Dear friends,

March 28 we had the COVID-19 webinar with speakers from 9 different European countries, sharing their experience and explaining about the Covid-19 management in their countries.

Please find the recording on the EUSEM Academy. This recording is accessible for all.

Please note that with your EUSEM account you can access much more educational material. EUSEM members can access everything, Congress participants can access the webcasts from the respective year. If you are not a member or participant you can still access a lot of links to educational material covering the EM curriculum topics. In short, the Academy is an educational treasure!

https://academy.eusem.org/eusem/2020/covid-19/290502/session.speakers.covid-19.webinar.a.unique.insight.in.highly.impacted.countries.html

We would like to bring to your attention the publication of the “guidance on the management of clinical trials during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic”.

The European Medicines Agency, Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Inspectors Working Group, the Clinical Trials Facilitation and Coordination Group (CTFG, a working group of the Heads of Medicines Agency (HMA)), the Clinical Trials Expert Group (CTEG, a working group of the European Commission representing Ethics Committees and National Competent Authorities) and the European Commission (EC) acknowledge the impact of COVID-19 on the health system and broader society, and the impact it may have on clinical trials and trial participants. Extraordinary measures may need to be implemented and trials adjusted due to e.g. trial participants being in self-isolation/quarantine, limited access to public places (including hospitals) due to the risk of spreading infections, and health care professionals being committed to critical tasks. Therefore, EMA, EC and HMA strongly support the efforts of the GCP Inspectors’ Working Group for developing a harmonised EU/EEA-level guidance to mitigate the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the conduct of clinical trials.

The situation is evolving, and pragmatic actions may be required to deal with the challenges of conducting research, and in ensuring the rights, safety and wellbeing of participants. The points mentioned below are intended to provide guidance for all parties involved in clinical trials during this time.

Due to the urgency, this guidance is issued without prior public consultation. The sponsors should note that due to the rapidly evolving situation further updates to this guidance are possible and likely.

NEW DATE: 30 April 2020 - Midnight (CEST) +02:00 UTC 

While we are all facing an exceptional situation due to the impact of COVID-19 in Europe and worldwide, we are all aware that your time is precious at the moment and highly dedicated to your hospital. EUSEM consequently decided to prolong the abstract submission period to 30 April 2020. 

We all hope the situation will get better very soon and we will all see you in Copenhagen in September!

Organizing Societies

The European Emergency Medicine Congress is organized by The European Society of Emergency Medicine (EUSEM).

 Visit homepage of European Society of Emergency Medicine

Please find the details of the Congress organising team:

• General organisation => Natalie Ruxton, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Connection to your account => EUSEM, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Registrations => Audrey Martin, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Abstract submissions => Viviane Barbarisi, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Sponsorship & Exhibition Management => Julia Schroeder, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and Matthijs Bouwmeester, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• Scientific program => Dante Meeus, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

COVID-19 is one of the greatest challenges that the entire World is called to face since the dark years of the Second World War.

In this time of uncertainty and fear, it is necessary to maintain clarity and reiterate the principle of science, knowledge and, above all, expertise.

In this regard, there is an ongoing commitment by SIMEU, the Italian scientific society made up of the doctors and nurses in the Emergency Medicine departments operating in the approximately 650 Emergency Rooms throughout Italy.

As widely known, Italy has been the first European Country called to cope with the extreme COVID-19 emergency which has overturned all the usual procedural practices. SIMEU immediately acted to promote the circulation of knowledge by sharing working documents based on various field experiences, and published them on THIS WEBSITE to benefit its members.

SIMEU also deems it useful to disclose these documents to the international audience.

Documenting the real healthcare emergency flows as well as the adopted solutions and bringing them to the attention of the collegues around the World is the most effective assistance SIMEU can provide to help them in developing a more efficient organizational model suited for the new needs.

Taking an optimistic look at the situation, one side effect of the sacrifice and the efforts of those who "got there first" is that they are able to provide concrete help to those who come later making them better prepared.

We wish to convey this optimistic know-how to all our colleagues who may take advantage of it. We all can get through this, together!

Dr Salvatore Manca _ President

The 2019 novel Coronavirus acute respiratory epidemic is creating a stressed situation in all the health systems of the affected countries. Emergency Medical systems and specifically the Emergency departments as the front line of the health systems are suffering from overload and severe working conditions, the risk of contagion and transmission of the health professionals adds a substantial burden to their daily work. Under the perspective of European Society For Emergency Medicine, the recommendations provided by the health authorities are reviewed focus on the emergency departments activity.

Read the paper

In the actual Covid-19 crisis, sharing information is of extreme importance to learn and improve for now and the future. EUSEM wants to stimulate this by using its network and facilitate the transference of experiences between participating members from all over Europe, providing a unique insight of the real situation in the EDs with up to date experiences and difficulties faced during the different periods of the epidemic.

A 90 minute webinar is going to take place this Saturday, 28th March at 9:00 AM CET. 

We will have speakers from Italy, Spain, Turkey, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Norway, UK and The Netherlands. Each representative will give an insight of the situation in their country, addressing the actual situation, methods of triage, approach and lessons learned.

Watch the live stream on Facebook and have a clear perspective of the Covid-19 management in different settings across Europe focused on the emergency health systems.

When: Mar 28, 2020 09:00 AM CET

Topic: COVID-19: a unique insight in high impacted European countries

Live stream on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialEUSEM/

Dear colleagues, dear friends,

COVID-19 epidemic is putting to test all our European Healthcare Systems and especially Emergency Medical structures, which usually are operating under tension. We now have to face the worries and fears of the general population. In these circumstances, as in the previous epidemic zoonosis, Emergency Medicine structures are in the front line of the response and of healthcare systems and play a crucial role in the diagnosis, management, and monitoring of patients with COVID-19.

The professionals also face more complications in their daily work: isolations, refined triage for possible cases, different tracks, individual personal protection etc. Furthermore, continuous updates of the definitions and health authorities’ recommendations create special needs in working conditions, training and education.

Continuing to ensure regular business in the ED is not the issue. The risk of contagion and transmission of the disease is a significant concern for the Emergency Medicine structures and healthcare professionals, and this again shows your commitment in these circumstances.

The scientific Societies support the recommendations of the health authorities in terms of containment of the epidemic. We take the opportunity to highlight the importance of a structured and well-designed Emergency medical system during the normal periods because, if the systems are not tuned for those days, they won’t be able to respond in a time of crisis, such as this outbreak of COVID-19.

Taking into account these parameters, and stressing on your complete involvement in your emergency medicine structures, EUSEM has cancelled all the face to face meetings for the next weeks and will instead keep the links using video conferences when possible. Also, EUSEM has generated a position paper that intends to provide the European emergency medicine perspectives.

We want to ensure you of our commitment with you and the solidarity with the patients and their families.

Since the end of January, the world is facing an outbreak of a novel virus. Europe is in the heart of this epidemy and our Emergency Departments are overwhelmed by an exceptional workload and emotional commitment.

Doctors and nurses are requested to work double or triple shifts looking after patients infected by Covid-19. Directors of EDs are involved in the decisions taken by the crisis units which will affect the life of thousands of citizens.

Exceptional organizational solutions have been taken and surge capacity increased, and the screening of hundreds of patients is done outside the EDs, with professionals wearing PPE all day long, in complex environments.

ED personnel is responding with courage, resilience and great solidarity. We would like to applaud and thank all the healthcare professionals involved: doctors, nurses, paramedics and all personnel, for what they are doing. Emergency Medicine proves once again to be the cornerstone of any healthcare system, especially in periods of disease outbreaks and major disasters. Having a good emergency care system is mandatory and should rely on a medical dispatch center and a strong out of hospital medical system.

On this website you can find information and guidance from WHO regarding the current outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that was first reported from Wuhan, China, on 31 December 2019. Please visit this page for daily updates.

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019