Invitation

Vita brevis,
ars longa,
occasio praeceps,
experimentum periculosum,
iudicium difficile.

Life is short,
art long,
opportunity fleeting,
experience perilous,
and decision difficult.

Hippocrates could well have been referring to the practice of emergency medicine with this aphorism from over 2000 years ago. Join us in Hobart in November 2012 as we explore the links between art and science at the 29th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

Science provides us with the framework around which we operate. But by itself it can be cold and can lose context. Simply understanding the evidence and doing research often for research's sake alone is not enough.

Art adds something else. Through art we can engage and empathise, and through that we achieve a true understanding. This is our challenge as we attempt to understand the relationship between the two. So often we just consider the science, and for that, without even realising it sometimes, we are poorer. We need the art. But art by itself is not enough - we need the science as the foundation of what we do. Art in medicine without the support of science is quackery.

Join with me as we attempt to understand both the art and the science of emergency medicine and by doing so achieve a better understanding of what it is we actually do.

A/Prof Geoff Couser
ACEM 2012 Committee Convenor

Who Should Attend ACEM 2012?

• Emergency physicians
• Registrars
• Career medical offices
• Nursing staff
• Ambulance officers
• Industry specialists
• Emergency trainees
• Emergency nurse practitioners
• Medical students
• Allied health practitioners
• Rural and remote practitioners
• Emergency registrars
• Health administrators
• Health policy makers

Australasian College for Emergency Medicine

The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) is an incorporated educational institution whose prime objective is the training and examination of specialist emergency physicians for Australia and New Zealand and the ongoing Maintenance of Professional Standards of the Fellows.

ACEM has a vital interest in the quality of emergency medical care provided to the community and therefore has a wide rangeof subsidiary objectives relating to emergency department accreditation, policies and standards for the emergency medical system, teaching and research, publication, and those aspects of the medico political framework that have a direct impact on health outcomes for emergency patients.

www.acem.org.au