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Heading from one successful meeting to another
I am writing to you having just returned from another exciting and successful spring SPA/AAP meeting in San Diego. I would like to express my appreciation to Mary Ellen McCann (Program Chair), Julie Niezgoda (workshops and refresher courses), Kirk Lalwani (PBLDs), the entire Education Committee, Research Committee (abstracts) and last but not least, Nancy Glass as the Chair of the Education Committee.
The engaging and interactive program drew a record number of participants (775) and preliminary evaluations are very positive. Several firsts were noted in this meeting. We hosted a leadership development workshop, held a simulator war between Cincinnati Children’s and Denver Children’s, and increased the number of ultrasound guided regional workshops and simulation sessions.
The day preceding this meeting, the annual meeting of the Congenital Cardiac Anesthesia Society (CCAS) was held, with over 250 attendees and the Special Interest Group on Pain Medicine Meeting with an additional 60 attendees. For the third year in a row we have also hosted a Fundamentals of Pediatric Anesthesia Course (Paul Samuels, Chair) designed for generalists with partial pediatric practices concurrent with the main meeting. I would encourage all those that did attend any of these meetings to complete an evaluation. The Education Committee needs and uses this information in their planning of our educational offerings.
Plans are nearly complete for the special 25th Anniversary Meeting of the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia which will be held on Friday October 14, 2011 in the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago. Wendy Binstock (Chair) and the Education Committee have developed a strong program looking at the past, present and future of pediatric anesthesia. Many of the past leaders of the field will be there to pass on lessons learned to the future leaders of the field. The day will conclude with a special 25th Anniversary Gala at the Chicago Yacht Club from 7 – 11 pm. This will be a great occasion to reconnect with old friends, make new friends and celebrate the maturation of our specialty.
The Society for Pediatric Anesthesia is a volunteer run non-profit organization. One function for our semi-annual meetings is to provide opportunities for these committees to conduct face-to-face meetings to complete their work. Interspersed throughout the three days of the conference were meetings of the various committees. These included the Finance and Membership Committees (chaired by Shobha Malviya), Education Committee (Nancy Glass), Research Committee (Alan Tait), Communication Committee (Allison Kinder Ross), Quality and Safety Committee (Don Tyler), SPA Committee for International Anesthesia and Education (George Politis), along with several other special interest groups.
These gatherings are also a great opportunity for other affiliated groups of pediatric anesthesiologists to work together on collaborative projects.
The Wake-Up Safe group (chaired by Don Tyler) focused on quality improvement and outcomes in pediatric anesthesia across 15 children’s hospitals nation wide. This group held their first election of officers and directors.
The Pediatric Regional Anesthesia Network (co-chaired by David Polaner and Lynn Martin) continue work on network governance in measurement of quality outcomes for regional anesthesia in children. This network now has over 23,000 blocks prospectively recorded into their registry.
The Pediatric Anesthesia (Fellowship) Program Directors (PAPD) conducted their semi-annual meeting. The majority of the conversation was focused on the outcomes from the first match in pediatric anesthesia that is currently underway. They also discussed the recently announced approval by the ABA and ABMS of the SPA application for board certification in pediatric anesthesia.
The ABA will be starting the efforts to develop the board examination in the very near future. Lastly, the Pediatric Anesthesia Leadership Council (department and division chiefs) conducted their third meeting in collaboration with the PAPD to discuss potential innovations in our pediatric anesthesia fellowship curriculum.
These groups developed better clarity about next steps for improvement as we develop the next set of clinical, educational, scientific and administrative leaders in our specialty.
Those who attended the conference may have noticed a large number of international attendees. We in fact hosted over 40 participants from outside the U.S. for this conference. Many of these leaders of pediatric anesthesia in their country were in San Diego to participate in the second planning meeting for the International Assembly of Pediatric Anesthesia Meeting to be held on Thursday and Friday October 11-12, 2012 in the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington D.C.
These members of the organizing committee attended in person or via conference call from around the world to begin the detailed planning of the program for this unique, first ever gathering of pediatric anesthesia providers from around the world. The Society for Pediatric Anesthesia is delighted to be hosting this first event in honor of our 25 years of service to children.
As you can see from the activities listed above, it was 3 or 4 days packed full of activities to enhance the future for children world wide. I will close again by urging you all to volunteer in one way or other in our multifaceted efforts to advance the safety and quality of anesthetic care, perioperative management, and alleviation of pain in children. You can send in suggestions or volunteer for a committee or special interest group by writing spa@societyhq.com. I hope to see you all again in Chicago on Friday October 14th.
A group of Chinese delegates attended the 2011 Pediatric Anesthesiology
meeting in San Diego.
