President's Message

by Avery Tung, MD, FCCM
President, SOCCA
Professor of Anesthesia & Critical Care, Quality Chief, Anesthesia & Critical Care, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

Volume 28 | Issue 3 | Fall 2017

This winter newsletter comes on the heels of the ASA annual meeting that just concluded in Boston last month, and a Fall meeting of the SOCCA board. The title of this column refers to a big SOCCA change, one which we hope will open the door to an enhanced value of membership. 

But first I’d like to celebrate the contributions of SOCCA members to the ASA annual meeting. The Critical Care track this year included 10 refresher courses, 7 panels, 3 pro/con debates and 3 workshops…nearly all delivered by SOCCA members. Although statistics won’t be known for a while, I can attest that in the Clinical Forum I attended the room was packed to capacity and people were watching from overflow rooms down the hall! We’ll see if that interest translates into more SOCCA members.  And why not? SOCCA is and should be your home for critical care Anesthesiology.

During the Fall Board meeting, we discussed multiple issues of interest to SOCCA members. Some highlights:

  • SOCCA appears to be in increasingly stronger financial shape. Our two main sources of revenue, membership dues and our Annual Meeting have both performed well this year, and as I noted in the Summer newsletter, attendance at our Annual meeting has returned to pre-IARS levels. The board voted to restart a $500 contribution to FAER for research grant support, establish a financial reserve, and codify a (prudent) investment policy.
  • In August, Laureen Hill resigned her seat on the SOCCA board to take on a management role with Columbia/Presbyterian Hospital in NYC. The board voted to replace the remainder of her term, which ends in 2018, with Stephen Surgenor, MD, MBA, Professor of Anesthesiology at the Dartmouth Institute and the Dartmouth/Geisel School of Medicine. 
  • We discussed efforts to better align our meeting with the AUA Annual meeting, which also occurs during the Friday before IARS. Although the details still need some work, it is likely that those choosing to buy attendance to all three meetings will get a discount.

Let me now circle back to the title of this column: “A new home” and highlight SOCCA’s burgeoning online presence. Those of you heading to www.socca.org to renew your membership (Don’t wait…do it now!) may have already noticed that our website has a new look. In fact we’re on a new server…and the login button in the upper left now allows access to a protected area for members. Try it!

We’re still working on what to put in that protected area and welcome any suggestions!  SOCCA work products currently include the ICU teaching guide, our Jobs board (now up to 12 postings and available at https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1anYzvf-I0rRjE0ZXdJZkNNYXc?usp=sharing ), the Exchange, and the fellowship Match. One possibility is to put a searchable member directory in that protected area so SOCCA members can communicate with each other. As I’ve noted before, the diversity and experience of critical care experience among SOCCA members is one of SOCCA’s unique strengths…among our ranks you can find Neuro, Surgical, Cardiac, Trauma, Burn, and Pediatric critical care. A searchable database would allow Neurocritical care specialists to find like-minded SOCCA members for questions, consultations, or protocols for hard to manage issues. Another idea is to host a message board or other forum to ask questions or share information. We’re looking for a web editor to manage that content and enhance our new home! If you are interested or have ideas as to how we can populate our new members section, please email me at [email protected].

Along those lines, I’d like also to call attention to our SOCCA twitter page, @SOCCA_Critcare. Maintained by Michael Fierro at Duke, the page tracks issues of interest to SOCCA members, and along with the Interchange and Anesthesia & Analgesia helps to highlight authors of papers published by SOCCA members in A&A. If you are a twitter user, check it out, retweet often, and look for this issue’s featured author Roman Dudaryk and his latest publication in A&A: “Incidence and operative factors associated with discretional postoperative mechanical ventilation after general surgery” PMID 28991116.

Let me close this column by reiterating how lucky I feel to lead such a vibrant and enthusiastic organization! This past ASA reminded me of the sheer number of active SOCCA members at the meeting …at the SOCCA subspecialty booth, contributing and delivering outstanding educational and research content, and participating in committee work at all levels. If you have an idea how to make SOCCA a vital stopping place for critical care anesthesiologists or are interested in contributing, send me an email! I’ll try to find you a role. And, as the year ends, do be sure to renew your membership and keep in mind our upcoming annual meeting April in Chicago! The abstract submission deadline is December 28 and the meeting is Friday April 27, 2018. Hope to see you there!