In the early hours of  6^th February 2023, a magnitude 7.8 quake struck near the Southern Turkish border with Syria, causing devastation on a barely imaginable scale. WHO has declared it one of the worst natural disasters this century.

At times of such unimaginable pain and suffering the true strength of the human spirit is revealed in those who selflessly seek to help to relieve suffering.  This has been exemplified by many including the superhuman efforts of rescuers, acting without fear for their own lives, whose actions have doubtless saved countless lives and in the tireless efforts of those working in the front line of healthcare who, despite the loss of friends and family, continue to work in extremely challenging circumstances. 

Our thoughts remain with all those affected, especially our Emergency Medicine colleagues working in the region. We are truly proud to have you as our colleagues and wish to assure you of our continued support. 

The next stages of this disaster will continue to challenge the people of Syria and Turkey, and those providing ongoing medical aid, shelter and support to the countless number of people injured and made homeless.

Our thoughts go to the families of our colleagues who have lost their lives due to this earthquake. We continue to offer our  support to all those affected in Turkey and Syria and wish continued health and strength to our Emergency Medicine family. 

If you wish to support the emergency effort please consider a donation to EMAT or one of the official Aid agencies working in the region.

Photo copyright:REUTERS/Umit Bektas

Best practice in the management of COVID-19 patients is still changing, and the management of infected patients in the emergency department (ED) presents distinct problems as compared to other specialties. Now, emergency medicine researchers from across Europe have found that patients who were admitted to the ED and had a confirmed COVID-19 infection were in a more critical clinical situation than those who had a suspected COVID-19 infection that was not confirmed subsequently. The study¹, the first on this scale in Europe to examine this issue from the emergency physicians’ point of view, was carried out by members of the EUSEM Research Network² and published in the Journal of Personalized Medicine.

FILL IN THE EM-DAY SURVEY FOR PROFESSIONALS

This year the Emergency Medicine Day campaign is dedicated to safety. Safety for our patients, who need care, attention and relief from pain and disease. Safety for our colleagues, who need to be able to work in a secure environment, for the right number of hours with the right number of patients in order to be able to give them the right amount of our time and energy.
Only in these conditions are we sure to provide the patient with a safe haven in an emergency.

YOUR SAFETY - OUR PRIORITY

We strongly believe it is of the utmost importance that we can provide concrete data to the relevant stakeholders to reflect our distress and how this can threaten our safety and that of our patients.

We therefore would like to invite you to respond to the following 40 questions, based on a validated survey, about the safety of emergency care in your ED. We hope you can support the EM-Day with 10 minutes of your time.

In parallel to this survey we are sending a questionnaire to patients’ organisation and to individual patients, with the hope that the results of the three surveys will describe the situation in an unequivocal way.

The results of these surveys will be published on the EM day and will be circulated to media and politicians.

Click the link or scan the QR code

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JC3HHMW

Registration for the virtual EBEEM Part A exam on March 10 is open till 31 January!

Welcome to the EUSEM newsletter for December 2022. I am truly proud to have been elected by the membership of EUSEM to represent you as the President for the next 2 years. I would like to start by thanking the outgoing President Abdo Khoury for not only steering EUSEM through a difficult period while still strengthening EUSEM as a society.

It was fantastic to be in Berlin with so many of you. You all helped make the congress an incredible success. I would wish to personally thank DGINA for their incredible work in making it so. There are far too many others to mention but once again Patrick Plaisance’s leadership of the ECOC was pivotal and the Scientific committee (Senad Tabakovic and Christian Hohenstein) worked tirelessly to create the scientific programme.

It was great to see so many of the emergency family and to share ideas and hopes for the future, even in these difficult times. More than that it was great to just take some time out of the pressures we are all experiencing and to find some time to laugh and dance (and for those of you fortunate/ unfortunate {delete as appropriate} enough to find the karaoke bar to sing!!).

For those I have not yet met I would like to introduce myself. I consider myself, more than anything, a working front door EM Doctor. EM has been a major part of my life for over 30 years and like many of you the passion to do the best for every patient who entrusts themselves to our care remains a strong driver. In case you didn’t know I also do a bit of ultrasound now and then. I live and work in the North of England in a busy ED/ Trauma Centre. Like most of you I think my team are the best there is!!My outside interests include travel and football but for the sake of impartiality, I will not declare my favourite team.

I have been involved in EUSEM on and off for nearly 20 years during which time the Society has grown steadily, not only in membership and attendance at conferences, but in its many other functions. Educationally I look towards next year with the creation of several new ecourses and several new educational events are planned throughout the year. The research group remains busy and I remain grateful for all the members of sections and committees who continue to give their time and effort so generously.

In the coming year EUSEM will also continue to advocate for those working in Emergency Medicine especially in highlighting the importance of working conditions and appropriate support for those who provide care in emergencies. We all know the next period will not be easy.  

If you are not yet involved in EUSEM I would encourage you to become involved in our task to make Emergency Care the gest it can be for all those we serve. There are many opportunities and sections to become part of. I am keen to hear your ideas and happy to be contacted directly to offer any support I can for your ideas ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) ).

Finally, I want to wish you and your families a wonderful and hopefully peaceful holiday period. To those working on the frontline this Christmas and New Year I hope it is as peaceful as it can be, whilst recognising it is our busiest period as a specialty. This Christmas I am sure you will also join me in sending continued thoughts and prayers for those caught up in conflicts and disasters especially to our EM family in Ukraine.

I look forwards to meeting many of you next year

Jim Connolly