Remarks at the International Conference on Emergency Medicine
27th June 2012
Ladies and gentlemen, I am absolutely delighted to be here today to open this very important International Conference on Emergency Medicine. I would like to thank the organising committee for inviting me to perform this happy duty and all of you for that very warm welcome. I would also like to say what a great honour it is for Ireland to host this large and prestigious conference.
It is also an honour to see, gathered in our capital city, so many leaders in the field of emergency medicine who have travelled from all over the world to attend this conference. I hope the experience has been a positive one so far. The Irish weather is variable and there is not much we can do about it. However, there is a greater constancy in the quality of Irish hospitality and I hope you have experienced some of that warm welcome. I also hope that you will have the time and opportunity, during your stay here, to visit some of our city’s famous landmarks and to explore some of the cultural riches that are at the heart of Dublin.
I trust none of you will take it amiss if I suggest that an emergency physician is not a professional we ideally wish to encounter – either as a seriously ill patient or as a distraught relative. However, the unfortunate reality is that most of us, at some point in our lives, may well find ourselves in that difficult and frightening position. And most of us probably know people who have been in that dark place and who so often speak afterwards about the wonderful medical personnel they came into contact with; about their skill, their knowledge, and their ability to inspire the trust and confidence that did so much to take some of the fear out of the situation.
Emergency medicine is a relatively young specialty. It is also a very complex one requiring a diverse range of skills. An emergency physician must be competent in many areas of expertise from cardiology to critical care medicine and from anaesthesia to cardiothoracic surgery. They may have to treat trauma, set bone fractures, diagnose a complex range of viruses, perform surgery and do many other things as they fight to save the lives of people who suddenly have become critically ill.
They may work in the emergency departments of general hospitals or deal with humanitarian or disaster situations. There can be no doubt that specialising in emergency medicine is not a choice for the faint hearted, or for those who seek a life without challenge or, indeed, for those who wish to specialise in the best remunerated branches of medicine.
In recent decades, emergency medicine is an area that has considerably grown and matured and is now accepted as a critical component of any effective health care system. More and more countries around the world are recognising the critical importance of this relatively new specialty and increasing their focus on its development through training and research.
Much good work has been done but emergency medicine is, of course, an area continues to evolve, to develop, to progress and to push boundaries, constantly exploring how to do things better, more effectively, and more efficiently. But progress like that does not happen overnight or without a lot of hard work, research, analysis and discussion.
The stated mission of the International Federation of Emergency Medicine is, as you know, “to promote at an international level, interchange, understanding and co-operation among physicians practicing emergency medicine”. The Federation has worked very effectively to continually improve training and clinical practice in emergency medicine and has also played an important role in its globalisation and internationalisation. The large attendance here today clearly demonstrates the increasing number of countries around the globe that recognise the value of emergency medicine.
The fact that the Federation brings together over forty national groups of emergency medicine practitioners to collectively work on your shared objective of promoting excellence in emergency healthcare is deeply impressive. You represent an international community for learning, collaboration and mutual support in an area of human experience that is literally a matter of life or death for the people who depend on your expertise, your care and your compassion. In addition, the Federation’s aim, to promote unrestricted access to emergency healthcare throughout the world is an eloquent statement of your commitment to human decency and social equity.
The array of expertise in this room is deeply impressive. But equally impressive is the generosity of spirit, the willingness to share your learning and experience and to extract the very best from that reservoir of wisdom in order to advance your profession and the welfare of the people you serve. All of you are here because you are interested in making progress, moving things forward, innovating and expanding the limits of knowledge and experience. You may come from many different backgrounds and specialisms but you all collectively understand that the boundaries that mark one area of specialist medicine off from another do not necessarily have to be watertight or impermeable. You understand the importance of contributing your expertise, of sharing it with others, of making the best possible use of modern technology and new medical techniques and, through all of this collaboration, ensuring this life-saving service that you provide is the best and most accessible it can possibly be.
Your conference theme, “Bridging the gap between evidence and practice”, emphasises your commitment to ensuring that the best research evidence is translated into effective, and compassionate, patient care. Your programme is a very comprehensive one and the range of topics under discussion over the next four days spans the spectrum of military medicine, infectious diseases, mental health emergencies, toxicology and a variety of other issues; clearly demonstrating the breadth, scale and complexity of what you do.
I’m delighted to hear that the agenda for the Dublin conference includes the development of an international Quality Framework for Emergency Medicine. This will define and measure quality in emergency department patient care and act as a catalyst for worldwide improvement in patient safety in your field of practice. The launch of international guidelines and standards in areas as diverse as disaster medicine, paediatric emergency medicine and diagnostic ultrasound is a significant landmark for both the International Federation and all practitioners of emergency medicine.
While much has been achieved, we also know that, in a rapidly changing world, a world where technology is constantly evolving, we no longer have the luxury of standing still. There is always more we can and should do, new breakthroughs to learn about, new research studies to peruse, new ethical dilemmas to be considered. You have an ambitious Conference programme ahead of you; one that will be challenging but also, I hope, fruitful in the knowledge acquired, the collegial friendships renewed and the personal motivation and enthusiasm rekindled.
I would like to congratulate you on all you have achieved so far and to wish you well with your very important work – work which gives immense reassurance to patients and the public at large that treatment taking place in modern emergency departments is delivered by professionals who are both technically well qualified and empathetic in the way they look after people in their care. I wish you a very successful and enjoyable four days and I now declare this Conference officially open.
Go raibh mile maith agaibh go leir. Thank you very much.