smaccGOLD through the eyes of an intensive care basic trainee
by Lily Foster
As if smaccGOLD could get any better, the program for day three was busting to the seams with all the big names ready and rearing to go. Given the events of the gala dinner, I’m sure a lot of these speakers were feeling a bit worse for wear. However, needless to say their professionalism shone through, and day three of smaccGOLD went off without a hitch.
Karim Brohi kicked off proceedings, bringing his wealth of experience from one of London’s busiest trauma centers appropriately to discuss damage control.
Scott Winegart’s residents kindly offered their own airways for video demonstration of awake intubation (with some very liberal use of topical anaesthetic)! I do wonder what incentives their grades were given to commit such acts of insanity… Regardless, this informative presentation went step by step through this procedure, including the importance of preparing back-up plans B, C and D.
Keith Greenland’s talk was all about ‘A’. Detailing the complexity of airways. This resulted in a whole new level of respect for the first letter of our alphabet!
Following this, a heated debate was held between the passionate parties, Dr Le Cong and Dr Leeuwenberg, to examine whether real airway docs should use checklists. This entertaining, face-to-face version of the argument was the result of a long and detailed twitter argument, which has been in action for months. Tim Leeuwenberg, a doctor who has found his home on the magical kangaroo island, was in favor of the audience in his dispute ‘for’ checklists.
Georgie Harris used the shock-factor, with a video showing the brutality of an emergency opening of the sternum, to emphasize what can possibly to go wrong with tracheostomy. Her straightforward discussion of the ‘T’s’, starting with the ‘top end’, enabled a no-nonsense approach to this often-daunting scenario.
Pierre Janin a expliqué l’importance d’echocardiography pour beaucoup de presentations a l’hôpital. Il croit que, dans le future, l’echo sera plus utile que le stethoscope.
Fran Lockie, the big friendly giant, discussed a method approach to all clinical situations, whether the age of the patient is 80, 8, 8 months or 8 hours old. His experience far and wide and in extreme situations, has lead him to recognize the necessity for organization in stressful times.
So, with that, smaccGOLD was over far too soon. A huge thanks to Oli Flower, Roger Harris, Christine Bowles, Matt Mac Partlin, Minh le Cong Grace Leo, Chris Nickson, Lewis Macken, Victoria Brazil and Natalie May, plus Lucy Timms and the association specialists. SmaccGOLD was such an incredible success, truly a conference like no other. I must admit, I’ve already been looking at flights to Chicago…
