Special Interest Groups (SIGs)

A number of SIGs exist currently in ECSSA. Each SIG is lead by an ECSSA member who was responsible for establsihing the SIG. A SIG may be established to allow Society members with common interests to communicate, exchange ideas and develop programmes to further the advancement, support and awareness of their common interest. SIGs may also be requested by the Board of Directors or a Committee to contribute towards the creation of documents, white papers, guidelines, position statements or other outputs related to their area of interest.

Medico-legal Practice in Pre-hospital Emergency Care SIG
Quality and Informatics SIG
Rescue Matters SIG
Emergency Care Research & Development SIG
Critical care and Transport SIG

Medico-Legal Practice in Pre-hospital Emergency Care SIG

This Special Interest Group (SIG) has been established with the fundamental aim of representing the medico-legal interests of the pre-hospital emergency care profession. Ethics in general have become a growing concern in medical practice across the board. Although this is indeed a positive development, it is needless to say that the prevalence of private lawsuits- and disciplinary inquiry processes by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) against registered health professionals is on the rise.

As the old saying goes” knowledge is power” and this in turn is a core objective of this SIG i.e. developing and providing training and education on the medico-legal aspects of pre-hospital emergency medical care. It goes one step further, as the SIG also intends to actually contribute to the development of improved legal guidelines that could create better legal certainty for emergency care workers facing ethical challenges in the practice of their profession. The latter approach is intended to minimise the number and extent of “legal grey areas” that exist within the emergency care profession as a whole.

In addition to producing relevant opinions and position statements on current medico-legal issues in the field of emergency care, the SIG also plans to undertake specific campaigns to further its aim, goals and objectives in the interest of the South African EMS community. The following campaigns are being devised at the moment:

  • Tertiary Module (and supplementary courses) for Medico-legal Practice Campaign

    This campaign involves the establishment of a collaborative platform between various Universities involved in emergency care training, together with Provincial Emergency Care Colleges, in order to devise a tertiary-level Module that is intended for inclusion on Bachelors Degree/s and National Certificate courses in emergency care, such as B.Tech EMC; B.Hsc EMC; B.EMC and NC: EMC/ ECT respectively. The module will involve an in depth insight into the medico-legal aspects of emergency care in South Africa. For those practitioners not qualified or training in the tertiary sphere, a separate course to be accredited and run by ECSSA will be developed according to the same content as the tertiary module, although not in the exact same depth.

  • Emergency Psychiatric Guidelines (EPG) for the Pre-Hospital Environment Campaign

    This campaign involves cooperation with State health authorities across various levels, including Mental Health Review Board/s to develop a better framework for the treatment and management of psychiatric emergencies in the pre-hospital environment. Once the campaign is formally launched, the ECSSA guidelines committee will be approached for further assistance on clinical aspects of the proposed EPG.


For more information, contact the SIG leader Victor Voorendyk.

Quality and Informatics SIG

The Quality and Informatics SIG has as its focus two aspects of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) systems that are inextricably linked together: quality improvement and information management. Health care quality is difficult to define, but is generally concerned with the degree to which a a health care system improves health outcomes and functions in a way that is in agreement with current professional practice. This SIG will initially concentrate on two important areas of quality, performance indicators and performance measurement, as well as clinical governance in EMS.

If the measurement of EMS system performance is crucial in steering efforts aimed at quality assessment and improvement, then clearly no serious attempt at either of these can succeed without a robust and reliable information management system. This applies to both operational information and clinical information, which together can provide the basis necessary for appropriate levels of EMS control, quality and governance.

The objectives of the Quality and Informatics SIG are:

  • To contribute to the development of a quality framework for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in South Africa and to foster co-operation and information sharing in this area amongst EMS and other professional organisations involved in emergency care.

  • To steer the process of clinical and operational data standardisation in South African EMS, and to contribute to the development of reliable and robust methods of clinical data collection, analysis and use for decision-making.

  • To promote the need for a reliable set of performance indicators amongst the relevant decision-makers and stakeholders at a national EMS level.

  • To promote the need for more organised, standardised and reliable forms of clinical and operational data definition, collection and use amongst the relevant decision-makers and stakeholders at a national EMS level.

  • To contribute positively to the development of understanding in the areas of pre-hospital care quality and informatics (as outlined above) amongst the broader emergency care professional population through the provision of published material and presentations on relevant, related matters.


For more information, contact the SIG leader Chris Stein.

The objectives of the Rescue Matters SIG are:

  • To create a platform for the debating of rescue related topics and to facilitate the sharing of different points of view.

  • To share new rescue product/equipment information and review, and information on the latest rescue-related technologies.

  • To discuss teaching methodologies and inititiatives related to rescue.

  • To comment on articles in rescue related journals and publications such as TRM, Park Ranger, Prehospital and Disaster Medicine etc.

  • To share links to rescue web-based resources - videos, podcasts, webcasts, case reviews etc.

  • To share valuable "lessons learned" from real rescues.

  • To set a rescue research agenda and to share the results of research in the area of rescue.


For more information, contact the SIG leaderNico Louw.

Rescue Matters SIG

The art and science of Rescue is developing and progressing on a daily basis. Different scenarios, where victims need to be rescued, present themselves in the most creative ways imaginable. To be able to conduct a rescue proficiently demands a slick combination of knowledge, psychomotor skills and practical experience. Within the framework of knowledge lies the challenge for individuals to stay current and informed of global best practises which are carefully integrated into the South African context. This SIG will invite individuals with a keen interest in the developing world of rescue to join the group and share their knowledge and expertise, allowing topics to be debated, with the aim of ensuring that the next rescue is conducted in the best possible way.

Emergency Care Research and Development SIG

This SIG aims to promote, support and develop emergency medical care research in South Africa. Area of interest include:

  • Emergency Care research support:
    Support young researchers with protocol development, data analysis and data dissemination.

  • Emergency Care research promotion:
    Promoting quality emergency care research in South Africa and creating interest in research among all emergency care practitioners and providers.

  • Emergency Care research capacity building:
    To strengthen and develop research skills of young researchers through capacity development.

  • Emergency Care research development:
    To provide a research agenda for young and senior researchers in RSA to guide research development and priorities.

The objectives of the Research and Development SIG are:

  • To deliver an emergency care research support and capacity building platform for young and upcoming researchers. Through the following processes:
    Mentoring and supervision of research projects | Providing statistical consultation | Providing young researchers with a database of potential research topics and protocol abstracts | Providing authoring/writing support for manuscript preparation and academic writing

  • To establish an emergency care research registry in order to inform a national emergency care research agenda and inform new project researchers of previous research and ongoing research in emergency care.

  • To provide research workshops at academic and non-academic institutions across South Africa.

  • To aid in the dissemination of emergency care research both nationally and internationally.

  • To aid in research knowledge translation from researchers to clinicians or policy makers.

  • To take over the administration of the publications division of the ECSSA, including Sanguine clinical research section.


For more information, contact the SIG leaders Mike McCaul or Willem Stassen.

Critical Care and Transport SIG

Critical care transfer is a developing profession with high acuity cases becoming more frequent. Although a young profession it has made great steps forward in patient management and clinical structures. Critical care transfers are often complex and involve specialised knowledge and experience separate from the challenges of the prehospital environment. To perform a safe critical care transfers practitioners need to rely on a comprehensive knowledge of many aspects of patient care including pathologies, pharmacology, interpretation of diagnostics results, and equipment operations. The Critical Care and Transport SIG aims to equip these practitioners with this knowledge and to create a platform for discussion.

Click here to access this SIG's dedicated page.

The objectives of the Critical care and Transport SIG are:

  • Promote patient safely among patients being transferred between ICUs or of high acuity.

  • To create a platform where likeminded individuals can get together and discuss the difficulties and challengers of critical care transfers.

  • To keeps its members updated on the latest research and developments in critical care and inter-facility transfers.

  • To develop a set of guidelines for the transfer of critically ill patients.


For more information, contact the SIG leader Nathan Conradie.