Newsletter November 2012
Dear Members and interested Readers of the IATSIC Newsletter,
The vacation period is over but since the many people involved in preparing for the International Surgical Week ISW 2013, August 25-29, 2013, in Helsinki did not spend the whole summer sprawled on the beach or scampering up mountains, we are on or ahead of schedule in planning a terrific meeting in the Far North just a year from now.
Most especially, the Program Committee under the leadership of Charles Mock, together with the Executive Committee and with assistance of Council members, now has put together a very concrete program. As mentioned in the last newsletter, the main focus of IATSIC still be on trauma and surgical critical care, but the Helsinki meeting will provide more emphasis on acute care surgery, in accordance with the recognized trend toward this new field that covers emergency surgery with and without trauma. There are three main sessions devoted to acute care ("Peritonitis and GI bleeding," "Acute care surgical techniques for abdominal emergencies," "Bleeding and perforation") as well as main sessions that cover both acute care and trauma surgery topics (e.g. "Most difficult problems on call," "Critically ill or injured obese patient"). And, as promised, nutrition will receive more attention than in the past with such interesting presentations as "The rationale for feeding obese patients in the ICU," and "Nutrition in the trauma patient."
Besides providing cutting-edge specific new information, international meetings should provide a wide perspective on matters of current global interest. To that end, there will be a main session on "Trauma systems development: How to affect public policy" with round-the-world representation, as well as on "Education - Training models in different countries."
These are only a few highlights. As always, there will be handpicked free papers and posters, with prizes for the very best ones. To increase the suspense, we are still keeping mum as to who will present the Trunkey Trauma Lecture: come and be surprised!
With the help of Congress President Ari Leppaniemi and Tina Gaarder, IATSIC is organizing a DSTC™ course prior to ISW to give interested Congress attendees the chance to attend this now classic course in trauma management. Life-threatening surgical conditions are discussed in a decision making matrix and hands-on surgical expertise is obtained through work at skill stations with both cadavers and live anesthetized animals.
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 DSTC, hands-on training
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We will also have the good fortune to offer a pre-Congress course in Medical Response to Major Incidents (MRMI) under the direction of Sten Lennquist. The course is based on an advanced simulation model training the whole chain of response: scene, transport, hospitals, coordination & command, also including training in triage and individual patient management.
The ISW 2013 should, however, allow not only scientific interactions but also provide an attractive social program during the week to encourage personal contact and exchange of ideas. The photograph from the Yokohama Congress shows how lively and congenial the traditional IATSIC dinner was. We hope that the dinner in Helsinki will be just as popular.
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 IATSIC dinner during the ISW 2011 in Yokohama
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As you see, plans for IATSIC 2013 in Helsinki have really firmed up, but over the course of the coming year you will receive regular updates here and on the Congress homepage www.isw2013.org.
If you have not yet done so, be sure to save the week of August 25-29, 2013, and book your flights to Helsinki timely to get a good price for your tickets. I'm already looking forward to seeing you there.
On another, but related front: Charles Mock, our Program Chairman and IATSIC President-elect has provided an interesting report on the recent work of IATSIC's Committee on Essential Trauma Care (see below). Be sure to read this valuable information and check out the links to the Websites he mentions.
"IATSIC's Committee on Essential Trauma Care has worked closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners to promote a minimum, effective level of resources for trauma care globally, even in the poorest countries. IATSIC and WHO have co-produced two publications for this purpose: Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care (2004) and Guidelines for Trauma Quality Improvement Programmes (2009), both of which have been used in many countries globally.
In an effort to further promulgate the recommendations in these publications, IATSIC and WHO have gone on to create a set of instructional materials for two separate short (2 - 3 day) courses: one on trauma quality improvement and the other on trauma system planning. These instructional materials, including PowerPoints, handouts, and facilitator's guide are freely available on the WHO website to whomever might want to use them. http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/capacitybuilding/courses/en/index.html
During the past year, IATSIC members, WHO staff, and others have used these materials to conduct courses on QI and/or trauma system planning in: Kenya (by WHO); Liberia (through the West African College of Surgeons); Paraguay and Brazil (through the PanAmerican Trauma Society); Malaysia (through the Asia Pacific Trauma Quality Improvement Network - APTQIN); and Thailand (through APTQIN and the Royal College of Surgeons of Thailand). Members of the Committee for Essential Trauma Care are available to assist any IATSIC member who might want to use these materials in their own work. Those interested should contact Charles Mock (cmock@uw.edu).
In order to more effectively advocate for improvements in trauma care, IATSIC, the International Society of Surgery, WHO, and other partners have founded the Global Alliance for Care of the Injured. This Global Alliance seeks to increase the political priority given to trauma care by international organizations, donors, and especially country governments. Further information on the development of this Global Alliance can be found at: http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/18/1/69.full.pdf+html
In addition to its work in advocacy, the Global Alliance has created working groups for several technical projects. One of these (Project Group for Trauma System Development) is setting out to develop a tool and related process for evaluation of national and provincial/state trauma systems, in order to identify potential low-cost improvements that could subsequently be implemented by country governments. This project is seeking to adapt to the circumstances and realities of low- and middle-income countries, materials and processes already developed by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Trauma System Evaluation and Planning Committee (TSEPC). Partners on this Project Group include: IATSIC, WHO, ACS's TSEPC, the Asia Pacific Trauma Quality Improvement Network, and the PanAmerican Trauma Society."
I am truly impressed by the work that is being done by these organizations to improve trauma care for the less materially advantaged throughout the world and I am proud that IATSIC, with Charles Mock as leading representative of our association, is importantly involved in it.
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 Selman Uranues
President IATSIC
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