President’s Corner

Colleagues,

I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and have a happy and healthy holiday season (so far), avoiding COVID, RSV, adenovirus, and Influenza. Good Grief.

The education committee has planned an extraordinary annual meeting which will take place in Denver, Colorado on April 14, 2023. On Saturday April 15th, there is an impressive lineup of educational events during the IARS, AUA, and SOCCA-aligned meeting day. Most importantly, I hope you plan to attend the SOCCA Women in Critical Care and SOCCA Early Career group meet-up and networking events between 7:00-9:00 PM on Thursday, April 13. There is also a reception on Friday, April 14, from 7:30-9:30 PM. It will be great to see everyone in person again.

The opportunities for membership engagement in SOCCA continue to expand. We now have an Early Career workgroup, a Medical Student, Resident and Fellows workgroup, the Physicians in Practice workgroup, Women in Critical Care workgroup, Diversity Equity and Inclusion workgroup, Critical Care Ultrasound workgroup, and a Research and Medical Education workgroup. These groups are open to all SOCCA members, including medical students, residents, and fellows.

We have also formed a new Clinical Practice Committee chaired by George Williams and vice-chaired by Gozde Demiralp. This new committee consists of several workgroups tasked with increasing collaboration and interactions with other societies and committees. These workgroups are also open to all SOCCA members. They include the Transplant Critical Care workgroup, Mechanical Circulatory Support/ECMO/CTICU workgroups, the Physiologically Difficult Airway task force, the Quality and Safety workgroup, and the Neurocritical Care Workgroup.

We have also started a new Service Chiefs Advisory Council chaired by Craig Jabaley, vice-chaired by Anne Drewry, and Sheida Tabaie as the secretary. This group is also open to all SOCCA members. Still, it will focus on challenges and opportunities for those in critical care leadership positions in both academic and private practice such as academic division directors, medical directors, service line directors, executive medical directors, etc. This will be an enjoyable group for folks to get involved with.

We will spend the calendar year 2023 getting all of these new workgroups and taskforces organized and giving them the time to choose what they would like to focus on.

If you have any other ideas or suggestions on improving the value of SOCCA to our current and future members, please do not hesitate to let me, the Board of Directors or the Committee Chairs know.

See you soon!

Author

Michael H. Wall, MD, FCCM

President, Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists

University of Minnesota

Minneapolis, Minnesota