Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists: Heartfelt
Thanks for 25 Years
Roger A. Moore,
M.D., President
Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists
The year 2002 has been another banner year for the
Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA).
Our membership now tops 7,000 with growth in our U.S.,
international and resident memberships. Since the
primary mission of SCA remains the promotion of education
and research in cardiovascular and thoracic anesthesia,
our continued membership expansion is gratifying and
bodes well for increased safety and excellence in
the care of future patients requiring cardiovascular
and pulmonary interventions.
SCA is rapidly approaching its 25th anniversary. The
founding fathers’ original vision was a Society
that allowed for the active collaborative exchange
of new ideas and techniques between an international
and inclusive membership. Their idea was to develop
a Society where interested anesthesiologists could
have a venue for continued discussions, exchanges
and presentations of new ideas and research. I believe
this vision has been realized, and our 25th anniversary
in April 2003 should be one of celebration and pride.
For those unfamiliar with SCA, educational endeavors
are highlighted during three major meetings in North
America on a yearly basis. In April 2002, our Annual
Meeting was held in New York, New York, and was attended
by 900 anesthesiologists from around the world. This
was an especially poignant meeting considering the
devastation that had occurred in the city’s
recent past. The camaraderie shown by the meeting’s
international attendees, however, helped to strengthen
friendships between nations and emphasized our similarities
in desiring better patient safety and higher quality
care. Our 2003 Annual Meeting will be held in Orlando,
Florida, on April 26-30, 2003, and will certainly
be an exceptional meeting with a major celebration
of our Silver Anniversary.
Another educational effort of SCA is the Update on
Cardiopulmonary Bypass meeting. This year it was held
in March in Snowmass, Colorado, and was attended by
more than 240 registrants, including anesthesiologists,
perfusionists and cardiac surgeons. The 2003 Cardiopulmonary
Bypass meeting also will be held in Snowmass, Colorado,
on March 16-21, 2003. The third major meeting of our
Society is the annual Comprehensive Review of Transesophageal
Echocardiography. This outstanding meeting was held
in Orlando, Florida, in February 2002 with more than
1,100 registrants. The perioperative echo meeting
is oriented toward practitioners of all specialties
interested in increasing their knowledge and preparing
for certification in transesophageal echo. This weeklong
meeting provides a totally immersive experience in
transesophageal echo through the combination of didactic
lecturers and a hands-on wet laboratory. The next
meeting will be held in San Diego, California, on
February 10-15, 2003. SCA cosponsored an international
meeting with the Israel Society of Anesthesiologists
on November 10-13, 2002.
SCA is focusing considerable effort toward gaining
approval for accreditation of fellowship programs
in cardiovascular anesthesiology. Our goal is to obtain
accreditation of fellowship programs only, not certification
of individual anesthesiologists. The recognition of
cardiac anesthesia as a subspecialty by the Accreditation
Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) is
a major commitment of SCA. Our interest is to ensure
that minimum training requirements, applied to all
cardiac fellowship training programs, are standardized
to guarantee that the highest level of care will be
given by practitioners emerging from cardiovascular
fellowship training programs. Universal quality education
for our cardiac fellows is so important that SCA is
willing to continue to battle for ACGME recognition
no matter how long it takes.
Through active involvement with other national societies,
SCA has been setting the standards for transesophageal
echo as well as the development of guidelines governing
the perioperative care of cardiac patients. SCA has
a significant voice in the National Board of Echocardiography,
which prepares the certifying examination in perioperative
echocardiography. We also have been involved with
the American College of Echocardiography, the American
Heart Association and many other organizations in
providing guidelines for the standardization of care
to patients with cardiovascular disease. The results
of many of these efforts can be seen on the SCA Web
site at www.SCAhq.org.
Recent standards that have been approved include training
standards in transesophageal echo, standardized forms
used in providing echocardiographic reports and specific
guidelines for performance of a standardized transesophageal
echo examination.
SCA actively supports research by providing direct
grants as well as grants through the Foundation for
Anesthesia Education and Research. Our commitment
to research stems directly from our belief that new
knowledge is key for the progress of anesthesiology
and for the continued success of cardiac anesthesiology
as a subspecialty. Our goal is not only to obtain
new knowledge but also to encourage the development
of academically oriented cardiovascular anesthesiologists
who will be the future teachers for anesthesiologists
interested in cardiac anesthesia.
Many of the innovations of the Society can be viewed
through our Web site. The Web site provides not only
meeting dates and locations but also general information
about SCA, job opportunities, case reports and a wealth
of other information. The education of patients also
is being addressed by a frequently asked questions
page developed by our electronics communication committee.
SCA also provides many publications to our membership.
On a yearly basis, a monograph is published based
upon a panel provided at the SCA Annual Meeting. This
year’s monograph was titled “Regional
Anesthesia for Cardiothoracic Surgery” by Mark
A. Chaney, M.D. We also have a bimonthly newsletter
that includes a pro/con section as well as a literature
review. The official journal of SCA is Anesthesia
& Analgesia. Through a series of ongoing
negotiations, SCA is seeking to have a greater role
in our section within Anesthesia & Analgesia.
With the active support and help from the International
Anesthesia Research Society, a “journal within
a journal” concept will be realized in the coming
year.
SCA is a vigorous, active organization that is continuing
to grow in many directions. If you are not already
a member, please join and get involved!!
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Roger
A. Moore, M.D., is Chair, Department of Anesthesiology,
Deborah Heart and Lung Center, Browns Mills,
New Jersey, and Clinical Associate Professor
of Anesthesiology, University of Medicine and
Dentistry of New Jersey. He also is ASA Assistant
Treasurer. |
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