Journal of the Intensive Care Society

I am pleased to report that the Society's Spring meeting in Harrogate was a huge success. Delegate numbers were in excess of 500 and the meeting generated a small profit for the Society. We were pleased to welcome our Patron, The Princess Royal, to attend port of the scientific programme and to meet members of the Industry Membership Scheme. For those of you who missed this important event, I would strongly urge you to book your professional or study leave for the London State of the Art meeting on 24/25th November.

Intensive Care Medicine (ICM) is a medical specialty where doctors from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds manage the medical care of critically ill patients. Training and continuing education for these doctors involves the acquisition and maintenance of the knowledge, skills and attitudes which allow them to manage the most severely ill. In order to improve and harmonise the quality of intensive care medicine, the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) is producing a distance learning programme: Patient-Centred Acute Care Training (PACT) for the training of doctors working in intensive care and acute medicine.

Oh no not another article about evidence-based medicine (EBM)! Half of you are thinking ‘it's marvellous and tells you exactly the best way of managing your patients’. The other half if you have read this far will be thinking ‘not more EBM — yet again it's someone trying to replace common sense and experience’.

An email questionnaire was sent to doctors working in the intensive care units of hospitals in the North West region of the United Kingdom. The questionnaire enquired about the post held by the respondent within the trust, the size of the hospital and intensive care unit and the staff performing tracheal intubations. Further questions related to the quality of assistance including application of cricoid pressure, the routine availability of capnography and the availability of equipment for difficult intubations. Respondents were asked to comment on critical incidents or volunteer personal views on the subject. Of the 49 replies analysed 25 doctors were unhappy regarding the unavailability of capnography for intubation. Ten doctors reported critical incidents. Seventeen tespondents (34%) thought intensive care unit nurses were insufficiently trained in the application of cricoid pressure.

Many of you will remember being accosted by me either at the State of the Art meeting or by email asking what your (or your trainees) educational needs are and what the Society should be doing to help you fulfil them.

I was recently given the chance to be an observer at the DICM exam. I sat the exam last year and was a little surprised to discover how much I have forgotten. However, observing the exam did reinforce my view that this is a credible exam that requires considerable effort and knowledge to pass but is worth it in the end.

After an eight hour journey from Dundee including two scheduled train changes and one unscheduled (the train broke down!), I arrived at the Liverpool Crown Plaza just in time for the first lecture of the Intensive Care Society, Trainee Division Annual Meeting.

Holding an ICS workshop on a hot summer's day during school holidays is on the face of it, not the brightest idea, unless the content of the day is very appealing. Fortunately the quality of presentations at this workshop ensured that those who gave up a days work, sunbathing or watching the Open golf on television were well rewarded.

We asked for your views about running Skills courses for Intensivists — SKINT for short. Thirty five ICS members replied. Many thanks for your comments.