News from the Chair

REM Section meeting October 27, 2019 – Save the date!

We look forward to seeing you at ACEP SA 19 the world’s largest EM conference in Denver this year.  The Rural EM Section meeting will be held on Sunday, October 27 from 11:00 AM-1:00 PM at the Hyatt Regency Denver, Third Level, Centennial Ballroom H.  When adding your daily educations courses to your schedule at Scientific Assembly, don’t forget to use the "Tags:" filter and select Rural to help you select essential courses track that is recommended by the Rural EM Section.

REM Section’s Ken Milne – EM Educator of the YEAR

Congratulations to Dr. Ken Milne, past Chair Rural EM section, for winning the Judith Tintinalli Award for Outstanding Contribution in Education.  Rural EM section has endorsed and supported his nomination this year and we are excited that he will be receiving this teaching award and special recognition. His significant mastery in the use of social media tools sets him apart from other educators. His development of a teaching approach that is evidence-based but uses social media tools really exemplifies the future of EM education on the fly – "reducing the bench to bedside translation time." Ken’s FOAM efforts include the very successful blog Skeptic’s Guide to Emergency Medicine (SGEM). The numbers speak for themselves: 38,000 subscribers, translated into 4 languages (including Spanish) and has more than 200,000page views a month.  Our REM Facebook page is synced with SGEM.  Ken has been national faculty at EM Boot camps and the EM Abstracts and Acute Care Medicine course for a number of years. He is a national and international speaker, a champion and advocate for rural EM. He is truly one of those amazing once in a lifetime personalities. His mantra – "reduce the knowledge gap translation period" from 17 years to 1 year. Social media has proven an effective tool to accelerate adoption of new best practices “from the bench to the bedside” in a fraction of the time across the globe. Ken is famous for his "Bat Doc" YouTube persona – fighting the evils of ignorance and bad medicine. If I were his Robin, I would have to say "Holy Knowledge Gap Reduction Bat Doc!"  Thanks for making Rural EM section look so good!

ACEP 2019 SA Council Meetings October 25-26

This year ACEP Council will be held Friday and Saturday, October 25 and 26 2019 at the Denver Hyatt Regency.  This is a great opportunity to network and get involved with advocating for Rural EM.  Please contact me to let me know if you will be able to attend and if you will be seated in some capacity for Council. 

REM Section 2019 SA Council Resolutions

REM section has proposed two new Resolutions for Council. Alaska State Chapter and the REM Section co-sponsored  and submitted Resolutions:

1.  Advancing Quality Care in Rural Emergency Medicine
2.  Resolution to Establish a Rural EM Advisory Board

Both submissions are posted on "engagED online member community" network. Log in with your ACEP credentials and search under communities for Rural Section – great platform to share ideas and ask questions. The REM section resolutions submitted this year would aim to direct the ACEP Board.  The focus and goal of the resolution is to improve or advance quality Rural EM Healthcare through key stakeholder collaboration, training, residency electives and research and more policy changes that would advance the quality of REM care.  In addition, the creation of a Rural Advisory board that would be a major step in improving and advancing rural healthcare on an ongoing basis.  We must keep rural EM on the forefront of priorities for ACEP.  Thank you all for your hard work and contributions to these projects.

Thank You for Active Participation

We need your participation in the section. There are many impactful trends and issues in REM. The Rural EM section members serve as a collective think tank and incubator for innovative ideas that advance quality care in our resource and workforce-challenged area of practice. Rural patients deserve the best care we can deliver. The big questions and debates are over "How" quality care should be delivered. There are workforce disparities, geographic challenges, new technologies like telemedicine, the role of APPs, etc. The issues to be addressed and debated go on. The REM Section through lively discussions at its annual meeting, active online forums and influence with ACEP’s leadership over the years has played a vital role as a major voice for REM providers of diverse backgrounds. The Rural EM section hopes through the resolutions to initiate a major expansion of collaboration with other stakeholders (like the AAFP, NRHA, other related ACEP Sections Telemedicine, Workforce etc.) to advance quality care and to continue to play an important advocate role for our patients making a greater impact on REM healthcare delivery now and in the future.

Go and Increase Section Membership

Please encourage your rural colleagues to join Rural EM section and the engagED community. We need your help and expertise. I hope to see you all this fall in Denver.