Spring Meeting 2016
At our Spring meeting Dr Engelhardt gave us an update on the data from 2014’s Apricot Study. Numbers are still being collated and analysed, and it will be some time before Scottish figures will be available, but we are sure they will be of great interest to all members of SPAN, given the hugely impressive national uptake at the time of the study.
We also had a brief mention of the current dubiously-acronymed study from the ESA: Nectarine!
NEonate – Children sTudy of Anaesthesia pRactice IN Europe
Data collection is ongoing at the present time and looks to collect data regarding neonatal perioperative complications of anaesthesia: Watch this space!
Dr Joanne Stirling, a consultant from the ED at the Royal Hospital for Children gave a superb talk entitled “the collapsed neonate, the slides of which are available below.
The ED in which Dr Stirling works uses a ‘hypoclycaemia grab bag’ for sick neonates with low blood sugar who need further investigation. This has been developed in conjunction with physicians and the metabolic team at the RHC and is made to be a quick ‘idiot’s guide’ to which tests need requested and when/how to test patients. The information sheets accompanying the grab bags have been copied and are included below for information. IT MUST BE APPRECIATED THAT THESE INSTRUCTIONS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED FOR THE RHC AND THE TEST NAMES AND BLOOD BOTTLES REQUIRED MAY VERY WELL DIFFER IN YOUR HOSPITAL.
There are many resources available for management of the critically ill child, some links are posted below;
Scottish National Paediatric Retrieval Service – The point of call for any PICU/ retrieval within Scotland. Emergency clinical guidelines and contact information are available on this website.
South Thames Retrieval Service – Includes clinical guidelines from South Thames, as well as an iOS App to calculate emergency drug dosages. Download available for £2.29. Look to the right-hand side of the home screen.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Children’s Clinical Guidelines
Dr Neal Willis, a consultant anaesthetist from the Royal Hospital for Children gave a talk covering the new NICE guideline 29: Intravenous Fluid Therapy in Children and Young People in Hospital. The guideline is available here along with learning resources (including an e-learning module) which are available here. The slides from the talk are available below.
There were 7 posters to peruse throughout the morning and all exhibitors were well received by the marking committee. There were 3 oral presentations given in the ne’er-coveted “post-prandial” slot, all of which showed innovation and a desire for quality improvement in their base hospitals.
The following 2 posters were authored by Drs Coe, Targett, Crawley and Rodney from Ninewells Hospital
Poster: Management of Post-operative Analgesia in Paediatric Appendicectomy
Poster: Intravenous Fluid Management in Paediatric surgical Patients
Congratultions to Jennifer Coe and Karen Pearson who won the prizes for best oral presentation and best poster respectively. Their prizes were presented by Laura Jack, SPAN trainee representative.
Jennifer (L) and Laura (R)
Karen and Laura
Minutes for the AGM are now available to view here.
- Chris Hawksworth stepped down as chairperson; John Rutherford bravely stepped into the breech and was welcomed by all.
- Craig Cumming has joined the committee, and will work alongside Susan McIlveney as co-treasurers until the handover of bank details is complete, whereupon Craig will ‘go solo’.
- With the success of videoconferencing over the last 2 meetings, it was decided that future SPAN education meetings must include a VC option, as more and more colleagues struggle for study leave to attend meetings in person. VC for Spring meetings has been deemed highly desirable and all efforts will be made to include it in future meetings.
- Trainees delivering oral presentations will have their course fee refunded, in a bid to promote the highest quality work possible.
- Nursing staff who attend SPAN meetings will continue to benefit from free registration (ie no course fee) but will also now be entitled to a full refund from SPAN of travelling expenses incurred personally.
- Money is available for travel bursaries to improve care of children in base hospitals. Doctors and nurses interested in such a bursary should contact the SPAN committee to discuss suitability.
Laura Jack, Jocelyn Erskine and Matt Harvey ran a very successful breakout session during the AGM for trainees, nurses and anyone else who felt the AGM would not benefit them. The focus of their learning and discussion was the management of the sick neonate, and tied in nicely with some of the topics covered in the formal talks/lectures.
The national morbidity and mortality meeting focused on 2 separate cases which had been submitted from colleagues. Lesley McKee talked through the management of a true “can’t intubate, can’t oxygenate” scenario which occurred recently, involving 2 separate hospitals, a retrieval team and a very experienced ENT surgeon, all of whom had difficulty with the patient involved.
A second case, presented by Chris Hawksworth, was that of a patient who developed rhabdomyolysis after an IV dose of suxamethonium and is still under investigation for possible (yet unlikely) underlying muscle disorder which was previously undiagnosed.
Chris Hawksworth giving his talk for the M & M with the videoconference delegates watching keenly from the background.
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