SPA Annual Meeting Reviews
SPA Session II Review
By Connie Monitto, MD
Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine
Johns Hopkins University
John Fiadjoe, MD, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, kicked off the second session of the morning with a talk titled “Presenting for Impact - Winning the Attention War.” In his highly entertaining presentation, Dr. Fiadjoe gave a talk about how to give a talk. Starting with an anecdote about virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell, Dr. Fiadjoe advised his audience that it is important to know your material, but that knowledge is not enough. He informed the audience about the importance of impactful presentations. These presentations allow speakers to educate their audiences in an engaging fashion and may help them accomplish things they are interested in achieving at an accelerated pace.
Engaging presentations are also important because in this era of social media it can be challenging to maintain audience members’ attention because of distractions such as their ubiquitous cellular devices. Focusing on what captures an audience’s attention, Dr. Fiadjoe suggested that emotional appeals can be powerful, positing that we make emotional decisions which we then justify with logic. He also discussed the power of visual images over text to increase engagement. An additional suggestion was that people understand concepts better if they are presented in groups of threes, with the corollary that there should be no more than three objectives or bullet points on a slide.
While presentations are often formulated to tell a story, Dr. Fiadjoe suggested that this is not necessary. Alternatively, if you can create a relationship or relate something you do not know to something you do, this will help your audience understand your point. He next discussed the power of using analogies to solve problems, citing examples including cleaning up the oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster and the development of the Glidescope.
Dr. Fiadjoe recommended a number of books which have helped him organize his own thinking, including “Deep Work” by Cal Newport and “How to Think like Leonardo da Vinci” by Michael J. Gelb. He also discussed the role of “mind mapping” (mindvectorweb.com) in helping him organize presentations. In terms of polishing a presentation he informed audience members where they can find pictures to help create their presentations and advised future speakers to rehearse their presentations on a test audience and even record them in order to hone them. In closing, Dr. Fiadjoe discussed rules, but suggested to his audience that they should challenge the rules and expectations of their audiences, at times breaking rules to leverage their strengths – advice he took to heart in his own presentation.
Linda J. Mason MD, Professor of Pediatric Anesthesia at Loma Linda University, gave SPA members a final presentation as outgoing ASA president. Summarizing the activities of a busy year, Dr. Mason touched on numerous issues that she and the ASA have worked on. These included efforts to preserve physician-led care and to provide a leading voice in the ongoing opioid crisis. She also discussed the ASA’s government advocacy regarding opt-out legislation in various states and surprise medical billing legislation at the national level. She discussed efforts to improve care for our patients. including the ASA’s brain health initiative and statements regarding pediatric dental sedation. She further discussed efforts to assist trainees (including resident physicians) with debt relief. Finally, Dr. Mason emphasized the ASA’s efforts to work with its pediatric anesthesiology subspecialty partner, explaining that over 80% of SPA members are also ASA members and touching on the many educational pediatric sessions at the annual ASA meeting.
The session concluded with the presentation of the SPA Myron Yaster Lifetime Achievement Award to George Gregory, MD, Professor Emeritus at the University of California at San Francisco. Dr. Gregory was introduced by two of his mentees, Drs. Dean Andropoulos and Christine Greco. Dr. Andropoulous, who first met Dr. Gregory when he was a medical student in the newborn nursery at UCSF, provided a brief history of Dr. Gregory’s notable medical career, focusing on four seminal papers written by Dr. Gregory starting in the late 1960s. These included the first paper to relate MAC to age, based on research he performed as a resident. The remaining papers focused on preterm and former premature infants and included a paper describing the use of the CPAP to treat idiopathic respiratory distress syndrome in preterm infants, the first description of the use of a fentanyl/air/oxygen anesthetic to safely perform PDA ligations in preterm infants, and a description of life-threatening perioperative apnea in former premature infants following surgery. Beyond his groundbreaking research, Dr. Gregory also contributed to the field of pediatric anesthesia by editing the textbook “Pediatric Anesthesia” as well as “Anesthesia Care of Pediatric Patients in Developing Countries,” a free online textbook which has now been downloaded over 350,000 times.
After receiving a ceremonial lei, Dr. Gregory addressed the audience. In his speech he focused on his 30-year passion for providing anesthesia and anesthesia education in low- and middle-income countries. Dr. Gregory discussed what he felt he had provided, including education that was geared toward what local physicians wanted to learn. He also discussed what he had learned from them, including how to provide anesthesia without all the “bells and whistles” we take for granted. He emphasized the importance of returning to the same place repeatedly to provide follow-up and build relationships. In closing, Dr. Gregory suggested to the audience that all of them could become involved in this important work, which provides a great opportunity during retirement to allow anesthesiologists to cut back while still utilizing their knowledge and experience.
