Conference Report – IAPA2018: A decade of safety in Paediatric Anaesthesia
The 10th Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Paediatric Anaesthesiologists was held in Hyderabad on the 10th and 11th February 2018, at ShilpakalaVedika, Hyderabad. It was jointly hosted by Axon Anaesthesia Associates, Hyderabad and Rainbow Children’s Hospitals. This was attended by over 400 delegates including practising anaesthesiologists as well as trainees. The faculty included over 30 eminent paediatric anaesthesiologists from reputed institutions in different parts of India. The International faculty came from United States, United Kingdom, Italy and Australia and participated in the workshops as well as main conference. Dr Dean Kurth with his Wake up safe initiative; Dr Randall Flick speaking on anaesthesia and neurodevelopment; Dr Rishi Diwan on regional techniques, Dr Shobha Malviya on the opioid epidemic, Dr Ben Hallett speaking on airway surgery, Dr Rehman telling us about big data – it was really stimulating to interact with all these stalwarts from the world over.
Five pre-conference workshops were conducted on 9th February, 2018. Workshop I on Vascular Access was conducted by Dr Vibhavari Naik and Dr Basant Rayani at the Basavatarakam Indo American Cancer Hospital & Research Institute, Hyderabad (49 delegates). Workshop II dealt with the Difficult Airway, and was conducted by Dr S Ramesh at Niloufer Hospital for Women and Children, Lakdi-ka-pul (47 delegates). Dr Nandini Dave and Dr Rakshay Shetty conducted Workshop III on Simulation (Catastrophes and Crisis Management) at the state-of-the-art simulation centre in Care Institute of Medical Sciences (26 delegates). Workshop IV was on Paediatric and Neonatal Resuscitation, and was held at the Indian Institute of Emergency Medical Services, Hyderabad (34 delegates). Rainbow Hospital, Banjara Hills was the venue for Workshop V which was on Ultrasound-guided Paediatric Regional techniques; conducted by Dr TVS Gopal and Dr Gita Nath (45 delegates).
Th morning session of Day 1 included sessions on airway issues and fluid management, and focussed on both theoretical as well as practical issues. For the Dr SnehalataDhayagude oration, Dr S Ramesh spoke on Paediatric Anaesthesia for the Non-paediatric Anaesthesiologist. This was followed by the inauguration ceremony where the Chief Guest was Dr K Ramesh Reddy, Director of Medical Education, Hyderabad and the Guest of Honour was Dr Ramesh Kancherla, Chairman, Rainbow Hospitals group.
During the lunch break, Meet the Experts – Lunch pe Charcha sessions were carried out in a separate room where delegates could interact closelywith the faculty and discuss specific topics. The post-lunch session focussed on safety and quality in paediatric anaesthesia and also included a pro-con session and a panel discussion. There was a guest lecture by Dr Dinesh Kumar Chirla, neonatologist at Rainbow Hospital on Technological advances in PICU/NICU. The General Body meeting of the IAPA followed the scientific sessions. A notable feature of this year’s meeting was the presentation of Honorary Fellowships to senior paediatric anaesthesiologists who fulfilled the specified criteria. The first day’s programme was followed by a grand banquet at the adjoining open-air venue Rock Heights, with cocktails and live music.
Day 2 of the conference maintained the high standard set on the first day, with talks on anaesthetic challenges, trending issues and new advances in paediatric anaesthesia. There was a video session on procedures such as Hickman catheter insertion, neonatal spinal anaesthesia and the successful management of EXIT procedure – a lesson in communication and coordination apart from technical excellence. Meet the expert sessions were repeated on the second day, on a fresh set of topics. Post-lunch sessions had interesting talks on current and controversial topics. The panel discussion on “Paediatric Anaesthesia for the Private Practitioner: Maintaining quality and safety” generated a lot interest despite being the last session of the meeting.
The next conference of the IAPA will be held at Delhi under the leadership of Dr Rajeshwari Subramaniam.
