The medical transport helicopter was at the ready. Meanwhile, the trauma team was in the midst of resuscitating a man. The crowd of onlookers remarked on the extreme pallor of the patient and were ready to jump in to help as needed. Fortunately, this was not a real life trauma but a scene in the exhibit hall of the sold-out Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) meeting in Austin, Texas, last week.

Four thousand ED nurses spent four days at Emergency Nursing 2019 attending educational sessions, skills labs (including a mock ED and a cadaver lab), and CE classes; viewing exhibit hall products; and relaxing in ‘Awesome Austin,’ celebrating themselves and the important work they do.

Documentary film producer Carolyn Jones (The American Nurse; Defining Hope) opened the meeting by presenting previews from her current documentary on emergency nurses, In Case of Emergency, a project in collaboration with the ENA for its 50th anniversary, to be released in May 2020. Jones and her film team traveled to seven EDs around the country, from an urban ED to rural farm country, to document ER nurses at work.

Interactive learning comes to the fore.

I’ve attended many, many large meetings, but this one had more interactive teaching than most—including a fully equipped mock ED with high-fidelity manikins, a cadaver lab, and resuscitation skills labs, including an infant and neonatal resuscitation lab, where participants practiced their skills on small manikins. I thought this an especially good offering—most EDs don’t see too many critically ill or injured children, so it’s important to refresh skills for treating these small patients.

Highlighting contemporary health crises.

In addition to basic emergency topics, there were many that reflected the contemporary problems that could bring patients to EDs, including opioid overdoses, mental health issues in adolescents and pediatrics, sexual assault, Ebola and other infectious diseases, and gun violence (as well as managing bleeding, recently brought to public attention through the important “Stop the Bleed” initiative; see AJN’s article on Stop the Bleed here—it’s free to read until October 15).

A podcast interview with the ENA president.

I had the opportunity to interview the 2019 ENA president Patricia Kunz Howard. We chatted about her background and how it led to her current position as enterprise director for emergency services at University of Kentucky Healthcare and ENA president. Listen to the podcast below.

.Next year’s meeting in Las Vegas will celebrate the ENA’s 50th anniversary. It’s sure to be a memorable one.