Society for Academic Emergency Medicine also provided educational support. Academic Emergency Medicine are pleased to present scientific abstracts that were presented at the First Inter-American Conference on Emergency Medicine held April 18–21, 2006, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This conference was organized by la Sociedad Argentina de Emergencias, the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, and the American College of Emergency Physicians. Also sponsoring this conference were la Sociedad Venezolana de Emergencias y Desastres, la Asociación Colombiana de Medicina de Emergencias, la Sociedad Mexicana de Medicina de Emergencias, la Sociedad Peruana de Medicina de Emergencias y Desastres, and la Asociación Latino Americana de Catástrofes Emergencias y Desastres.

The goal of the conference was to discuss the specialty development of emergency medicine and its scientific development and publications, as well as allow discussion and comparison of the local practice of our specialty. The program drew 3,500 participants from America, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Asia. Most were physicians but other professionals also attended, including nurses, firefighters, and paramedics. The official language of the conference was Spanish, but several of the courses had simultaneous English interpretation.

The scientific abstracts presented at the First Inter-American Conference on Emergency Medicine can be viewed in English, Spanish, or both, in the April 2007 online issue of AEM at http://www.aemj.org. Special thanks to the Editorial Board of Academic Emergency Medicine and the local members of la Sociedad Argentina de Emergencias who helped prepare these abstracts for publication. The conference organizers also express their gratitude to Drs. Aaron Hexdall and Silvio Aguilera for their assistance in organizing the conference.

Source: www.aemj.org