A Message from SCCM Leadership

Dear Society Delegate,
 
As leaders of the Society of Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), we are often asked about ways your organization can better engage with SCCM and how your members can more fully interact in SCCM activities. Since its founding in 1970, SCCM has been open and welcoming to clinicians from around the world. Recently, SCCM’s elected Council expanded our global strategy. Below you will find a list of the many ways we hope your organization and colleagues will engage with us as we all work together to improve patient care worldwide.
 
Critical Care Congress

• Complimentary Registration: You or your presidential representative receive complimentary registration to Congress annually. Your SCCM staff partner will send you a coupon code to process your free registration by the end of September.
• Record a Video Presentation: New for 2024, you or a selected leader from your organization are invited to contribute to the Critical Care Congress program by sharing a video on a scientific topic or key projects from your organization. Submitted videos will be included in Congress Digital. You can record your video here.
• Submit a Session Proposal: We invite you and your colleagues to submit a scientific session proposal for the 2025 Congress, to be held February 23-26, 2025, in Orlando, Florida. When developing the Congress program, the committee seeks multinational submissions based on recent research activities. Submission does not guarantee acceptance. Proposals are judged by a large group of leading members, which is required to meet strict Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education accreditation standards. An accepted session proposal is the best way to participate as faculty during Congress. Proposals for the 2025 Congress will be accepted starting in October 2024. SCCM will send a reminder when submissions open.
• Submit Abstracts and Case Reports: More than 1500 abstracts and case reports are accepted for presentation at Congress each year. You, your colleagues, and your trainees are encouraged to submit research abstracts or case reports for consideration. Abstracts submitted by SCCM member trainees and non-physicians who are selected to present as the primary author receive complimentary Congress registration. Authors of accepted abstracts and case reports are invited to make short presentations in dedicated Research Snapshot Theaters throughout the event. Check the Congress submission site here for more information.
• Meet With Leadership: Scheduling a meeting with key leaders at SCCM is an excellent way to build and strengthen relationships between our organizations. Meetings can be held in person during Congress but are also welcome via videoconference or when we happen to be in the same city for other meetings. Further, SCCM supports travel costs when your organization invites the SCCM president to visit your country and/or speak at your conference. Reach out directly to president@sccm.org or through your staff partner to schedule a meeting or visit.
• Congress Dates Are Changing: For many years the SCCM Congress has been held in January or February. Starting in 2026, it will be moved to new spring dates. Get the exact dates and locations and learn more about the reasons for the change on our website.

Host a Program

• Expanding Opportunities: For more than 25 years, SCCM has offered its Fundamentals training programs in multiple languages for use at institutions globally. In recent years, we have expanded these offerings to include popular education such as the Multiprofessional Critical Care Review board review course, ultrasound courses, and the Best of SCCM Congress. Soon we will release a new hosted training program, Airway and Mechanical Ventilation Management, and we have more courses in development based on your requests. In 2024, we will also offer our new International Critical Care Examination, which will help your clinicians better understand areas of improvement as well as acknowledge their educational achievement with a certificate from SCCM.
• Affordability: All SCCM hosted training programs utilize a fair and flexible tiered pricing structure. Pricing tiers are based on a country’s purchasing power parity per capita as reported by the World Bank. Additionally, SCCM has funding available to provide financial support for organizations in low-resourced settings. While some sites may qualify for free program materials, others may also receive cash funding to pay for training-related expenses based on generous donations and grants awarded to SCCM for this purpose. We encourage you to request funding for sites with special needs.

Global Health

• Resources: Providing training, supplies, and volunteer clinicians worldwide is part of SCCM’s Global Health and crisis response activities. Recently we have supported clinicians in Ukraine, Türkiye, and Syria by providing complimentary on-site training, as well as by delivering free medical supplies, equipment, and cash funds. Our Africa Infrastructure Relief and Support (AIRS) project is building hospital capacity for stable, sustainable medical oxygen for critically ill patients in the Gambia, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. In 2024, we will launch a new expansive initiative to reduce mortality from sepsis in low-resourced settings.
• Research and Quality: As part of our commitment to excellence, we prioritize research and quality improvement initiatives. SCCM’s Discovery, the Critical Care Research Network, partners with healthcare professionals and institutions globally as we engage in cutting-edge projects aimed at advancing medical knowledge and patient care. By identifying best practices and innovative strategies, we aim to enhance the quality of healthcare delivery in low-, medium-, and high-resourced settings. We are committed to working alongside local healthcare professionals and organizations such as yours to implement evidence-based improvements that create sustainable positive impacts on patient outcomes. Through close partnerships with individuals and organizations globally, we support research-driven enhancements in healthcare that are accessible to all around the world. To get involved, visit the Discovery page on our website.
• Partnerships: SCCM is actively seeking new external partners, such as foundations, professional associations, other nongovernmental and government organizations, that can collaborate in providing training and joint research and quality activities. We invite discussions of specific projects that are likely to have a significant impact and that, after local or regional implementation, could be expanded globally.
• Local Support: As part of SCCM’s commitment to global health, we expanded support by opening an office in China to better serve those in the region. We employ staff who speak multiple languages to assist you in both of our offices, and we publish our materials in up to eight languages to make them more accessible. We are also now considering new office locations to better assist clinicians in carrying out our shared mission to improve care.

Increasing Accessibility

• Free Trainee Membership: SCCM offers free membership to those in critical care training programs, which we call the Sponsored Trainee Program. Program directors of critical care training programs who maintain a Professional or Select membership with SCCM may enroll their students in the Sponsored Trainee Program. Trainees receive the benefits of Professional membership at no cost while they are in training. Their free membership includes subscription to Critical Connections, membership in specialty sections, discounts on SCCM educational programs and resources, the ability to volunteer for participation on an SCCM committee and eligibility to apply for grants and preferred awards, plus much more.
• New in 2024, Tiered Pricing for Everything: We understand that the cost of many SCCM activities can limit their accessibility. While we have long offered a tiered pricing structure for our hosted training programs (described above), we were unable to offer reduced pricing for other programs such as the annual Congress or membership. The tiered discount pricing structure will soon apply to all SCCM programs and activities, including SCCM membership, fellowship in the American College of Critical Care Medicine and related application fees, and all other products and programs. This expansion requires us to replace our central database system, so this change will become effective as the new system becomes active next year. Based on per capita income tiers, SCCM will provide a 95% discount for those in Tier 1, an 80% discount for those in Tier 2, and a 50% discount for those in Tier 3. Those in Tier 4 will continue to pay the full price, making everything we offer more accessible worldwide. Our systems will apply these discounts and show the correct pricing on our website once the database conversion is completed. Once the new tiered pricing structure is operational, we will contact you so you can share the news with your members.

In Closing
We hope it’s clear from this letter that SCCM is committed to working closely with you, your organization, and your members as global partners to improve care of the critically ill and injured. No organization is more committed to global partnerships than SCCM, and it’s been our pleasure to have close relationships with many organizations and individuals around the world. Thank you for all you do to improve care. We look forward to a continued and expanded relationship with your organization.
 
 
Sincerely,

Vinay Nadkarni, MD, MS, FCCM President 2023

Lauren R. Sorce, PhD, RN, CPNP-AC/PC, FCCM, FAAN President 2024

David J. Martin, CAE CEO/Executive Vice-President