Special Interest Groups

The Academic Affairs Special Interest Group provides leadership in the area of academic advocacy, including publishing position statements for issues affecting emergency medicine (EM) training, recommending changes to academic policies, procedures, and processes, and serving as a liaison to AAEM/RSA to support residency education. The interest group also provides support, feedback, and connects members to resources to pursue their own academic projects. They serve as subject matter experts in the area of academic medicine to the AAEM Board of Directors as needed. In addition, the committee may serve as the liaison to other EM organizations for joint interests and projects.

The AAEM Aging Well in Emergency Medicine Interest Group (AWEMIG) was founded to address issues and concerns for our community of experienced emergency medicine trained and board certified physicians as they enter the more senior phase of their career. As our specialty matures, there are a growing number of mature emergency medicine physicians. The AWEMIG would provide a forum for issues specific to this cohort of AAEM members. There is no age limit for AAEM AWEMIG members, as the issues may be relevant to different individuals at slightly different ages depending on the track of their career and lives.

The Latin American/Hispanic Health & Education Special Interest Group’s mission is to promote, improve and protect unencumbered access of Hispanic and Latin Americans to the highest quality of emergency medical care along with increasing access of patients to specialty trained emergency physicians throughout Latin America.

As EM matures as a specialty, attention has turned to the moral injury sustained by physicians in the course of their work. This moral injury has been shown to detrimentally affect job satisfaction and patient care. One way to combat this injury is to foster a platform for physicians to explore and reflect on their experience as caregivers. Through works of art, writing, music and other expressionistic endeavors, a group of physicians can come together for support and to showcase outside talents. This group highlights AAEM’s commitment to caring for the physician as a whole.

The mission of the AAEM Pain and Addiction Special Interest Group is to provide safe, effective, and efficient analgesia and procedural sedation in the ED and address and treat addiction in a patient-centered, evidence-based manner free of commercial bias.

The Palliative Care Special Interest Group provides resources and guidance to members and the board of directors in regards to the development of palliative care competence relevant to emergency physicians across all levels of experience.

The goal of the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Interest Group is to further the awareness of pediatric healthcare needs within the emergency department by joining together those who are interested in or practice pediatric emergency medicine within AAEM. This interest group will provide a space for collaboration and discussion about the unique health issues facing pediatric patients and pediatric EM physicians.

The Rural Medicine Interest Group will provide doctors working in small community and critical access hospitals the opportunity to interact, network and support each other. This will be a forum to discuss some of the challenges unique to hospitals with limited resources and share solutions.

The AAEM Simulation Interest Group is founded to foster a global community of practice in simulation–based education, training, and assessment. The purpose of this international community is to educate members on best simulation practices, research, debriefing techniques, and operations. Members will share evidence-based practices, write position papers and expert commentaries on simulations in emergency medicine education and research. Membership is open to all AAEM members interested in simulation.