For the second year in a row, Notre Dame Maritime Hospital (HNDM) held an Emergency Medicine Congress. This year, it was entitled, ‘Byblos Health II: Second Conference of Emergency Medicine of Notre Dame Maritime’ and was held in the beautiful city of Byblos, 30 km to the North of Beirut, Lebanon. The Congress took place from 8–13 April with some 300 delegates and exhibitors from six countries—making it bigger and more international than its precedent edition.
The diversity of the Congress was reflected by the different subjects presented and the variety of workshops on offer. The preconference workshops (Figure 1) included hands-on adult and paediatric emergency simulations, patient triage, and skills stations covering airway management, point-of-care ultrasound, patient assessment, and suturing. Other sessions covered basic and advanced paediatric and adult life support with a focus on the use of the automated external defibrillator (AED). A few days before the Congress, (HNDM) offered an AED to the Byblos Government Headquarters. The Lebanese Resuscitation Council trained the staff on its use and it is the first AED to be placed in a governmental building in Lebanon (Figure 2).
Ethics and administration
Friday 12 April was the start of the didactic part of the Conference. In the first session, Ethics and administration, Dr Beatrice Le Bon Chami, Medical Director at Notre Dame Maritime Hospital and President of the Scientific Committee, discussed the importance of patient confidentiality and all of its intricacies.
Leadership skills
Following this, Dr Francois Braun, President of the French SAMU (physician-led emergency prehospital care service), talked about leadership in the emergency department and the characteristics of a good team leader.
Clinical practice
This session was followed by talks from local and international speakers covering multiple medical emergencies, including pitfalls in the management of abdominal pain in the emergency department, and gastrointestinal and anticoagulation-related bleeding.
The first keynote lecture featured Dr Jean Cyrille Pitteloud from Switzerland who introduced the audience to the updates in rapid sequence intubation. The lectures focused on cardiopulmonary updates in emergency medicine such as in the treatment of atrial fibrillation, asthma, and pneumothorax. Paediatric emergencies were also covered during the first day with some interesting lectures about febrile seizure, acute abdomen, pain management, and resuscitation.
The second keynote featured the Dean of the School of Medicine at the Lebanese American University, Dr Michel Mawad, who talked about his experience of the management of stroke patients in a stroke centre.
Professional development
Following this was the official opening ceremony by Dr Luis Garci-Castrillo Riesgo, President of the European Society of Emergency Medicine, who welcomed the audience and gave a short presentation about the demand and progress of Emergency Medicine in terms of being recognised as a specialty across Europe. Dr Karim Tazarourte, Vice President of the French Society of Emergency Medicine, was then invited to the stage to discuss how France now considers this specialty. Dr Myrna Abi Abdallah Doumit, the President of the Order of Nurses in Lebanon, talked about the difficulties faced by nurses in the emergency department and Dr Joseph Chami, the Chief Executive of Notre Dame Maritime Hospital and the Conference President, welcomed attendees and thanked committee members for working to make the Congress a success.
After a short speech by Dr Michel Mawad, Dr Chami and Dr Mawad then signed an agreement between Notre Dame Maritime hospital and the Lebanese American University that will affiliate them, especially with regards to offering medical student placements at HNDM (Figure 3).
Quality and safety
On the second day, the lectures focused on quality improvement in the emergency department with the help of mortality and morbidity review, indicators of quality, and facilitating the flow of patients.
The first keynote of the day was given by Ms Wafaa Maalouf, the Head of the Quality Department at HNDM, who shed light on the importance of hospital accreditation to promote quality and patient safety. After the coffee break held in the garden of St John Parish Home, Dr Bruno Megarbane, one of the pillars of toxicology in Europe, talked about different toxins encountered in the emergency department with real-life cases managed by emergency residents and physicians given as examples. This session was followed by an interesting review presentation that covered a dozen recent articles that potentially could change the way emergency medicine is practised. In conclusion, it was proposed that Byblos act as the testbed of a new prehospital care model, combining a medicalised and paramedical approach to responding to emergency calls.
Education and patient care
After the lunch break, two sessions on diagnostic ultrasound and mass casualty simulation presented by various international speakers highlighted the importance of these tools in improving patient management and care. Proper education and training of clinicians in both aspects can bring great benefits to the field of emergency medicine. The final invited lecture was by Dr Braun who talked about artificial intelligence and its possible implications for the emergency department.
The day was concluded with a summary from Dr Beatrice Chami and Dr Nagi Souaiby. They thanked all contributors for the success of the Congress and highlighted the importance of prehospital care and emergency medicine in Lebanon and the region, with the hope that the knowledge and skills acquired by the audience will help them in delivering high-quality emergency care to their patients.