Critical Care Crossing Oceans
Establishing a link between health care institutions in
the UK and institutions in the developing world is becoming increasingly recognised
as an effective way of promoting global health care.
There are several benefits to establishing such international links:
- Exchange of skills and expertise
- Increase global awareness
- Development of sustainable partnerships to tackle health inequalities
- Cross cultural friendships
- Personal development and gaining a new perspective on life and work
- Grassroots involvement of staff in international developmental issues
During the BACCN “Coming of Age: A Celebration of Critical Care” conference in September 2006 I met a fellow South African, a lecturer practitioner in Critical Care form Stellenbosch University.
Apart from catching up on news form home and a discussion about the differences and in many ways the similarities in nursing between the UK and SA, we started talking about the recent changes in critical care practice that had been happening in the UK since 2000. It was interesting to note those initiatives like Critical Care Outreach and the development of track and trigger systems were also being considered in SA. The international Surviving Sepsis Campaign was also discussed in detail.
As a former South African critical care nurse myself I knew what a challenge these issues will present, and realised that it is not dissimilar to the challenges I faced as a critical care outreach nurse in the UK.
Thanks to the wonderful contribution that the BACCN made in the form of a conference award I was able to attend the Critical Care Society of Southern Africa in association with the World Federation of Critical Care Nurses, South African Burn Society and the Trauma Society of South Africa’s “Critical Care, Critical Times” Congress in Sun City, South Africa during August 2007.
I was fortunate enough to present an oral paper on “Surviving Sepsis: promoting practice guidelines outside of ICU” and a poster presentation regarding the work of the Critical Care Outreach team at the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.
As both subjects cover universal problems being faced by all critical care services in some form or the other I felt that by sharing our experience in developing a Critical Care Outreach service and increasing awareness and compliance with the SSC guidelines I might have made a small contribution to the care of critically ill patients in South Africa.
The congress covered a wide range of topical subjects with a whole host of international speakers from all over the world. Some of the topics for discussion were:
- Current perspectives in ARDS by Prof M. Amato from (South America)
- Care Bundles in Critical Care by P. Fulbrook (Australia)
- Multi organ failure in ICU by M. Singer (UK)
- Surviving Sepsis current update & the mechanisms and management of sepsis
The congress was packed with some very interesting and enlightening sessions throughout the 3 and half days.
And what a privilege it was to have attended
a conference in such a splendid environment like Sun City in the Pilansberg
region of sunny South Africa.
The philosophy of Critical Care Outreach in the UK through “Critical Care without walls” has always been to share critical care skills and knowledge with the aim to improve the provision of critical care and through best practice tries to reduce the overall cost whilst improving the management of critically ill patients outside of intensive care.
Through this conference I was able to share my experiences as a Critical Care Outreach nurse in the UK with some my colleague’s in South Africa and built on the international links that was formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in 2006.
