Education
Another great Symposium by the Sea has come and gone. Members of FCEP’s Pediatric EM committee were present and hosted the annual Pediatric Track: a 3-hour workshop of didactic lectures, small group sessions and interactive, high-fidelity simulation scenarios. This year’s Pediatric Track focused on pediatric trauma and included lectures from Drs. Tricia Swan (Pediatric Trauma Tidbits) and Cristina Zeretzke (Non-Accidental Trauma). Other committee members, including Drs. Shiva Kalidindi, Vanessa Perez, Corrine Bria, John Misdary and Todd Wylie, administered the small group sessions and high-fidelity simulation stations. We had an excellent turnout and attendees were enthusiastic and engaged. Many thanks to Dr. Shiva Kalidindi for leading the effort and to Melissa Keahey and the rest of the EMLRC staff for making everything come together so well.

The committee’s next order of business involves developing an ongoing Advanced Pediatric Life Support (APLS) course. The inaugural class is scheduled for November 5-6 at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, FL. Emergency medicine residents will be attending the first course, but subsequent courses are targeted to include paramedics and other healthcare providers in addition to resident physicians. The goal is to develop a series of APLS courses scheduled throughout the year and provided in different regions of the state. All interested in participating—either as attendees or instructors—are encouraged to contact the FCEP Pediatric Emergency Medicine committee at peds@fcep.org.

Florida News
News from the Florida Legislature: House Bill 7099 (CS/HB 7099: Child Welfare) was passed by the Florida Senate and approved by the Governor earlier this summer. The bill makes a number of changes to Florida child welfare laws and provides new requirements regarding the Department of Children and Families (DCF) response when a report is received from a health care facility or an emergency department physician. First, if a child is being evaluated for suspected abuse in a medical facility within the state of Florida, the central abuse hotline “shall accept the report or call for investigation” even if the instance of suspected abuse occurred outside the state of Florida. Second, DCF “shall initiate an investigation when it receives a report” specifically from an emergency department physician. Hopefully the new requirements will streamline the reporting process for emergency medicine physicians and provide more effective patient care. ■