“Relax. Assess. React.” It’s a pretty simple phrase, and one that’s just as useful when an eight-foot grinder is unloading across the G-Land reef as it is in the emergency department.
Those three words underpin the Surfing Doctors Conference, which returns to Jawa Jiwa Resort in G-Land, East Java, from 20 to 30 September 2026. Built around the theme Wilderness · Waves · Remote Medicine, the conference brings together emergency physicians, surfers, rural GP’s, anaesthetists and other medical specialists for 10 days of accredited education, practical skills training and, when the sessions are over, a chance to sample some of those grinding, at times gnarly lefts out front..
The educational programme runs from 21 to 29 September and is accredited by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine (ACEM) for Continuing Professional Development (CPD). The programme focuses on practical skills that translate directly to emergency departments, rural hospitals and remote healthcare settings.
Practical Skills
The emphasis is firmly on practical learning. Delegates take part in workshops, simulation exercises, clinical skills sessions, case discussions and panel presentations led by experienced emergency medicine clinicians.
The programme covers areas like advanced airway management, trauma care, procedural sedation, fracture and joint reduction, wound management, tropical infections, marine hazards, remote evacuation medicine and emergency leadership.
Dedicated workshops cover bedside echocardiography, lung ultrasound, FAST examinations, haemodynamic assessment, abdominal aortic aneurysm diagnosis, ultrasound-guided vascular access and regional nerve blocks.
Participants will also complete a broad range of recognised procedural skills under the ACEM CPD framework.
Faculty
The conference faculty includes experienced specialists from emergency medicine, anaesthesia, orthopaedics and ophthalmology.
Presenters include Dr Phil Chapman, Dr Scott Stirling, Dr Anthony Brown, Dr James Dent, Dr Anthony Buddle, Dr Jon Cohen, Dr David Hateley, Dr Simon Nothling and orthopaedic surgeon Dr Nick Maister.
Together, they deliver a programme that combines evidence-based medicine with the practical realities of working in emergency departments, rural hospitals and remote healthcare environments.
CPD Accreditation
The conference has been accredited by the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine as a CPD Medical Conference.
Sessions contribute across multiple CPD domains, including Medical Expertise, Scholarship and Teaching, Collaboration and Teamwork, Health Advocacy, and Professionalism and Ethics.
The programme also includes recognised procedural skills covering advanced airway management, trauma care, fracture reduction, procedural sedation, regional nerve blocks, wound management and point-of-care ultrasound.
Getting There
Delegates can travel via Bali using Jawa Jiwa Resort’s transfer service, which includes transport to the speedboat departure point and the crossing to G-Land. Alternatively, participants can fly directly to Banyuwangi Airport before completing the (somewhat rural at best) road transfer to the resort.
Partners and family members are welcome, with accommodation options and upgrades available through Jawa Jiwa Resort.
2026 Registrations Nearly Full
Attendance is limited to just 30 participants, ensuring a highly interactive learning environment, and registrations are already close to capacity.
Doctors interested in attending the 2026 Surfing Doctors Conference can apply by contacting davehateley@hotmail.com.
For those looking to sharpen their emergency medicine skills, learn from the experienced, and spend a week in one of surfing’s most remarkable settings, the Surfing Doctors Conference remains unlike any other.
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