CALLING FOR NOMINATED COUNCILORS TO INDO-US ACADEMIC COUNCIL FOR EMERGENCY & TRAUMA - NORTH ZONE

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ACET 2008 MINUTES

Summarized Minutes of the 3^rd Annual Assembly of the INDO-US Academic Council for Emergency and Trauma (ACET-2008) 10^th and 11^th October 2008 at A.J. Institute of Medical Sciences, Mangalore, India

 The 3^rd Annual ACET- 2008 was held at Mangalore along with the 4^th INDO-US Emergency Medicine Summit 2008 and was attended by the following Councilors:

At the ACET 2008 thirteen councilors attended the meeting for the second time or third time. As per the decision taken in the last meeting (ACET-2007), previous year’s councilors were allowed even without a support letter from Dean.

Dr Aggarwal (AIIMS) called the meeting to order with a welcome address to all the Councilors and the invited speakers both from USA and India. Since some of the councilors were new, they were informed briefly about the objectives of creating ACET and the active role of faculty from USA in our Endeavour to create and develop the academic specialty of Emergency Medicine in India.

Prof. O.P. Kalra, Principal of University College of Medical Sciences, Delhi also stressed that Emergency Medicine is the need of hour in India and opined that in the first few years, the faculty should be drawn from Internal Medicine and Anesthesia specialties till the specialty of EM has its own trained faculty members.     

The Councilors were informed that the Association of Physicians of India (API) recognized the need for creating specialty of Emergency Medicine in India and published a white paper on the status and need of Emergency Medicine in India.  API is a 64 year organization representing the voice of over one million internists in India. Copies of this White paper which was published in the Journal of API were distributed to the councilors.

Another initiative of INDO-US collaboration was the launch of an International Journal, Journal of Emergencies, Trauma and Shock (JETS). Copies of this journal were also distributed. The Councilors were encouraged to read articles online (www.onlinejets.org) and contribute scientific papers in this Journal (http://www.journalonweb.com/jets/).

The proposal for confirming INDUS-EM Summit 2009 and ACET 2009 venue was discussed. It was approved that INDUS-EM summit 2009 and ACET 2009 would be held at PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Coimbatore, India under the leadership of Councilor and TEAMS Newsletter Editor Dr Sundarakumar Sundarajan.

Dr. Sundarakumar was applauded for his continuous efforts in bringing out the quarterly issues of TEAMS Newsletter. Later Dr Sundarakumar accepted the Ceremonial Plaque of INDUS-EM Summit and ACET Assembly from the Mangalore Team marking the hand over of venue and destination for the INDUS Movement from Mangalore to Coimbatore. His whole team from Coimbatore was present at the handover ceremony where Dr Sundarakumar assumed his role as Secretary General for INDUS-EM. He confirmed the Theme for INDUS-EM 2009 and ACET 2009 as “Education, Expertise and Enterprise”.

Dr. Sagar Galwankar Chief Executive Officer of the INDO-US Collaboration for Emergency and Trauma addressed the Councilors via teleconference. He welcomed the Councilors and gave a brief account of INDO-US Collaboration for promoting the growth of specialty of Emergency Medicine in India. 

The distinguished Faculty from USA discussed several aspects of Academic Emergency Medicine and Trauma.

The need for having protocols for common conditions seen in emergency department was stressed by Dr. Tracy Sanson. It was emphasized that protocols would be of use in proper utilization of resources particularly in India. The utility of protocols in risk management (e.g. missed ectopic pregnancy) was also highlighted.

After the creation of specialty of Emergency Medicine, the next step of training emergency physicians in trauma critical care was discussed by Dr. Suneel Kheterpal. It was emphasized that the emergency physicians could be an important link between a trauma victim and a trauma surgeon.

Dr. Kelly O’ Keefe talked about training of residents in the specialty of Emergency Medicine. He informed the Councilors that when the specialty of EM started in USA, the initial faculty was drawn from several specialties including Family Medicine and Ophthalmology.

Dr Rakesh Engineer from Cleveland Clinic discussed about training Medical Students in Emergency Medicine as a part of their clinical rotations, He discussed various initiatives Cleveland Clinic was taking in this regards. 

Dr. Praveen Aggarwal discussed about various options available to train the future residents in the field of Emergency Medicine. Value of virtual training using web and problem-based training of residents was highlighted.

Dr. Bonnie Arquilla and Dr Sage Wienner discussed the model for training of emergency physicians in Toxicological and Disaster management.

Dr. Sanjeev Bhoi discussed briefly about the problems faced in creating academic department of Emergency Medicine in India.

Ms. Geeta, nurse from the JPNA Trauma Centre, AIIMS highlighted improved patient care when protocol-based emergency care was provided to trauma victims.

Ms. Theressa Travernero from TEAM HEALTH Institute, USA discussed about the role of team work in providing emergency care to sick patients. Everyone agreed that unless we work as a team, the patient care cannot be optimized.

Dr. Sundarakumar discussed about his FAIMER project on developing core-curriculum for Emergency Medicine in India. He sought opinions and ideas from all the councilors in this regard.

Dr. Aggarwal informed the Councilors about the formation of EM-TECH (Emergency Medicine and Trauma Education Center for Health) to promote training of future emergency physicians in various areas relevant to faculty development. Three courses were held at Delhi under EMTECH and included Advanced Hazmat Life Support Course, Ultrasound Workshop for Emergency Physicians, and Clinical Research Workshop. All the councilors were of the opinion that a web site to promote interaction between Councilors is required to be created.

The sitting Councilors presented activities and new developments in their departments at their MCI Recognized Medical Colleges.

Dr. Sherwani presented his proposal for beginning a MCH super specialty course in Traumatology and narrated difficulties faced by him. While appreciating Dr. Sherwani’s efforts, the Chair pointed out that the main agenda of ACET was to create academic specialty of Emergency Medicine and not super specialty courses.

Dr. Tarlika Doctor informed the Councilors about EMS system in Gujarat and training of doctors for providing pre-hospital care.

Dr. Upadhayay pointed out the plans for building a new block for handling emergencies which would be known as Accident & Emergency Department.

Dr. Moied Ahmed informed that he has been given sanction to create three separate blocks for emergency care: one to be called as post-operative emergency care, the second for medical emergencies and the third for surgical emergencies.  He also discussed about his Airway Training Course. It was felt that a great deal of co-ordination would be required among the physicians working in three separate buildings and once the department of Emergency Medicine starts, all these three areas should be under this specialty

Dr. Devesh Patel talked about his project to determine the perception of students regarding Emergency Medicine.

Dr. Sandeep Sahu informed that his hospital was planning to create 54 beds for Emergency and ICU care.

Dr. Mabel Vasnaik discussed about her Department of Emergency Medicine and informed the Councilors that it has been functioning for the past 14 years with the faculty working only in the department of Emergency Medicine rather than being on rotation from other departments. It was felt that in view of her existing department of Emergency Medicine with dedicated faculty for over 10 years she should to apply to Medical Council of India for starting a residency in Emergency Medicine at her College.

 Other Councilors also informed about the work being done by them for furthering the specialty of Emergency Medicine.

The Councilors supported the motion to have a uniform name i.e. Emergency Medicine for the specialty and the name Accident & Emergency Medicine should be changed to Emergency Medicine.

 The Following Successful initiatives of the Academic Council were highlighted: 

·    Creation of a Newsletter called the Trauma and Emergency Academic Medicine Sentinel (TEAMS). TEAMS is the official mouthpiece of ACET which is published 4 times a year and is circulated to all the Medical Colleges and key agencies for Education and legislation in India. It is a vehicle which proclaims and promotes academic leadership and is an open forum for awareness about activities by medical colleges and councilors conducting national building and academic initiatives in Emergency Medicine and Trauma across MCI recognized Medical Colleges in India.

·    Launch of the International Journal of Emergencies Trauma and Shock (JETS): JETS is India’s First International Journal with an online and a print version published by the INDO-US Emergency and Trauma Collaborative.  Many ACET Councilors are Editors in the Journal. Progressive initiatives like membership circulation and academic representation in JETS were also discussed.

·    Success creation of the Emergency Medicine and Trauma Education Center for Health (EM-TECH): Three training programs were held under EM-TECH in the last year where over 20 Councilors were trained in areas of HAZMAT, Emergency Sonography and Clinical Research.

·    New training programs for 2009 would be announced soon.

Teamwork, academic unity, standardized emergency care, academic recognition, residency training, medical student education, disaster and toxicology training and future directions of the Academic Council were all of issues which were discussed above in detail at the 2008 Annual Assembly. 

On the request of some of the Councilors, it was decided that from next year onwards, the letters of invitation to the existing ACET members would also be sent to their Chief/Head but the final recommendation letter from the Dean/Principal was required for confirmation.

 The meeting can to an end with vote of thanks.

 Praveen Aggarwal, MD, FICP
 National Chair, ACET