A summary of EuSEM 2015 and what you have missed!

By / / Emergency Medicine, Philosophy of Emergency Medicine, Social Media

 

StEuSEM

The St. Emlyn’s team has, in recent years, become a regular sight at the EuSEM congress meetings and this year was certainly no exception. We attended this year’s conference, which was held in Torino (known to Brits as Turin, Italy) earlier this month with a very strong delegation.

The event was visited by well over 1,500 delegates from not only Europe but further afield; we met attendees from Australasia, the Middle East and the Americas. This undoubtedly reflects the continuously increasing popularity and expanding sphere of the European Society of Emergency Medicine (EuSEM).

Our team this year was represented by Simon (@EMManchester), Rick (@richardbody), Natalie (@_NMay) and Janos (@baombejp). We sadly missed the other vital members of our team Iain (@docib), cap’n Richard (@richcarden) and Alan (@dralangrayson) but some of us had to stay home to cure the sick and provide emergency care back in the UK.

Why go to the EuSEM Congress?

If you are an emergency physician practicing our noble profession in Europe and you had not yet had the opportunity to attend a EuSEM meeting, I would strongly recommend this event for a variety of reasons:

  •  this professional meeting sees a constantly increasing number of world-renowned speakers being invited and delivering cutting edge talks. For example, this year we had the pleasure of listening to Chris Nickson and Victoria Brazil from Australia and Rob Rogers from the USA
  • the event is an excellent networking experience with other EPs working in Europe and beyond. One of the great things about EM is its diversity, which is certainly is reflected in meetings like EuSEM
  • good value for money: the conference fees still remain relatively low compared to other non-EU conferences
  • with the expansion of low-cost flights and European rail networks, there were lots of cheap travel options within Europe to get to Torino

What happened in Torino this year?

The congress this year was held in the centro congressi lingotto, which is a great example of industrial redevelopment – a renovation of the first Fiat car production plant. I will not reveal to you you what film was shot here, you will need to find out by yourself!

With nine (!) tracks running in parallel, it was difficult to choose which talk to attend in person. Of course, the wide use of Twitter often allowed to follow talks and debates taking place in the other rooms (ever heard of continuous partial attention? if not, then read this). You still can catch up with the main highlights of the conference using the hashtag #EuSEM15 on Twitter.You can also still view the full programme here if you need more convincing.
There was even a track delivered exclusively in Italian thanks to our gracious hosts this year. After all, Italian was the language of Renaissance!

There were motivating talks centred around education fabulously delivered by Victoria Brazil and Simon Carley (you can find a link here to Simon’s talks), a summary on paediatric analgesia by Natalie May (another link for you to peruse), an update on cardiac markers and prediction rules by Rick Body and a talk on ethics and decision making, top tips on airway management by Reuben Strayer and Chris Nickson, the always popular SimWars… We heard talks on subjects as diverse as simulation, removal of nasal foreign bodies, major trauma, cardiac arrest, response to MERS/Ebola and major international public health crises and mental health among EM practitioners. See some of the tweets below for a flavour of what was discussed.

https://twitter.com/sgd_2011/status/653230963300933632

https://twitter.com/emtrenchdoc/status/653917250659946496

This year a special platform was dedicated to the migrant and human trafficking crisis that is currently hitting Europe. I was lucky enough to chair one of these sessions and the atmosphere certainly demonstrated once again the true spirit of European solidarity beyond that of our profession.

There's always time to meet the locals.
There’s always time to meet the locals.

Of course, the social events were not to be missed. The gala dinner was held in a sumptuously rich palazzo – a former state residence of 18th century Turinese architecture. We were presented even more culture during the opening ceremony with famous opera pieces from Italian composers like Verdi.
If you had time to visit Turin, you could even see the famous shroud of Turin that some Christians believe was used to wrap the body of Jesus Christ before his resurrection.

In summary, the congress programme was most certainly of the highest scientific standard. However science and fun once again co-existed during a few days that will be difficult to forget anytime soon.

Next year, I am expecting an even more exciting meeting, especially as it will be held in the historical gateway city of Vienna – I am sure a source of future inspiration for us all.

Mark the dates in your calendar now for EuSEM 2016 – 2nd-5th October 2016 – and catch up with the St. Emlyn’s team there!

 

vb

Janos

@baombejp

Cite this article as: Janos Baombe, "A summary of EuSEM 2015 and what you have missed!," in St.Emlyn's, October 27, 2015, https://www.stemlynsblog.org/summary-eusem-2015-missed/.

2 thoughts on “A summary of EuSEM 2015 and what you have missed!”

  1. Pingback: Eye Injuries at EuSEM15 - Emergency Medicine Ireland

  2. Pingback: What did you miss at #EuSEM16? St.Emlyn's - St.Emlyn's

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