APA Pediatric Emergency and Injury Control Special Interest Groups Meeting

Monday May 2nd, 08:30-11:30

Boundaries of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Mission: What Constitutes an “Emergency”?

This year, the Emergency Medicine and Injury Control Special Interests Groups will have a special, combined meeting on May 2nd at the Pediatric Academic Societies Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore from April 30 - May 3rd. The emergency department, in its role as interface between the hospital and a relatively vulnerable patient population, has always had a multi-faceted mission that is often outside the care of the acutely ill and injured.  The fluid nature of the boundary around our mission requires us to regularly re-examine what is included.  For example, is Injury Prevention part of our job?  Chronic asthma care?  Sexual Health?  Warm meals? 

For pediatric emergency departments, this is all the more true given the vulnerability of children. However, an unfocussed ever-expanding mission that varies from pediatric emergency department to pediatric emergency department is a threat to the cohesion of the field. We propose to use this combined Special Interest Group to look at this dilemma more closely, in a forum encouraging active discussion. 

Speakers and Topics

• Dr. Mark Zonfrillo: Role of the Emergency Department in Injury Prevention
• Dr. Roger Zemek and Dr. William Meehan: Concussion and the Extension of the Emergency Department Mission
• Dr. Yaron Finkelstein:  Poisoning and Efforts beyond Acute Treatment 
• Dr. Joseph Zorc: Asthma and the Limits of Follow-up
• Dr. Cynthia Mollen: Role of the Emergency Department for Patients with Sexual Health Issues
• Dr. Eliot Nelson, Dr. Karen Sheehan, Dr. Stephen Teach and Dr. Cynthia Mollen: Panel Discussion