Wellbeing Award Policy

AP650 V4

Emergency medicine is a highly rewarding yet challenging career, with research and member feedback outlining the impact that the constant exposure to patient ill health and injury, and heavy physical and emotional demands can have on physician wellbeing. ACEM supports the health and wellbeing of its members and trainees, and the ACEM Wellbeing Award is part of a range of initiatives aimed at empowering ACEM members (including trainees) to lead culture change in emergency departments, hospitals and the profession as a whole.

The award was established in 2018, as part of the implementation of ACEM’s Discrimination, Bullying and Sexual Harassment (DBSH) Action Plan. This annual award celebrates the initiative(s) of an individual member (including ACEM trainees), group of members or a whole emergency department (ED) that have resulted in the enhancement of wellbeing for their emergency department colleagues.

The award recognises those who are proactively putting in place a well thought through strategy to encourage and promote the physical and mental health of emergency department staff.

ACEM / the College
means the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.

College Member
means a person admitted as a member of the College pursuant to the provisions of the ACEM Constitution and associated regulations.

Emergency Department
For the purposes of this policy, means any department in a hospital in Australia or New Zealand that exists for the provision of emergency medical services, whether accredited for FACEM training or not.

Good Standing
For the purposes of this policy means, a member who is currently compliant with all relevant ACEM renewal of membership requirements and has no financial debts to the College, or, a trainee who has no financial debts to the College and has fulfilled all training and assessment requirements applicable to their stage of training.

Trainee
an individual enrolled in an ACEM training program and, for the purposes of this policy, undertaking College requirements for the purpose of attaining eligibility for election to Fellowship of the College.

3.1 Eligibility criteria – Nominee

To be eligible for nomination for the award, the nominee(s) must be one of the following:

• an individual ACEM member (including trainees)
• a group comprised of ACEM members, not necessarily from the same ED; or
• an emergency department located in Australia or New Zealand.

The ACEM Wellbeing Award shall normally only be bestowed once to any individual, group or ED, except in circumstances where the ACEM Board considers it appropriate to make the award to a group of members or ED, and a previous individual awardee is involved in the initiative(s) that is/are the subject of the award, or the initiative(s) are considered by the Board to be such that they be recognised through a second award.

To be eligible for consideration for possible receipt of the award, and where the nominee(s) is an ACEM member, they must also be of good standing with the College.

3.2 Eligibility criteria – Nominator and Seconder

To be eligible to submit a nomination for the award, the nominator and/or seconder must be an ACEM member who is of good standing with the College.

• Provided that the seconder is an ACEM member, or a trainee enrolled in an ACEM Training Program, who is of good standing with the College, nominations may be made proposed by the following:
• Senior hospital administrators;
• Medical practitioners who are not members of ACEM, but who are in a position that enables them to make an informed judgement as to the effectiveness of the wellbeing initiatives for which the nomination is being made; or
• Senior nursing staff employed in an ED.

Eligible nominees may self-nominate for an individual and/or group/ED award.

4.1 Selection criteria

Nominations for the award will be assessed according to the extent to which the individual’s and/or group/ emergency department’s initiative demonstrates evidence of:

• Implementation within an organisation of an initiative(s) that aims to enhance EM staff physical and mental health wellbeing, i.e. scheduling of activities, feedback from employees, newsletters/other communication announcing initiative components;
• Engagement and consultation with relevant emergency medicine staff during their development and implementation;
• Innovation - the extent to which the initiative(s) is based on/incorporates a new approach to addressing the specific challenge identified that was targeted by the initiative(s);
• Long term sustainability – in that there is a focus on systemic change within the health service, and outcomes of the initiative(s) are embedded in current and/or future organisational strategies
• Impact and outcomes – the extent to which the initiative(s) has addressed challenges, achieved the desired outcomes and/or positively impacted on the individual(s) and/or group(s) targeted by the initiative(s). Describe how the initiative was evaluated and how the impact is measured.
• Alignment with the Australian and/or New Zealand standards for medical practitioner health and wellbeing – see associated application form for these resources

Nominated individuals, groups or emergency departments will be invited by the College to submit a written or video citation addressing the Selection Criteria to further support the nomination, by such deadline specified by the College for this purpose.

4.2 Adjudication

A panel of three (3) or more assessors, convened by the ACEM Workforce Wellbeing Network Executive, will adjudicate the submissions. A representative from the ACEM Workforce Committee will be included on the panel. The adjudication panel shall recommend to the ACEM Board the recipient(s) based on the applicable criteria, for consideration.

The panel may select more than one submission for the Honour.

The ACEM Board shall consider all recommendation(s) and determine the recipient(s) of the Honour. At its discretion, the ACEM Board may choose not to award the Honour(s) if it sees fit. The decision of the ACEM Board will be final and is not subject to the processes and avenues outlined in the College’s Reconsideration, Review and Appeals Policy (COR355).

All parts of the selection process must be conducted in accordance with the College Conflict of Interest Policy  (COR139).

5.1 Nature of award

The ACEM Wellbeing Award consists of a framed certificate attesting to the award.

• Wellbeing Award Application Form – Individual (AP651)
• Wellbeing Award Application Form – Group (AP652)
• Conflict of Interest Policy (COR139)
• ACEM Honours Policy (COR805)