President's Message

CAEP is our meeting place

Welcome to the CAEP website.  I hope you will use it as your link to the emergency medicine community in Canada. 

Like the website, CAEP strives to be the focal point of emergency medicine in this country.  It serves as the meeting place for collaboration in education, research and connection with our colleagues.  Together with the work of our members and committees, CAEP provides guidance and direction to the emergency medicine community by setting standards for emergency care and by advocating on behalf of our members.  CAEP will play a pivotal role in guiding the future direction of emergency medicine in Canada.

CAEP membership offers very tangible benefits that are essential for emergency physicians.  Our well respected journal, CJEM, provides a forum for research and an opportunity to access the latest information on clinical practice.  CAEP’s CME and annual conference are second to none in quality and relevance to practice, with discounted rates for members.  CAEP members allow CAEP to continue to address important issues that affect our daily clinical practice through advocacy, clinical practice guidelines, and position statements.

The recent economic downturn has been an opportunity for our organization to reflect on all of our activities so that we can ensure that our members receive full value for their commitment to CAEP.  Looking to the future, CAEP will continue to lead our specialty as it evolves, and will continue to advocate for the emergency physicians we serve.

Please explore the website, and if you have any suggestions or comments please direct them to admin@caep.ca.

Peter Toth MD, CCFP(EM)
President

Year End Message to CAEP Members

December 22, 2011

Dear Fellow CAEP Member,

I would like to extend warm holiday greetings to all CAEP members and their families. The end of the year is a time to reflect on our accomplishments and, more importantly, look forward to the challenges ahead in the New Year. It is also a time to acknowledge the contributions of our office staff, Board, volunteers, partners, and committee members that make CAEP the dynamic organization that it is.

One of our proudest accomplishments this past year is CAEP’s surge in membership. We currently have almost 2,000 members—this is our largest membership total ever! In particular, we have seen increasing numbers of medical students and residents joining CAEP. Our Membership Committee, composed of Jill McEwen, Chryssi Paraskevopoulos, Tom Currie, and Brent Thoma, has enjoyed great success with its membership strategy as confirmed by our rising numbers. In the future, CAEP will need to continue to deliver high-quality services to our members, connect them to the emergency medicine community in Canada, and further evolve in order to address our members’ current and future needs.

Our Head Office, under the direction of our Executive Director, Vera Klein, continues to grow and provide vital support to our organization. With Vera’s excellent leadership, our Head Office is a dynamic working environment where everyone contributes their best. Our CME Department includes Janice MacIsaac, CME Manager, and Gail Chapman, CME Coordinator, who have been instrumental in coordinating our high-quality CME. The other members of our office staff continue to provide valuable services to our members: Gisele Leger, Administrative Assistant; Adele Delcorde, Manager of Finance and Administration; and Jennifer Lafreniere, Membership and Committee Coordinator. In the past year we welcomed Erin McLaughlin-Guthrie, Assistant Managing Editor for CJEM, to our office in Ottawa. She provides a vital link between our Head Office and CJEM. In the coming year, we will add a Communications and Marketing Manager to our office to address the increasing demands in this area.

In response to our members’ needs, we significantly upgraded the CAEP website this past year. These changes allow www.caep.ca to continue to function as a focal point where emergency physicians across Canada can connect with our community. The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive. We are also looking forward to launching projects that will take advantage of the website’s new capabilities. One such project will take CME online, revolutionizing the way we deliver some of our CME.

At CAEP, we continue to be committed to our core values. This year saw the launch of a Bystander CPR Position Statement that drew unprecedented media interest and will serve as a starting point for our goal to improve bystander CPR rates across Canada.

The Advocacy Committee also introduced the Dr. Alan Drummond Award for Advocacy and the CAEP Award for Medical Journalism to recognize individuals who have contributed to advocacy in emergency medicine across Canada.

                               From left to right: Peter Toth, CAEP President; Paul Parks and Raj Sherman, co-recipients of the

                               Dr. Alan Drummond Advocacy Award; Jodi Sinnema, recipient of the CAEP Award for Medical Journalism;

                               and Andrew Affleck, Co-chair of the Public Affairs Committee.

CAEP’s efforts to address emergency department overcrowding continue and we plan to provide an updated position statement and initiative that will keep ED overcrowding top of mind for governments and the public.

The CAEP Research Committee welcomed Dr. Paul Atkinson as its new Chair. We will work closely with Paul to support the work of this vital committee.

This year Mary-Lynn Watson, Riyad Abu-Laban, and I met with representatives from the College of Family Physicians of Canada and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada to discuss emergency medicine training in Canada. The Montreal Task Force on Emergency Medicine Training and Certification directed CAEP to engage the two Colleges on this topic. This was a historic and important meeting that signifies the importance of emergency medicine training in Canada.

CAEP 2011 was held in St. John’s, Newfoundland, this past June, where over 700 delegates were warmly welcomed. The Organizing Committee, skilfully led by Scott Wilson and Tia Renouf, along with the Track Chairs, delivered an exciting and diverse program that included an inspiring group of speakers and plenary presenters. We all came away with lasting memories of Celtic music, great food, and warm hospitality.

The 2012 CAEP Annual Conference, June 2–6 in Niagara Falls, is on track to be another fantastic CAEP event. Our Conference Chairs, Rafi Setrak and Karen Woolfrey, are as energetic as the Falls themselves! The scientific program and local attractions are sure to be huge draws for members.

A number of developments have taken place at CJEM. Our Editor-in-Chief, Jim Ducharme, oversaw the transition to a new publisher, Decker Publishing. This past year, CJEM was recognized for its outstanding quality. The Journal’s debut impact factor established CAEP as one of the Top 10 emergency medicine journals in the world. This recognition is a testament to the dedication and hard work of the people involved in producing the Journal.

The CAEP Board continues to guide the direction of our organization. We would like to thank outgoing Board member Nalin Ahluwalia, Treasurer, and welcome Paul Pageau into this role. Thanks also to outgoing Board member Janice Wong, Resident Representative, and welcome Brent Thoma to this role. We welcome back Tom Currie and Carolyn Kowal who were re‑appointed as Directors for another term. New to the Board this year is Jaelyn Caudle from Kingston, Ontario. In the coming year, Bruce McLeod will become CAEP President. He has demonstrated a great capacity for leadership and hard work during his time on the Board. CAEP will be in good hands with Bruce at the helm.

Emergency physicians don’t shy away from a challenge. We provide care at all hours for the sickest patients at the front lines of the health care system. As I think about what’s ahead for CAEP and emergency medicine next year, I can’t help but be excited by the challenge ahead.

I wish you all good health and much happiness for 2012.

Peter Toth

CAEP President