2025-26 Course Objectives

After completing The 2025-26 Emergency Medicine and Acute Care Update you should have acquired the knowledge that will better enable you to:

  • Recognize and manage common and high-risk pediatric rashes with an emphasis on accurate diagnosis, clinical context, and appropriate treatment strategies.
  • Recognize and evaluate red flags in patients with acute non-traumatic back or neck pain that may indicate spinal cord or cauda equina compression.
  • Identify critical abdominal CT findings to improve rapid decision-making in emergency situations.
  • Better understand strategies for the assessment and management of pediatric trauma, with emphasis on imaging, airway management, and injury-specific considerations.
  • Improve diagnostic accuracy by identifying atypical stroke presentations and distinguishing them from stroke mimics.
  • Improve diagnostic accuracy for non-ACS life-threatening causes of chest pain using clinical strategies and imaging.
  • Identify risk factors, clinical features, and evidence-based management strategies for alcohol withdrawal in the ED setting.
  • Better understand how to apply current evidence-based strategies to evaluate and manage febrile infants and children in the emergency setting.
  • Identify uncommon but critical causes of acute generalized weakness and outline appropriate diagnostic and management strategies.
  • Recognize high-risk musculoskeletal injuries that are commonly missed in the emergency department and understand how to avoid associated diagnostic pitfalls.
  • Better recognize and manage critical pediatric cardiac presentations, including congenital heart disease, myocarditis, chest pain, syncope, and arrhythmias.
  • Understand how to use a symptom-based, bedside assessment approach to differentiate benign from dangerous causes of acute dizziness.
  • Identify the clinical features of BPPV and apply bedside diagnostic and therapeutic maneuvers to effectively manage it in the emergency setting.
  • Improve understanding of best practices in pediatric resuscitation to manage critical illness and trauma across age groups.
  • Identify common contributors to diagnostic error and apply strategies to reduce preventable mistakes in clinical decision-making.
  • Improve diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes by selecting appropriate imaging and communicating effectively with radiology in the emergency setting.

2026-27 Course Objectives

After completing The 2026-27 Emergency Medicine and Acute Care Update you should have acquired the knowledge that will better enable you to:

  • Differentiate primary from secondary headaches and recognize clinical features that require urgent diagnostic evaluation.
  • Understand communication strategies to effectively de-escalate and manage emotionally charged interactions with parents in pediatric healthcare settings.
  • Review a structured method for interpreting head CTs and identifying emergent pathology in acute care settings.
  • Recognize common cognitive biases in clinical practice and apply debiasing strategies to reduce diagnostic error and medicolegal exposure.
  • Evaluate and localize neuro-ophthalmologic findings to distinguish urgent neurologic conditions from benign causes in the emergency setting.
  • Identify and manage urgent pediatric neurologic conditions, including seizures, ataxia, encephalitis, demyelination, and stroke.
  • Review tools and guidelines that support appropriate and consistent use of imaging in the emergency department.
  • Examine the pathways to leadership in emergency medicine and the role of professional organizations in shaping physician identity, advocacy, and career sustainability.
  • Recognize and evaluate serious neurologic symptoms in pregnant or postpartum women and identify appropriate diagnostic and treatment approaches.
  • Better understand clinical strategies for diagnosing and managing common pediatric respiratory emergencies, including croup, bronchiolitis, pneumonia, and asthma.
  • Improve recognition and management of acute respiratory failure while applying evidence-based strategies for safe intubation and mechanical ventilation.
  • Apply evidence-based decision making to the appropriate use of vascular imaging modalities in emergency department patients.
  • Apply a structured approach to evaluate and manage patients presenting with coma or severely altered mental status.
  • Identify, evaluate, and manage pediatric overuse injuries using evidence-based prevention and rehabilitation strategies.
  • Evaluate common medical myths and misconceptions using current evidence and clinical reasoning.
  • Assess risk factors for violence in healthcare environments and implement strategies to identify, prevent, and manage aggressive behavior.
  • Recognize patterns of isolated and grouped cranial neuropathies and apply localization strategies to guide appropriate diagnosis.
  • Recognize and address unhealthy alcohol use in emergency settings using validated screening tools and brief interventions.
  • Recognize clinically significant drug–drug interactions and determine appropriate strategies to prevent adverse outcomes.
  • Recognize subtle but clinically significant musculoskeletal injuries frequently overlooked on initial radiographs and apply imaging strategies to avoid missed diagnoses.

 All learning objectives above address IOM/ACGME core competencies.

This 20-hour course provides a focused update on key topics in emergency medicine and acute care, with broad relevance for all frontline healthcare providers. While specifically designed for emergency physicians, the curriculum is also highly applicable to primary care physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and other clinicians who manage acute conditions in outpatient, urgent care, or hospital settings. Led by expert faculty, the lectures are practical, evidence-based, and clinically oriented—offering real-world insights that support rapid decision-making, improve patient outcomes, and enhance confidence in managing a wide spectrum of urgent presentations.

Program Description

The Update is produced in state-of-the-art studios utilizing 4K digital technology and presented via Destination-based, Remote Classrooms. That means, as in the past, you will participate in the travel destination of your choice during scheduled lecture hours, however, you will view The Update on your laptop, tablet or smart phone from the comfort of your hotel room or condominium. And you will do so in the virtual and interactive company of your colleagues in attendance at the same time.

We think this offers the best of all worlds: Comfort, safety, and the ability to interact in real time with professional peers. You will have over 2,000 oppor­tunities to attend, at your choice of over 50 premier sun and ski resorts, through the end of April -  any week you choose.

CME Accreditation CE Accreditation