Newsletters

POSTED: December 31st, 2022
POSTED IN: EM Pulse - The Official Newsletter of MOCEP, November/December 2022,

Written by Haseeb Khatri, MD, Resident, University of Missouri – Columbia

ACEP 2022 was held in San Francisco at the George Moscone Convention Center this year. A gathering of EM physicians ranging from seasoned attendings to residents soon entering the job market. Both academic and community clinicians under one roof, learning about the advances in our field; along with medical students advocating for themselves and their future patients as they look to soon match into Emergency Medicine. ACEP is a gathering where we reflect on where our specialty has been and where it is headed. It is a time to discuss our triumphs and continued struggles, particularly in the face of the ever-evolving global pandemic wrought by Covid-19.

The opening session headliner was Dr. Flanary, an ophthalmologist by training who is better known to many as his comedic pseudonym Dr. Glaucomflecken; he was accompanied by his wife Kristin, known as Lady Glaucomflecken to their fanbase on various social media platforms, who relayed their story revolving around health scares. How testicular cancer can strike twice in the same person, shortly followed by an unexplained cardiac arrest, and the heroism exhibited by Kristin as an inspiration for us to keep pushing as much as she did continuing compressions for 9 minutes as paramedics reached their home. After this, the exhibition hall opened to showcase the advances in imaging, pharmaceuticals, and other technologies such as spot EEG with the thought that we can improve neurologic outcomes by identifying subclinical seizures sooner. Each of the vendors explained how their products would add to the betterment of our future patients.

Throughout the entire conference, renowned speakers gave talks on topics ranging from ECGs to medico-legal concerns, touching on topics pertinent to care for pediatric and geriatric populations. Some went back to basics with procedural sedation pearls and how to safely clear a C-spine; other topics touched on hot button topics impacting our jobs now such as ED boarding, being a female EM physician, and pain management in the face of the opioid crisis. There’s one clear message gleaned from the overall structure and topics covered at ACEP: Emergency Medicine will continue to innovate for the future. This is exemplified by the latitude given to EMRA and the policies we passed.

Sunday morning of ACEP, the EMRA Representative Council convened to discuss this year’s policy proposals. We adopted measures to advocate for continued equitable access to reproductive health care, support for expanding resident exposure to rural and critical access ED’s, supporting populations experiencing homelessness, improving the quality of care for incarcerated patients through the development of education material that address the challenges legal restraints can pose on patient safety and how they can hinder the completion of a proper exam, and encouraging transparency from programs that enroll away medical students—many of whom are hoping to earn strong SLOEs for residency applications.

The ACEP Scientific Assembly 2022 in San Francisco was the personification of ACEP’s goal of advancing emergency care. Bringing so many physicians together from across the country sparks conversations that breed new connections and reinvigorate old relations. The vendors displayed tech that can improve the morbidity of our future patients. Speakers spoke of ways to augment our current practices for better outcomes. And the EMRA Representative Council focused on resident education and the social aspects of the future of EM. All in all, ACEP continues to promote the betterment of our field, and the future of Emergency Medicine is bright.