RCNCriticalCareForum

RCN Critical Care Nursing Forum AnnualConference 20th–21st June 2003:The Changing Face of Critical Care

ANNOUNCEMENT

This year’s conference was an outstandingsuccess with more than 200 enthusiasticdelegates in attendance. Both the plenary andconcurrent sessions highlighted keys issuesaffecting critical care practitioners and indeedgave some food for thought regarding futurechallenges within this sphere of nursing. Theimportance of critical care to members and theneed to keep abreast of developments isreflected in the fact that the conference isgrowing on an annual basis.The Department of Health’s chief nursing

officer, Sarah Mullally opened the conferencewith her presentation on Agenda for Change.She outlined how the skills knowledgeframework would relate to future careerpathways in critical care. She emphasized theimportant role of critical care nurses in theexpanding health care team and outlined howadvanced critical care practitioners couldoptimize the nursing contribution to caring forthe critically ill.Sarah continued by saying, ‘Keeping the

patients needs at the heart of what we aredoing is leading to a blurring of roles of healthcare professionals and recent Critical CareNetworks clearly demonstrated this’, as sheoutlined the implications of the organizationof clinical teams in the future to deliver criticalcare services across different settings. (Seewww.rcn.org.uk/agendaforchange website fordetails on Agenda for Change.)Julia Galley, Lead Nurse for ITU in

Southampton, presented the RCN Critical CareNursing Forums ‘Nurse Staffing in CriticalCare’ document. Julia’s presentation explored

key factors affecting staffing and highlightedthe limitations of fixed nurse/patient ratios.(See www.rcn.org.uk for document details.)Fran Woodward, National Lead for Allied

Health Professionals (AHP) and Health CareScientists, concluded the first day of theconference. Fran discussed the current andfuture role of the AHP and emphasized theimportance of understanding the complexitiesof these professions and how working togetherensures seamless high quality care for patients.Future developments and how nurses can

contribute was the theme of Adult CriticalCare Policy Manager at the DOH, KeithYoung’s contribution. Keith explained ongoingstrategies and how they relate to the reformingemergency care agenda and identified thatprimary care trusts will be commissioningservices and the Networks should be involvedin configuring them.After last year’s conference delegates

excellent evaluation of Christobel Hargravesfrom NCEPOD presentation, she was invitedback to outline the role of the organization andreport some of the findings from recent studiesincluding the medical patients admitted tocritical care.Dr. Sarah Smith, Research Fellow of London

School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine,presented the rationale for the SOPRAevaluation and described how thepsychometric methods would be used in thisprocess and presented preliminary resultsfrom the literature review.On a more clinical floor related presentation

and rounding up the conference, committee

324 Intensive and Critical Care Nursing (2 0 0 3) 19, 3 2 4–3 2 5

doi:10.1016/j.iccn.2003.10.002

RCNCriticalCareForum

The changing face of critical care

member Lindsay Stewart and senior nursemanager Christine Ward both from SalfordRoyal Hospitals, gave a thought provokingpresentation on the emergency evacuation oftheir ICU following the loss of all electricalpower. Delegates were given useful tips onhow to equip their units for this potentialevent. They also left the conference delegatesreflecting on their own provisions for such anevent.Details of the next conference/call for

abstracts, which is 4th–5th June 2004 and willbe held in Newcastle United Football Club, StJames’ Park, Newcastle Upon Tyne can befound within this issue of the journal.

Intensive and Critical CareNursing AwardsWell-deserved congratulations went to thewinners of the new Elsevier sponsoredIntensive and Critical Care Nursing Awardslaunched at this year’s conference. Elseviersponsored three awards in what will become aregular feature of our annual conferences.The Best Concurrent Presentation award of

£300 went to Helen Gyves, Lead ProfessionalNurse, University Hospital Birmingham forher ‘Critical Care Information & PrescribingSystem (CCIPS)’.An annual subscription to Intensive and

Critical Care Nursing for Best First-TimeConcurrent Presenter went to Joyce Wells,Education Facilitator Critical Care Services and

Emma Garnish NIV Project Nurse, CriticalCare Services, Colchester District GeneralHospital for their presentation ‘Non-invasiveTherapy in a district general hospital’.The Best Poster Presentation award of £200

went to Susan McNarry, SuperintendentPhysiotherapist, Rebecca Pulford, VictoriaWhiting and Gaynor Wright from ICU WestSuffolk Hospital for their ‘Moving towardsimproved quality of life: reducing immobilityfor the ICU patient’.

Would you like to be a member ofthe Critical Care Forum?If you would like to become a member of theForum and provided you are a member of theRCN, you can phone 0845-7726100 andregister. This membership would entitle you to2/3 newsletters per year to inform themembers of the Steering group’s ongoing workand new developments within the Critical Careenvironment. The newsletter also containsinformation on the steering committee’scontact details and future steering committeemeeting dates. Flyers for the Forumsnational/annual conference will also bemail-shot to your registered address. Membersare also entitled to a 30% discount to theIntensive and Critical Care Nursing journal.Should you require any further information onthe forums activities then please contact:Margaret.Connolly@NorthGlasgow.Scot.NHS.UK.

Intensive and Critical Care Nursing (2 0 0 3) 19, 3 2 4–3 2 5 325