PaACEP Receives ACEP Grant to Develop Media Training for ED Directors

Pennsylvania ACEP was awarded a 2007-2008 ACEP Chapter Grant. This is the seventh ACEP Chapter that PaACEP has received since 1991.

The $3,400 grant will enable the Chapter to develop a media training seminar for emergency department directors. The seminar will be pilot tested at the 2008 PaACEP Scientific Assembly.

"In this age of instant communication and 24/7 news updates, ED directors are likely to be called on to speak to the media at any given moment. Natural and unfortunately unnatural disasters can happen anywhere and anytime. Moreover, it is the rare director who does not face having a celebrity or politician treated in her department. That means a sure call from the media,"  commented Richard O'Brien, MD, FACEP, the project coordinator. "There is a different approach to print media, television, and radio. And the internet has made all that faster and more intimate. There's a right way to communicate and many decidedly wrong ways. We want our directors to identify their strenghts and weakness in media communications and always be prepared to get the messages out to the public."

The program will address how to approach the media, how to interact with reporters when approached, how to take charge of the interview and deliver your message, and hazards of media exposure.