The ANZCA WA Regional Committee has continued its successful long standing cooperation with the WA ASA Educational Committee, working closely as Anaesthesia WA. A separate Anaesthesia WA CME Committee has now been formed. Members include me as ANZCA WA CME Officer, Dr Prani Shrivastava-ASA CME Officer, Dr David Vyse- Industry Liaison, Dr Sarah Wyatt- Bunker Bay Convenor, Dr Sai Fong-Chair ASA WA, Dr David Wright-Deputy Chair ANZCA WA and Dr Dan Durack-ASA Trainee Rep.

Annual Winter Scientific Meeting

On Saturday 30 June 2007 the Western Australian Regional Committee hosted the Winter Scientific Meeting at the University Club of WA.  The main theme of the meeting was a Resuscitation Update. The meeting was a great success with around 80 people registering for the meeting.

This Scientific Meeting was the first of the 2007-2009 Winter Scientific Meeting Lectureship named in honour of our esteemed colleague Dr Nerida Dilworth. The Dr Nerida Dilworth Lecturer for 2007 was Associate Professor Ian Jacobs, Head of Emergency Medicine at the University of Western Australia. Associate Professor Jacobs delivered the keynote address entitled “Resuscitation Guidelines: The Science Revisited”. The presentation outlined the evidence evaluation process, the science which underpinned the resuscitation guideline changes and highlighted the controversies. He also gave an informative presentation on the research directions currently being undertaken in the area of resuscitation.

2007 ASM Foundation Visitor’s Visit to WA

Following the ASM in Melbourne, the 2007 Foundation Visitor Professor Bruce Spiess visited WA as part of his regional visit from 29 May to 1 June. On 30 May Professor Spiess visited the Submarine Escape Training Facility at the Royal Australian Naval Base HMAS Stirling, followed by a visit to the Department of Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine at Fremantle Hospital. On the evening of 30 May Professor Spiess gave an informative presentation to WA Fellows and Trainees entitled “The Future of Perfluorocarbon Blood Substitutes: Brains, Hearts and Submarines.

Thanks need to be extended to Dr David Wright, the previous CME Officer for organising the above events.

Future CME

The Annual Autumn Scientific Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, 29 March 2007 at the University club of WA. The theme of the meeting will be Education, Communication and Risk Management. Professor Teik Oh will explain the new Continuing Professional Development Program, Professor Michael Paech will give a talk on appraising clinical trial research/meta analysis and Dr Sai Fong will speak about the effective use of electronic literature. Other presentations will include risk disclosure, cardiac CT and Communication during a critical incident.

The 2008 Bunker Bay Updates will not be held until the weekend of 31 October to 2 November at the Quay West Resort, Bunker Bay. The theme of this meeting is “Achieving Dreams and Avoiding Nightmares”. The programme will included Dr Peter Hebbard as the invited speaker who will speak about Ultrasound and Anaesthesia. Ultrasound Workshops have also been planned along with avoidance of nightmares-selection of cases suitable for non-tertiary referral centres and achieving your dreams- gadgets and toys.

Dr Alison Corbett, CME Officer, Western Australian Regional Committee