I AM SCCM
provides an opportunity for members to share their accomplishments with one another as a means to inspire and motivate. Below please find the inspiring stories of a few SCCM members.
I obtained my critical care specialist degree last December, and I am actually starting my career as an intensivist, working as an attending physician in Venezuela at Caracas´ West General Hospital in a very depauperated zone of the city. Applying point-of-care evidence in our practice is a real challenge due to 
the higher levels of violence-related injuries and severe medical pathologies, which are often complicated by malnutrition and a lack of compliance for treatment as well as limited medical supplies at the hospital. However, our team has started to improve their skills thanks to the constant review of literature I provide them from the Critical Care Medicine journal and all of SCCM’s tools aimed to help the critical care staff provide the Right care, Right now, thus rapidly increasing the quality of treatment and the survival rate with a more rational use of our limited equipment. In addition, the mechanical ventilation-related CME articles and published material from the Society are favoring me, mechanical ventilation is the subject I teach in the residence program, to provide a better training to our residents as well as to my colleagues who receive updates on current therapeutics.
Martin E. Hernandez-Gonzalez, MD
SCCM member for 1 year
At SCCM’s 2007 Congress, I listened to several great lectures on glucose control. When I returned home, my colleagues and I were able to institute a new subcutaneous insulin protocol based on the latest data. We also revised our existing insulin drip protocol, and as a result, glucose control in our unit has improved dramatically.
Valerie A. Seabaugh, MD
SCCM member for 4 years
In 2000, I applied for and received SCCM’s annual Founders Grant, now known as the Vision Grant. Receiving this grant fundamentally changed my professional life. I have a thriving investigative career that spans translational laboratory research, clinical research, and patient safety research. My hope is that my research on bloodstream infections has improved the outcomes of patients who are currently at risk for this complication, while my research on gut apoptosis in sepsis may impact therapy, or at least our understanding of sepsis pathophysiology, in future patients.
Obtaining grant support from SCCM also made me want to get more involved in the Society. I was fortunate to lead the process that culminated in the development of the current SCCM Vision Grant, which I hope will jump start the career of young investigators the way the grant did for me nearly a decade ago.
Craig M. Coopersmith, MD, FCCM
SCCM member for 9 years
A 22 year old, male US soldier deployed in Iraq is injured by an IED, suffering a femur fracture and blast to the abdomen. Hemorrhage control is achieved in a Combat Surgical Hospital, where he undergoes 'damage control' surgery and massive transfusion. He is transferred to Landsthul, Germany, where he undergoes abdominal and soft tissue washouts and fracture fixation. Two days later he is loaded unto a USAF Critical Care Air Transport vehicle for transfer to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C. Ventilator settings are PS10, TV 650, RR 10, PEEP 5, FiO2 .40. ABG pH 7.34/CO2 34/ O2 127.
During the 8 ½ hour flight, he becomes progressively hypoxemic and is transitioned to pressure control-inverse ratio ventilation. The transport team arrives in the WRAMC surgical ICU at 2200. The patient is placed on APRV ventilation, FiO2 100%. Due to worsening oxygenation, prone positioning, nitric oxide, prostacyclin infusion and sildenafil are initiated. IV fluids, norepinephrine and then dobutamine are added. At 0200 his paO2 is 49, pH 7.21, BP 89/P, HR 133. CT surgery is consulted; the patient is placed on VA ECMO.
At 0630 I am called and asked to accept the soldier in transfer for ICU management of his ECMO and traumatic injuries. He arrives from Washington in the back of an ambulance, ECMO pump running. For 3 weeks he and his family are cared for at the Shock Trauma Center, at which time he is transferred back to WRAMC for long term rehab. He is discharged from the hospital, receives the Purple Heart, and re-enlists. Twelve months later he is engaged and a father-to-be.
Maureen McCunn, MD, MIPP, FCCM
SCCM member for 2 years
