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SICS HistoryHome |
History of SICSThe BeginingThe Scottish Intensive Care Society was founded in Perth in January 1991 by intensive care clinicians from all four Scottish cities, to co-ordinate and represent the specialty of intensive care in Scotland. Its specific aims were to promote educational, research and audit activities. Before 1991 a West of Scotland intensive care group existed and organised evening clinical meetings which were attended by intensivists, many from outwith the West of Scotland area, but otherwise educational meetings with an intensive care content were few and far between. In January 1988, Dr. Alf Shearer on behalf of the Dundee ICU organised the first "Scottish Intensive Care Meeting" at the Station Hotel, Perth. This had a theme of infection in the ICU. Further meetings followed in January 1989 (oxygen transport) 1990 (acute renal failure) and 1991 (nutrition). Preliminary discussions held during 1990 led to the setting up of a steering group and the SICS was formed at the end of the 1991 Scottish Intensive Care Meeting. The Society’s constitution provided for a Council based on geographical representation of three regions (East, West and North), and for our first President the society was delighted to have Dr. A.B.M. Telfer of Glasgow Royal Infirmary who, of course, had already been President of the UK Intensive Care Society. His prestige and enthusiasm were instrumental in getting the Society off to a powerful start. Annual Scientific MeetingThe Annual Scientific Meetings soon developed into whole-day meetings with practical workshops, a plenary session, a poster display and a large trade exhibition. In 1992 the society welcomed Professor Konrad Falke from Berlin as the first of a number of notable overseas speakers, addressing the society on the use of inhaled nitric oxide in ARDS. In 1994, the expansion of the meeting led to a move to the University of Stirling campus where it has stayed since. Speakers have included Professors Slutsky, Cohen, Ramsey, Gattinoni, Bartlett, Vincent and many more. In addition to the society’s own scientific meetings, SICS has collaborated in joint meetings with other societies. The Intensive Care Society of Ireland hosted an extremely successful joint meeting with SICS in Belfast in June 1998 while we welcomed the Intensive Care Society to Edinburgh in May 1999 for its first ever Spring meeting in Scotland. AuditThe society’s second major of activity has been in audit of intensive care practice in Scotland. Following the award of a grant of £200,000 by the Clinical Research and Audit Group of the Scottish Office Home & Health Department, the SICS Audit Project got under way in 1995. This project established a structured system for the collection of ICU clinical data comprehensively throughout Scotland. It has also facilitated the assessment of the relative merits of a variety of severity of illness scoring systems and their ability to predict outcome. The Audit Group has gone on to examine a number of more specific clinical questions, including the influence of Glasgow Coma Score on the accuracy of APACHE based outcome prediction, the influence of the Swan-Ganz catheter on outcome in the critically ill, the outcome of long stay ICU patients, and the outcome of patients with combined acute respiratory and renal failure. The Audit Project has also spawned the Annual Audit meeting, as well as the recent foundation of a Clinical Trials Group which aims to use the SICS data collection system to facilitate multi-centre research projects. An observational study on ARDS is being carried out at the present time. TrainingOur third major activity has been in the training of our intensivists of the future. Autumn 1996 saw the first Intensive Care Medicine Course run by the society at the Lister Institute in Edinburgh. Two further courses, one each in Glasgow and Edinburgh, followed in 1997 while Aberdeen hosted a course in 1998. This series continues with further courses in Edinburgh and Glasgow in 1999. In conjunction with the Scottish Ambulance Service, SICS is also involved in providing practical training for doctors, nurses and others involved in the transport of the critically ill patient. These "TRIPS" courses which are held in Glasgow, Aberdeen and at the Scottish Ambulance College near Edinburgh have been well received. Representing Intensive CareLastly, the advent of the Scottish Parliament with the responsibility for management of the NHS in Scotland has greatly increased the responsibility of the society for representing intensive care to government. Intensive care throughout the UK is relatively under-resourced in comparison with the rest of the developed world; Scotland is no exception to this. SICS has established good lines of communication with the Scottish Office, now Executive, and has provided advice on a number of clinical areas related to intensive care. Our accurate database of ICU activity has put the society and its members in a strong position to negotiate with Health Boards and Trusts, and indeed SICS audit data may well have contributed to the provision of additional ICU beds in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. |
Presidents of SICS2010- date S Stott Honorary Secretaries2009- date R Bloomfield Treasurers2009- date R Mackenzie Hon Secretaries/Treasurers1997-2000 N.P. Leary
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