Committee on Education Update

On behalf of the SOCCA Education Committee, we would like to thank you all for another successful SOCCA Annual meeting this past spring. While we were disappointed that the increase in COVID cases led to a last-minute transition to a virtual format, the enthusiasm for educational talks, presentations of current research, and networking opportunities could not be fettered.

Despite being a small community, SOCCA comprises some of the leading world experts in anesthesia and critical care. The annual meeting provides an opportunity to meet and share points of view amongst the membership and this has always been one of the highlights of attending the annual meeting.  Despite the virtual format, networking events by Women in Critical Care and SOCCA Early Career groups had great representation and were hugely successful. Members were able to make contacts, develop relationships, and share experiences from work and life. We are hopeful that the annual meeting continues to be a platform for not only disseminating outstanding educational content but providing opportunity for the membership to network and share professional as well as personal bonds.

We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to the fantastic group of speakers who shared their expertise and to all the scholars who enlightened us with their research. Many congratulations to our Young Investigator Award winners, Dr. Marcos Lopez, Dr. Dustin Long and Jaimie Navid. as well as to the 2023 Burchardi Award winner, Dr. Avery Tung. We are grateful to Dr. Miguel Cobas, our immediate past president and to the entire SOCCA board for the unrelenting support in making the annual meeting a huge success. Last, but not the least, we would like to thank our administrative staff, ably led by Vivian Abalama and Kristin Howard, without whose tireless efforts, the annual meeting would not have been possible.

As we enter the summer, discussions are already underway to plan for our next SOCCA Annual meeting in April 2023. We are excited and look forward to what will hopefully be our first in person meeting since we last met in Montreal in 2019! As always, we solicit exciting and thought-provoking topics to be presented at the annual meeting and the call for session proposals should be going out shortly. We strive for diversity and encourage speakers with unique points of view to enlighten and expand our understanding of all facets of critical care medicine. We are also excited in bringing to the membership ground-breaking research that is presented at the annual meeting.

In addition to planning for the annual meeting, the education committee has been busy designing year-long educational curricula for the SOCCA membership and the critical care community at large. Later this year, we will pilot a program, which would provide guided educational content derived from high impact journal articles, chosen by the CME and enduring content subcommittee and targeted towards the critical care anesthesiologist. Our webinar subcommittee is currently formulating the monthly webinar schedule and are evaluating submissions received from the membership.

Finally, preparations are underway for our newly constructed and immensely successful Board Review Course, which provides high yield critical care topics to residents and fellows and is delivered by early career critical care anesthesiologists.

Authors

Allison Dalton, MD

Chair, SOCCA Committee on Education

University of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois

Kunal Karamchandani, MD, FCCM

Vice-Chair, SOCCA Committee on Education

UT Southwestern Medical Center

Dallas, Texas