Pictured from the left are Dr. Rebecca Parker, Dr. Jay Kaplan, President-elect Dr. Sandra Schneider and Dr. Robert Solomon.

The ACEP Council elected Sandra M. Schneider, MD, FACEP to serve as the College’s new President-elect on Oct. 4 at the annual Council meeting. Dr. Schneider is a professor and chair emeritus of the department of emergency medicine at the University of Rochester and an attending physician at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NY. She will serve a one-year term as President-elect and will assume ACEP’s presidency at next year’s meeting in Las Vegas.

Dr. Schneider was vice president of ACEP’s Board of Directors this past year and has been a leader on the issue of reducing overcrowding in the nation’s emergency departments.

"Patient boarding and overcrowding in emergency departments are critical problems that deserve attention at the highest levels of our government," said Dr. Schneider. "It is imperative that we reduce the number of patients we board in our emergency departments to ensure that all patients get the timely care they need and deserve."

Dr. Schneider was elected to the ACEP Board of Directors in 2004 and again in 2007. She served as the board’s secretary-treasurer before being elected vice president last year. She formerly served on the board of directors of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry, and she is the former president of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine and the Association of Academic Chairs of Emergency Medicine.

Dr. Schneider served as the founding chair of the department of emergency medicine at the University of Rochester from 1993-2007. She established a residency training program there in emergency medicine and fellowship programs in pediatric emergency medicine, sports medicine, international emergency medicine and EMS.

 Dr. Schneider earned her medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh and completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at Hospitals of the University of Pittsburgh. She is a board certified in emergency medicine and is the author of over 50 peer-reviewed articles and 35 book chapters.

Council Speaker Dr. Arlo Weltge (left) and Council Vice-speaker Dr. Marco Coppola.

Council Elects Board Members and Council Officers

The ACEP Council also elected two new members to the ACEP Board of Directors, Dr. Rebecca Parker and Dr. Jay Kaplan, and re-elected two incumbents, Dr. Robert Solomon and Dr. Alex Rosenau. Board members serve three-year terms.

The Council elected Dr. Arlo Weltge to serve as Council Speaker and Dr. Marco Coppola to serve as vice-Speaker. Both will serve two year terms.

Council Adopts Resolutions that Shape College Policy

Members of the ACEP Council adopted several resolutions during its 2009 meeting Sunday, including a commitment to finding additional workforce solutions, defining a "boarded" patient, and a call for child restraints on school busses.

The Council is made up of representatives from all 53 chapters, 30 sections, and the Emergency Medicine Resident’s Association. Resolutions can be proposed by chapters, section or individual ACEP members, and are deliberated on during the Council’s annual meeting.

The resolutions do not become College policy until they are reviewed and approved by the Board of Directors.

One of the items the Council voted to adopt this year is a resolution that ACEP prioritize addressing the workforce shortage by "lobby[ing] appropriate governmental entities and work to remove any barriers to increasing the number of residency programs slots that are available in emergency medicine," and "investigate broadening access to ACGME or AOA accredited EM residency programs to physicians who have previously trained in another specialty."

Another resolution dealt with public safety and asked that "ACEP endorses, supports, and advocates that the national Highway Traffic Safety Administration mandate the provision and endorse the usage of appropriate restraint devices on school busses."

The ACEP Council Voting on resolutions at the October meeting in Boston.

The Council also considered a resolution to define boarding time in the nation’s emergency department. There was much discussion among Councillors about a 2-hour time frame that was included in the original resolution.

The amended resolution that the Council adopted, however, does not include a time frame but rather states that "ACEP adopt a policy statement which officially defines the ‘boarded patient’ as one who remains in the ED after notification of the need to admit to inpatient service and ends when the patient leaves the department." The resolution also calls for "ACEP [to] continue its involvement with national organizations developing measurements for patient through-put."

With testimony about the benefits of poison centers, including training for residents in toxicology and surveillance for public health issues, the Council also adopted a resolution that "ACEP form a task force to investigate strategies to support poison centers."

Additionally, the Council adopted a resolution to allow the Association of Academic Chairs in Emergency Medicine a seat on the Council.