Letter from the Chair

By Grant Tarling MD, MPH
Chair, ACEP Cruise Ship Medicine Section

We are making final preparations for the ACEP13 annual Scientific Assembly in Seattle, WA from October 14th-17th and importantly our Cruise Ship Section meeting on Monday, October 14th from 11 am to 1:30 pm. Our meeting this year will focus on a number of key issues such as proposed guideline revisions, the impact of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 on the provision of crew care, analysis of crew health data and electronic health records for cruise ships. The guideline proposals are currently undergoing focus group reviews after which they will be disseminated to the Section members. We expect to discuss some high level considerations at the meeting. We look forward to seeing many of you there as the topics we have chosen will be of interest to cruise ship enthusiasts.

Recently we faced a difficult dilemma when we tried to find volunteers to staff the Cruise Ship Medicine Section booth. Holland America has historically manned the booth as they also used the opportunity to recruit physicians and nurses for their fleet. However this year they no longer had an acute recruitment need and finding other folks to give up their CME time has not been successful. We have therefore relinquished the booth with the knowledge that we are unlikely to get it back. However most of the 32 sections do not have a booth and interest is gained from the Section Showcase held in the Exhibit Hall on Monday from 9:30 am-11 am. 

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting.