The College of Intensive Care Medicine Annual Scientific Meeting (CICM ASM) has evolved from a continuing education seminar into a world-class scientific conference attracting renowned national and international speakers and intensive care specialists, senior trainees, and others who care for critically ill patients. Brisbane in 2014 will see the next step in this evolution, with, for the first time, concurrent clinical and non-clinical sessions, debates and “hypotheticals”, a paediatric track involving both clinical simulation and lectures, moderated research poster presentations, and sessions focussed specifically at senior trainees.
The theme of the 2014 Brisbane CICM ASM is “Intensive Care: It’s a Risky Business. Making decisions when there are no right answers”. Intensivists have a unique perspective on risk, managing many of the hospital’s patients whose treatments have not gone as planned, and monitoring patients at high risk of complications. Intensivists take daily responsibility for minimising risk using available resources. The ASM will identify decision points in clinical practice with no clear risk-free solution and outline how the risks of a complex ICU, including staff turnover and inexperience, legal risks, and the organisational risk of having two groups of clinicians feel they are in charge of a particular patient, can be mitigated. The goal will be to build consensus on how to practice in a risk-averse but overambitious healthcare system.
