Welcome to the 18th Annual Meeting of the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia held in Las Vegas, NV. This year's program is based on membership feedback and evaluations from our recent meetings. We are pleased to present the 2004 program and are thankful for the participation of our membership in helping select important, timely and interesting topics. The lecture series will include sessions on basic science and clinically oriented aspects of genomics and pharma-cogenetics. Specific lectures include an overall introduction to the field, as well as current and upcoming applications to pain, sepsis, inflamation, and coagulation, as well as drug and therapy development. There will be two pro-con discussions covering the issues of anesthesia for patients with neuromuscular disease and the use of LMA's versus intubation for patients with URI's. The afternoon sessions include a series of lectures devoted to the new lifelong learning requirements in anesthesiology, improving practice efficiency and productivity, and new models of quality improvement applicable to pediatric anesthesia. The final session will be an enjoyable discussion about "Beating the Odds". We hope you will enjoy the meeting and look forward to your participation in this year's SPA program.
Maurice S. Zwass, MD
Program Chair
A Genomics Primer
Following this session, the attendee will have become familiar with and better understand the science, objectives, methods, and terminology related to clinical genomics.
Pharmacogenetics - The Future is NOW!
Following this session, the attendee will understand fundamental principles of pharmacogenetics and their increasing role in drug development and drug delivery.
Genetics of Pain
Following this session, the attendee will understand genetic influences on acute and chronic pain syndromes and how they affect response to therapies.
Genetics, Sepsis, Inflammation and Coagulation
Following this session, the attendee will understand genetic risk factors in septic, inflammatory (e.g. cardiopulmonary bypass), and hypercoagulable states, and how they can be used to optimize therapy.
Pro-Con: Anesthesia and the Patient with Neuromuscular Disease
Following this session, the attendee will better appreciate significant anesthetic issues in patients with neuromuscular diseases.
Pro-Con: LMA vs ETT for the Patient with a URI
Following this session, the attendee will better understand the airway issues and airway options for anesthetic management of children who need to undergo surgery with symptoms of URI.
Lifelong Learning: Educating Yourself and Others
Following this session, the attendee will have a better awareness of the upcoming requirements and guidelines for lifelong learning in anesthesiology and how to satisfy them.
Improving Throughput/ Business, Systems Models
Following this session, the attendee will have a better understanding of techniques that businesses employ to measure and improve efficiency, and be able to describe techniques that an anesthesia department might use to optimize efficiency and quality of care in the perioperative environment.
Quality Improvement-The VA Model: What's Important for Pediatric Anesthesia
Following this session, the attendee will be able to describe models for a Quality Improvement program that have been very successful in the VA system and how a similar model may have potential application for anesthesia departments.
Beating the Odds
Following this session, the attendee have a better understanding of how some of the games in casinos work and be better able to apply this understanding for their own entertainment and enjoyment
The Annual Meeting will focus on several areas of pediatric anesthesia and healthcare delivery. The overall goals for attendees of this program are to enhance their existing fund of knowledge and introduce them to new state-of-the-art issues that may affect their practice, thereby increasing their ability to provide the highest possible quality of care.
The program is intended for anesthesiologists and other practitioners who care for children in their practice of anesthesiology and/or critical care medicine. It is also intended for clinical and basic science researchers whose areas of investigation relate to pediatric anesthesia/critical care, as well as physicians and healthcare providers interested in learning more about the practice of pediatric anesthesia.
The Society for Pediatric Anesthesia is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
The Society for Pediatric Anesthesia designates this continuing medical education activity for a maximum of 7 credits in Category 1 credit towards the AMA Physician's Recognition Award. Each physician should claim only those credits that he/she actually spent in the educational activity.
Responses to previous SPA Annual Meeting Programs have been very positive. We recommend that you confirm your registration as early as possible. Early registration deadline is September 2, 2004.