Johns Hopkins Celebrates the Anniversary of Its Multiprofessional ICU
Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center celebrated the 50th anniversary of the first multidisciplinary, multiprofessional intensive care unit (ICU) in the United States this September. The late Peter Safar, MD, FCCM, helped develop the ICU in 1958 at Baltimore City Hospitals (now Johns Hopkins Bayview), and his memory was recounted many times during the celebration, which also featured presentations from leading critical care thought leaders. The event, Celebrating 50 Years: The Gold Standard in Multidisciplinary Intensive Care, reflected on the history of critical care and current studies as well as future trends and goals.
Among the invited speakers presenting during the anniversary celebration were Society of Critical Care Medicine’s (SCCM) President-Elect Mitchell Levy, MD, FCCM, Past-President (1971-1972) Max Harry Weil, MD, PhD, FCCM, Past-President (2002-2003) Maurene Harvey, RN, MPH, FCCM, and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine editor Patrick Kochanek, MD, FCCM. Giving the Keynote Safar Lecture was Critical Care Medicine editor and SCCM Past-President (1995-1996) Joseph E. Parrillo, MD, FCCM, who lectured on new insights and therapies related to septic shock.
Safar’s patient care- and team-centered philosophies were intertwined throughout the daylong event. David Hellman, MD, chair of the department medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview, opened the symposia by reminding the audience that medicine is a public trust and that it is the responsibility of today’s critical care professionals to provide sympathetic quality care, while also training new leaders and generating breakthroughs.
Reviewing the history of critical care, it is astounding to see how far the specialty has come and what the future holds. Slides showed early ventilation and resuscitation practices, one displaying a sketch of two men trying to save a patient who had fallen in a creek by blowing tobacco smoke into the patient’s colon. Others slides offered photos from only decades earlier, showing the birth of modern monitoring equipment at a time when it dwarfed its operators by taking up entire rooms or was run through televisions.
Critical care, like medicine in general, has its roots in measuring. Historically, the ability to measure has been the key to understanding and improving, from early mechanical ventilation to titration. More dynamic and reliable monitoring has led to less invasive, more advance procedures. However, many times presenters focused on those aspects of care that traditionally have not been measured or have been difficult to measure because of their abstract nature. Attendees were challenged to think about the definition of quality care and the importance of safety and to consider how effective teamwork plays into these and all aspects of care.
Harvey and Levy especially focused their discussions on the importance of the multiprofessional critical care team. In her presentation, The Role of Nursing in the Multiprofessional Unit, Harvey strived to identify qualities of an ideal team, stressing that each member must make contributions and display various leadership qualities, while still understanding his or her role. Likewise, Levy challenged the audience of fellows, seasoned medical professionals from various backgrounds and hospital administrators to try to measure and quantify quality care. He said the culture of an ICU plays an important part in quality. Often it is not one specific member of the team that impacts patient outcomes, but rather the existence of the team. While concepts like culture and cooperation are hard to measure, ensuring they are thriving in the ICU looks to be an important factor in the future of critical care.
The celebration, with its focus on clinical data coupled with important viewpoints on the ever-evolving multiprofessional team, was a fitting tribute to Safar. The conclusion of the conference included fond memories of Safar and recalled many of his famous quotes – some humorous, others inspirational. After the conference, a collection of Safar’s works were dedicated and installed into the Bayview Library.
