Clinical Practice Committee (CPC) Update

by Gozde Demiralp, MD, FCCM
Chair, SOCCA Clinical Practice Committee
UW-Madison, Madison, WI
&
R. Alok Gupta, MD
Vice Chair, SOCCA Clinical Practice Committee
Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

Volume 37 | Issue 1 | April 2026

The SOCCA Clinical Practice Committee (CPC) has had a strong start to 2026, with multiple collaborative initiatives, educational programming, and cross-society partnerships advancing across its workgroups. The committee continues to focus on clinical education, competency development, and expanding resources for anesthesiology critical care practitioners.

Several CPC-led sessions and workshops were accepted for the 2026 IARS meeting, including programming on critical care billing and identity, ECMO education, neuro critical care, and obstetric critical care. These offerings highlight the breadth of CPC collaboration and the growing visibility of anesthesiology-led critical care expertise across subspecialties.

The MCS/ECMO/CT ICU workgroup has been particularly active, finalizing two ticketed ECMO simulation workshops at IARS and coordinating closely with industry partners to support hands-on educational experiences. The group continues to collaborate with PDAC leadership to define ECMO and mechanical circulatory support competencies for ACCM fellowships and is working toward development of a position paper addressing training standards, access to educational resources, and potential partnerships to expand learning opportunities. Additional efforts include identifying contributors to develop educational website content aligned with these competency goals.

The Neuro Critical Care workgroup is also advancing educational programming, including a Brain Death Determination simulation workshop and additional sessions at IARS. The group is actively planning a comprehensive SOCCA Brain Death Workshop featuring didactic content, simulation-based demonstrations, complex case discussions, and communication training. Collaboration with colleagues in neuroanesthesia, neurology, ethics, and simulation is underway to broaden the workshop’s scope and impact.

The OB Critical Care workgroup continues its collaboration with SOAP, with multiple sessions scheduled at IARS focusing on high-risk obstetric emergencies and complex perioperative management scenarios. These joint efforts strengthen interdisciplinary education and expand opportunities for member engagement.

The Quality & Safety workgroup has successfully launched the Quality Improvement Project Repository on the SOCCA website. The group is encouraging submissions and exploring ways to enhance the repository’s value for members, including fellows and early-career clinicians, as a shared resource for quality initiatives.

Additional CPC workgroups remain engaged in ongoing initiatives, including global critical care collaboration and transplant critical care scholarship. Across all groups, the CPC continues to emphasize practical education, competency development, and collaboration to support the evolving clinical practice of critical care anesthesiology.