The EMTA conference will be held from the 4th - 7th November 2008 at the Birmingham Hippodrome's Patrick Centre, where conference facilities include a lecture theatre with capacity for 200 and numerous breakout rooms . The conference has been timed to be after the FCEM examinations so that final year trainees may find it easier to attend. A choice of accommodation is available with several budget hotels within two minutes' walk (and expensive hotels within ten)!

The military trainees based at the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine are providing a day of lectures and practical skills training on the 4th of November, extending the program from three to four days.

The main conference over 5th-7th November aims to hold core lecture sessions on subjects relevant to all trainees. Alongside core topics such as acute coronary syndromes and trauma will be breakout sessions directed at the main sub-specialty interests:

1. Acute medicine - non-invasive ventilation, observational medicine and atypical chest pain

2. Critical care - the use of inotropes, management of the patient with sepsis, haemodynamic monitoring

3. Pre-hospital care - extrication techniques, scene safety and state of the art moulage practice

4. Ultrasonography - ECHO & and advanced ultrasonography

5. Paediatric emergency medicine - transfer of the critically ill child, shock in neonates, updates in child protection

6. Sports Medicine and Soft Tissue Injury - insights from the olympics and planning for 2012

7. Management of the emergency department.

These breakout sessions will be available for smaller groups to focus on more specialised areas and offer an opportunity to obtain and develop practical skills. This will include sessions on basic ultrasound techniques, hopefully providing an opportunity to sign off of those with adequate case numbers for level 1 accreditation. We have confirmation from many well respected and high profile consultants who have agreed to participate in the program. 

We anticipate approximately 100 - 150 delegates will attend the conference. We believe the numbers of delegates will be greater than those of the current Specialist Registrars as in previous years, since EMTA membership now includes all trainees in emergency medicine, at all levels of the ST training programme. This accounts for over 1500 doctors in the UK!

We hope the programme this year will attract interest from a wide range of trainees and anticipate many people will attend the full 4 days, with smaller numbers attending for day sessions also. The conference is focused on trainees and training issues, but non-training emergency physicians who are committed to a career in EM are also welcome.