An International CME and workshop on Critical Care was organized by the department of Medicine, on 25th and 26th December 2014. The workshop was organised in conjunction with the Chinese university of Hongkong and was based on their course "Basic assessment and support in intensive care". Under the visionary leadership of the organising secretary Dr UN Jajoo, who also leads the department of Medicine and with support from our eminent alumni working in the field of critical care this workshop helped to improve competence and broaden the horizons for ICU services in our hospital. The workshop was conducted under the able guidance of the course director Dr Saswati Sinha (alumnus 1990 batch) presently working as a Consultant Intensivist, AMRI hospital, Kolkata and was coordinated by Dr Vishakha Jain (alumnus 1996 batch and associate professor of Medicine at MGIMS). The CME and workshop was supported by the institute and was accredited 4 credit points from Maharashtra University of health sciences (MUHS).
This workshop was planned with an objective to update the junior doctors, residents and nurses with the latest guidelines and recommendations so as to empower and enable them to cater to patients with the severe and life threatening illnesses and injuries. The purpose was also to focus on adaptation of these latest guidelines for resource limited settings and to develop low cost initiatives. The purpose of the workshop was to provide an interdisciplinary forum on promising and life-saving therapies in settings of critical care.
Sixty participants - mainly residents from medicine, surgery, orthopaedics, paediatrics, anaesthesia and obstetrics and gynaecology, and faculty from few departments and nurses serving in intensive care enrolled themselves in the CME .The focused curriculum along with a practical approach to the clinical skills made sure that the program successfully addressed the needs of the targeted audience.
Addressing an audience of physicians, paediatricians and surgeons, Dr Gopal Taori, a leading critical care specialist from Australia (alumnus 1990 batch) spoke at length about the respiratory failure and mechanical ventilators and the practical problems and challenges we face in an ICU setting. He also emphasised the common mistakes made by clinicians on drug dosages, drug interactions and inadequate sedation .The newer guidelines in managing critical care were highlighted so that a sustainable solution could be provided to manage the ICU more effectively and improve the quality of care provided to the patients and the communities.
Dr Saswati deliberated on assessment of seriously ill, renal failure and management of shock explaining in detail the critical role of resuscitation , role of definitive and adjunctive therapy that can be provided at the ICU keeping in mind about the resource limited rural setup in our hospital.
Dr.Vaishali Solao, Consultant Intensivist at Global hospital, Mumbai (alumnus 1991 batch) discussed the importance of hemodynamic monitoring and updated the forum on the latest in management of sepsis and septic shock. She emphasised the need to be vigilant and aggressive in ICU setting so as to save lives. Dr Dhiraj, Assistant Professor, Anaesthesiology ( alumnus, 1999 batch) talked about the airway management and cardiopulmonary resuscitation. His focus was on how to provide excellent care with the existing resources. The sessions were not didactic but interactive and provided an excellent platform for all participants to clarify their doubts. The sessions that were held were time bound, pragmatic and designed to make the audiences understand the practical implications of the existing evidence.
The afternoons were dedicated to skill stations on mechanical ventilation, airway management, arterial blood gas analysis and role of ultrasound and FAST in critical care. The participants and faculty had wonderful interactions during these skill stations and it made the participants comprehend how the practical situations differ from the idealistic ones mentioned in the books and also empower them to handle such situations.
Pooling the experiences of renowned clinicians and Intensivist, there was a panel discussion on “How to maintain good quality intensive care in resource constraint settings “which was designed to assess the resources at the hospital and create a gap oriented solution that provides with maximum results. The panel discussion focused on identifying lacunae and also providing solutions for the same.
Without this CME there would have certainly been an inadequacy and lack of understanding in the arena of Critical care .This CME has dramatically improved learners experience. Group learning, panel discussions and the interactive teaching methods were successful in filling in the academic and practical lacunae.
Dr U N Jajoo commented, "This workshop is the first step towards creating more awareness among the medical fraternity in Sevagram and there will be many more sessions raising the bars and standards of care in MGIMS, Sevagram". He was happy that the alumni were giving back to the institute in their own way and felt that they wanted to contribute to their “family”. The faculty was satisfied as it felt it achieved more than what they had hoped for and were positive about coming back again for such an academic activity.