Message from the President
What Boundaries and Borders Have You (We) Crossed?
Pamela A. Lipsett, MD, MHPE, FCCM
Professor of Surgery, Anesthesia, and Critical Care
Nursing
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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Serving as president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM) has been the most rewarding year of my life. The experience has lent so many opportunities to challenge myself, to move out of my own comfort zone in learning, and to meet so many of you in my travels throughout the United States and beyond. In my presidential address(1) and messages, I asked that we consider the meaning of our own borders and boundaries and issued a challenge to examine the meaning of these words for ourselves, our patients, and the Society.
I’ve had the opportunity to watch the Congress Program Planning Committee develop another amazing meeting with focus on knowledge and skills that build upon what you already do so well. Our Simulation Task Force is in full swing looking to further develop our educational experiences for individual and team learning. I am hopeful this will allow us to practice skills before we care for patients. In addition, LearnICU.org continues to develop and grow its 24 knowledge lines. If you have not yet visited this informative resource, make yourself a promise to do so and take advantage of all its offerings. Our online programs have markedly increased in 2011, including the addition of Fundamental Critical Care Support course as well as numerous webcast series and self-assessment programs. The Society remains dedicated to offering convenient education opportunities, accessible anywhere and anytime without boundaries.
Throughout my tenure, many of you may have experienced marked changes in your intensive care units (ICUs) due to staffing constraints from either economics or workforce availability. We all have been asked to do more with fewer resources, and we may expect this situation to grow more strained over the coming years. For those in teaching hospitals, the new resident work hour rules have required us to consider global issues regarding the construction of our teams. Perhaps more importantly, these changes force us to consider whether preconceived boundaries about who can and cannot train in critical care medicine are in the best interests of the patient. The Society has pushed to include emergency medicine physicians and hospitalists in critical care training schemes – to allow them training equivalent to that of our internal medicine, anesthesiology, and surgery colleagues. In addition, SCCM has produced a series of webcasts and a comprehensive book to help ICUs incorporate acute care nurse practitioners and physician assistants into the multiprofessional team. We will pursue these efforts to ensure that these professionals receive the training they need so our patients receive the care they deserve. Further, we continue to develop programs aimed at keeping our talents and skills at the cutting edge.
Traveling as your SCCM president, I have seen facilities ranging from the technologically advanced to the resource-limited. Teams have kindly welcomed me to participate during daily rounds and facilitated tours. Throughout all these experiences, I’ve noted that while ICUs may differ externally, team members are centered on one thing: care of patients and their families. Although executed in ways unique to each facility – from implementing guidelines to using checklists and daily goal sheets – the actions team members take ensure that each patient receives the right care at the right time. I have appreciated the efforts you make every day to go beyond what is expected, to go beyond the typical boundaries of patient care to provide extraordinary patient-centered, team-based care.
As our membership continues to grow to more than 15,000 critical care professionals worldwide, I am comforted that each of you will continue to have a positive impact on patient care. I have been humbled by the opportunity to serve as your president and promise to continue to work for the principles and practices that characterize this amazing organization. If each of us commits to extending ourselves just a bit further beyond our current comfort zone, if we practice in a more skillful way so that every team member feels valued, if we donate something to those with so little, if we translate new discoveries into practice, imagine what we can accomplish. Be deliberate in making choices about how you give back to this society. Go beyond what you do now; I know I will.
References:
1. Lipsett PA. Society of Critical Care Medicine presidential address-40th Critical Care Congress, January 2011, San Diego, CA. Crit Care Med. 2011;39(5):931-933. |
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