-Elect; and Dr. Beach moved to nominate Dr. Robert Turelli, Newsletter Editor. The section will continue to hold quarterly all-section conference calls on all issues related to quality improvement. Section leadership presented the 2nd Annual Resident Quality Award to Dr. Arjun Venkatesh for “Predictors of Hand Hygiene in the ED” and Dr. Shelby Kaplan for “Effect of a Process Improvement Intervention on Inpatient Telemetry Utilization in the ED.”

Rural Emergency Medicine

Dr. Michael Wadman delivered a presentation on EM Resident Education in Rural EDs: The Nebraska Experience. See his slide presentation at www.acep.org/ruralsection.

Sports Medicine

The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Moira Davenport, Chair-Elect; Dr. Nate Donaldson, Secretary; Dr. Jolie Holschen, Councillor; and Dr. Christopher Gee, Alternate Councillor. Dr. Jeffrey Feden will remain Section Chair through 2014. Dr. Neha Raukar is the Immediate Past Chair. The Section continues its work on a grant to develop a Virtual Mentorship Program, which will provide a listing of fellowship programs and mentoring resources for those investigating further training or career options in primary care sports medicine. Completion is anticipated in Summer 2013.

Tactical Emergency Medicine

The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Richard Kamin, Chair; Dr. Gina Piazza, Immediate Past Chair; Dr. Matthew Sutter, Vice Chair; Dr. Melissa Costello, Secretary; Dr. Steward Coffman, Councillor; and Dr. Howard Mell, Alternate Councillor. The Section had a sponsored luncheon and educational presentation by Z-Medica. An educational presentation on Mass Shootings: “From Patrol Car to the ER” was presented by Dr. Gina Piazza, Dr. David McArdle and Dr. Kevin McGlothlen. A special Certificate of Commendation was presented to two representatives of the Aurora Colorado Police Department for their quick action and life-saving efforts during the Aurora shooting.

Toxicology

The Section had two informative presentations. Dr. Rais Vohra, Assistant Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at UCSF-Fresno Medical Center, presented his information on “Tropical Toxicology: Trends, Gaps and Opportunities.” Dr. Jason Hoppe, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, presented his talk on “Prescription Drug Abuse and Monitoring. Following the presentations, Dr. Hoppe and Dr. Robert Solomon, Board Liason, lead a prescription drug abuse/monitoring question and answer session along with group discussion on topic. Dr. Solomon presented Dr. David Lee with the following awards: Service to Section Award of Distinction, Service to College Award and Outstanding Newsletter. Dr. Solomon also presented the Outstanding Newsletter award to Dr. Shawn Varney. Members discussed questions raised for the ACEP Education Needs Assessment. Members addressed the need for more monitoring, training and education on prescription drug abuse. They also identified the need for more resource utilization and web-based training courses.

Trauma & Injury Prevention

The Section had a presentation from Sara Patterson from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, CDC, who described many of the Center’s programs, including, motor vehicle injuries, prescription drug overdoses, and traumatic brain injuries, where they are looking for close collaboration with ACEP.

Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine

Dr. Robert Sanders provided an educational program on dysbarism related hypobaric environments based on personal experience.The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Derek Cooney, Chair-Elect; and Dr. Bruce Derrick, Secretary/Newsletter Editor. The Section will draft revisions to the operational guidelines in the coming year and plan to change the terms of office for section officers to two years.

Wellness

The Section discussed “compassion fatigue” and ways to recognize it and how to deal with it.

Wilderness Medicine

The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Marion McDevitt, Chair-Elect; Dr. Lori Weichenthal, Secretary; and Dr. Susanne Spano, Alternate Councilor. Dr. Michael Caudell is now Chair and Dr. Grant Lipman is the Immediate Past Chair. The Annual Wilderness Medicine Section Photo Contest was extremely successful again this year with 121 photos submitted. A slide show of the photos was presented in the registration area of the Colorado Convention Center during Scientific Assembly. The winner of the contest is Cody Hood for “Castle Mountain” and the runner up is Andrew G Park, DO, for “Post-reduction film – Ladakh, India.”

Young Physicians

The Section elected new officers, including Dr. Russell D. Radtke, Chair-Elect; and Dr. Eric Maur, Alternate Councilor. Work continues on a section grant to update the ACEP 101 booklet. The section held a caucus the morning of the Council meeting to interview Board and Presidential candidates.