ANZCA Bulletin 2007 Dec - Australian and New Zealand College of ...

THE ANZCA BULLETIN EDITORIAL 

Sub-editor: Loueze Harper 

Design: Italic Studio 

The ANZCA Bulletin is published four 

times per year by the The Australian and 

New Zealand College of Anaesthetists 

630 St Kilda Road 

Melbourne Victoria 3004 

Telephone + 613 9510 6299 

Facsimile + 613 9510 6786 

ceoanzca@anzca.edu.au 

www.anzca.edu.au 

Copyright © 2007 by the Australian 

and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, 

all rights reserved. None of the contents 

of this publication may be reproduced, 

stored in a retrieval system or transmitted 

in any form, by any means without the 

prior written permission of the publisher. 

JFICM 

Telephone 613 9530 2862 

jficm@anzca.edu.au 

FPM 

Telephone 613 8517 5337 

painmed@anzca.edu.au 

Regional and New Zealand 

Committee officers can 

be contacted via email as follows: 

ACT: act@anzca.edu.au 

NSW: nsw@anzca.edu.au 

NZ: anzca@anzca.org.nz 

QLD: qld@anzca.edu.au 

SA: sa@anzca.edu.au 

TAS: tas@anzca.edu.au 

VIC: vic@anzca.edu.au 

WA: wa@anzca.edu.au 

‘To serve the community by 

fostering safety and quality patient 

care in anaesthesia, intensive 

care and pain medicine’ 

CONTENTS 

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 2 

Dr Walter Thompson 

ANZCA FOUNDATION DONATIONS 6 

ADULT RETRIEVAL MOVES TO MAS 8 

EXAM DATES 2008 9 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 10 

OBITUARIES 14 & 38 

SERIES ON PAST DEANS AND PRESIDENTS 16 

EXAMINATION RESULTS 18 

GRANTS 24 

CLINICAL ETHICS RESOURCE 30 

Prof Paul Komesaroff 

SIG MEETING 32 

JFICM DEAN’S MESSAGE 52 

Dr Richard Lee 

POLICY DOCUMENTS 55 

BOARD MEMBERS 56 

EXAM DATES 2008 57 

FPM DEAN’S MESSAGE 58 

Dr Roger Goucke 

BOARD HIGHLIGHTS 60 

2007 SPRING MEETING 62 

FPM PROFESSIONAL DOCUMENTS LIST 65 

FUTURE MEETINGS 

Australia and New Zealand 66 

Overseas 69 

ANZCA PROFESSIONAL DOCUMENTS 72 

WEBSITE UPDATE 34 

ANZCA ASM 2008 36 

Dr David Elliot 

COLLEGE LIBRARY REPORT 40 

QUALITY & SAFETY REPORT ON STANDARDS 42 

Alan Merry and Patricia McKay 

CAN’T INTUBATE, CAN’T VENTILATE 44 

PERIPHERAL NERVE & PLEXUS BLOCKADE 45 

THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND COLLEGE OF ANAESTHETISTS

President’s message 

2007 

DR WALTER THOMPSON 

The College and the Council have 

been very active in 2007. In addition 

to rebuilding the core infrastructure 

in information technology and finance, 

we have: 

• Conducted the largest examinations in the 

College’s history 

• Introduced a modernised program of 

Continuous Professional Development 

• Completed the Professional Code 

of Conduct 

• Reviewed the College Constitution 

• Built staff capability in Government & Media 

Relations, Policy and Communication 

• Introduced a Policy on Intellectual Property 

• Introduced a Trainee Performance 

Review Process 

• Reviewed the ‘sedation documents’ 

• Commenced a curriculum review of the 

Training Program 

• Progressed ANZTADC, the tripartite 

anaesthesia data collection project in 

relation to incidents and safety, to the stage 

where the feasibility work can begin. 

This month we have commenced a staged 

roll-out of the new ANZCA website, which 

will be faster and more effective than the 

previous website and incorporates enhanced 

features and functionality that will be of 

benefit to Fellows and Trainees. I encourage 

you to visit the site and to feed back your 

comments to the College. 

Research Grants and Awards 

This year, 30 applications were received, 

requesting $1,393,004 for research projects 

and research fellowships. In October, 

following review by and recommendations 

from the Research Committee, the College 

Council agreed that $512,641 be allocated 

for research projects in 2008. In addition, 

$35,000 was made available for Simulation 

and Education Grants in 2008. The 2007 

Academic Enhancement Grant was awarded 

to Professor Alan Merry of the University 

of Auckland. 

Review of the College Constitution 

The Constitution that the College adopted 

in 1991 was modelled on the Constitution 

of the College of Surgeons and reflected the 

legal requirements of the time. Since that 

time ANZCA has operated under the law 

as a company limited by guarantee. 

However, given the changes in the interim 

to corporate law, the procedural and 

administrative changes within the College 

plus changes in technology, it was timely to 

review the Constitution after 16 years. The 

principles underpinning the review were: 

• To simplify and modernise language 

and content 

• To reflect current legal requirements 

• To transfer many powers and functions 

to Regulations 

‘This month we have commenced 

a staged roll-out of the new 

ANZCA website, which will 

be faster and more effective 

than the previous website and 

incorporates enhanced features 

and functionality that will be of 

benefit to Fellows and Trainees.’ 

• Not to unnecessarily change the 

governance of ANZCA 

• To support and enhance the operations 

of Council, Faculties and Committees. 

The review has been completed and the 

Council believes that the adoption of the 

proposed constitution is in the best interests 

of the College. A postal ballot is in the 

process of being conducted in order to effect 

the change to the new constitution. 

Explanatory documents have been circulated 

and copies of the new constitution are 

available on the website or in hard copy 

on request from the College. I urge you to 

read and consider the documents and to 

exercise your vote before the closing date 

of Tuesday 11 December. 

2 

THE ANZCA BULLETIN DECEMBER ISSUE 2007

Australian Anaesthesia Workforce Study 

I mentioned this in the October ‘Bulletin’ so 

I will just take this opportunity to remind 

Fellows of this study which is being 

conducted by Access Economics on behalf of 

the College and the Australian Society of 

Anaesthetists (ASA). It is an important study 

and both bodies hope that it will generate a 

lot of specific and useful information in 

relation to the anaesthesia workforce. 

Statistics may not necessarily be power but 

they are certainly a currency that bureaucrats 

understand and, as such, are essential in 

dealings with governments. I trust that all 

the Fellows who are or have been surveyed 

will fill in and return the surveys and thereby 

assist both the College and the ASA. 

Director of Professional Affairs (DPA) 

As noted in the Report from the June 

Council Meeting, the Council supported the 

appointment of a part-time DPA to 

undertake primarily the Assessor Role and 

to have responsibility for reviewing and 

updating Regulations. The position was 

advertised and on completion of the 

selection process the Council appointed 

Dr Steuart Henderson of New Zealand 

to the position. Dr Henderson is a past 

ANZCA Councillor and previously held the 

Assessor position in addition to making 

extensive contributions to continuing 

education and the assessment processes of 

the College. We welcome him to this new 

role and look forward to his contributions. 

Director of Education 

The College is pleased to announce the 

appointment of Ms Mary Lawson as 

Director of Education. Mary will be joining 

the College in the New Year and comes 

from a senior tenured position in Medical 

Education at Monash University. She has 

had extensive experience in medical 

education for both undergraduates and 

postgraduates over the last 16 years with 

an emphasis on the professional 

development of clinicians as educators. 

We welcome her to the College and 

look forward to her contributions to 

education development within the College 

and in particular her input into the 

review of the training program and the 

assessment processes. 

Australian and New Zealand Tripartite 

Anaesthesia Data Collection (ANZTADC) 

The ANZTADC Committee has completed 

an overview of the legislative frameworks in 

Australia and New Zealand that are relevant 

to: (1) anonymous data collection, (2) 

incident reporting and (3) privacy of patient 

information. The tripartite data collection 

project has progressed to the stage where 

extensive feasibility work and testing will be 

undertaken and a part-time Medical 

Director has been appointed. We welcome 

Dr Martin Culwick of Queensland to the 

project and look forward to his 

contributions. Dr Culwick has extensive 

IT and administrative experience and a 

long standing interest in education, quality 

and safety. 

Professor G A (Don) Harrison AM, 

FANZCA, FJFICM, MHP Ed. 

Fellows will be saddened to hear of the 

death of Professor Don Harrison in Sydney 

on October 10th. Don was a well known 

anaesthetist and a pioneering intensivist in 

Sydney, a true gentleman and a mentor to 

many colleagues. He was a Conjoint 

Professor (Anaesthesia, Intensive Care 

and Emergency Medicine) at the University 

of New South Wales and Director of 

the Cardiothoracic Critical Care Unit at 

St Vincent’s Hospital amongst other 

appointments. He had been at the 

forefront of developments and research 

in Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and 

Resuscitation within Australia since the 

1960s and, despite his retirement and 

illness, had remained actively involved in 

medical education, simulation and research 

up until his death. His current research 

interests were centred on improving the 

prediction and management of medical 

emergencies in hospitals. 

Professor Harrison served on the Board 

of the Faculty of Anaesthetists RACS and was 

the Chair of Examinations. He also helped 

develop and refine the examinations of the 

Faculty of Intensive Care and the G A (Don) 

Harrison Medal for the final intensive care 

exam is named in his honour. Don was the 

first Lennard Travers Professor of the Faculty 

of Anaesthetists RACS and was also the 

recipient of the Orton Medal. He was also 

a Chair of the Resuscitation Council of 

Australia and he was admitted to the Order 

of Australia in 1992. I was privileged to 

attend and speak at a Memorial Service for 

him on October 24th and was able to pass 

on the condolences of Fellows to his wife 

Suzanne and their family. 

Intergovernmental Agreement 

In my message in the October ‘Bulletin’, 

I referred to the uncertain status of the 

proposed Intergovernmental Agreement 

(IGA) in Australia in relation to the 

proposals for National Registration and 

Accreditation and the concerns that were 

developing regarding the proposed model 

that was said to be in the IGA. The concerns 

proved to be well founded, as the proposed 

model would have eroded the integrity, 

professional input and independence of 

medical registration. However, in the lead 

up to the Federal Election, the Federal 

Government decided not to sign the IGA 

because of concerns expressed by the 

majority of the health professional groups 

and in particular the medical profession. 

The matter will now obviously rest until 

after the election and the holiday period, 

but will certainly have to be resolved in 2008 

and probably before the funding agreements 

are negotiated between the Commonwealth 

Government and the States in mid 2008. 

It will be incumbent on all medical 

practitioners to closely study the next 

version of the IGA and the models proposed 

for National Registration and Accreditation 

and then to ensure firstly that professional 

input to and integrity of the medical 

registration process is preserved in order 

to protect patients and secondly that the 

independence of the Australian Medical 

Council is maintained. 

Demands on the College 

Fellows will also be aware of the myriad of 

issues related to Overseas Trained Specialists 

in both countries, the shortage of health care 

workers particularly in nursing, the incessant 

demands of the jurisdictions at all levels and 

the increasing expectations of our patients. 

All of these put pressures not only on Fellows 

but also on the College and there is a need 

for our services and capabilities to expand 

in order to meet that need, both at the 

headquarters and in the regional offices. 

There have been major changes to the 

offices in Brisbane and Wellington this year 

THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND COLLEGE OF ANAESTHETISTS 

3

Recommended 

Reading 

The ANZCA Code of Professional 

Conduct has now been released 

and may be viewed at the College 

website under ‘Publications’. 

Code of Professional Conduct 

For copies contact 

Romany Amarasingham: 

03 8517 5372 

President’s message continued 

and Perth will follow in due course. In 2007, 

we have rebuilt the core infrastructure in 

information technology (IT) and finance and 

have built capacity in Government & Media 

Relations, Policy and Communication. In 

2008, the primary focus will be on 

education—both for Trainees and Fellows— 

assessment processes, examinations and 

communication, in addition to meeting our 

external challenges. As a result, the College’s 

income needs to keep pace with the 

increasing demands placed on the College 

and hence the subscriptions will need to rise 

in 2008. After careful consideration, Council 

has resolved that subscriptions will rise by 8 

per cent, or 5 per cent in real terms. For 

2008, we have budgeted for a ‘break even’ 

result, instituted cost reduction programs 

and have acknowledged that investment 

returns will almost certainly fall over the 

course of the year, while seeking to cope with 

increases in the College’s core activities. 

2008 

2008 will be an interesting and challenging 

year, not only because of these issues but also 

because of all the curious promises that have 

been made regarding health care in the 

current Federal election. In New Zealand, 

Fellows will have to contend with the 

Review of the Health Practitioners Competence 

Assurance Act (2003) and then an election in 

New Zealand. We anticipate that in both 

countries there will be a large expansion 

of activity in relation to the assessment of 

Overseas Trained Specialists in the 

workplace due to jurisdictional pressures 

and changes in the regulatory environments. 

The College has been involved with the 

Joint Standing Committee on Overseas 

Trained Specialists (JSCOTS) of the AMC 

and we will be holding a Workshop on OTS 

Assessment in mid November in order to 

bed down our plans and policies for 2008. 

This will be a challenging and logistically 

demanding problem but it is an area 

in which the College must maintain its 

involvement in the interest of patient safety 

and welfare. 

In conclusion, 2007 has been a very 

active year for the College and the College 

is positioning itself to meet the challenges 

of the future while enhancing the core 

activities of education and training for 

both Trainees and Fellows. On behalf of 

the College Council, I wish to convey our 

thanks to the CEO and the college staff for 

their sterling work during the year. I and 

the Council plus the college staff would like 

to thank you for your support of the 

College in 2007, and we wish you and your 

families all of the very best for the Festive 

Season and for 2008. 

DR WALLY THOMPSON 

President 

‘Fellows will also be aware of 

the myriad of issues related to 

Overseas Trained Specialists 

in both countries, the shortage 

of health care workers particularly 

in nursing, the incessant demands 

of the jurisdictions at all levels 

and the increasing expectations 

of our patients.’ 

4 


THIRD AUSTRALIAN ADULT ECMO PRACTICAL 

COURSE 

ALFRED HOSPITAL 

APRIL 7 TH TO 9 TH 2008 

Adult Extracorporeal Membrane 

Oxygenation (ECMO) is an evolving 

field of ICU medicine. Recent 

developments in circuit technology 

have made the ECMO a form of 

support that can now be integrated 

into existing ICU models of care. 

The course is intended for all 

clinicians, ICU nurses, and perfusionists wanting to establish or further develop 

existing local ECMO services. The course aims to facilitate development of a 

structured service applicable to local settings. The components of this course are: 

• Detailed lectures addressing circuit and patient care aspects of ECMO 

• “Hands on” sessions using Biomedicus and Jostra blood pumps and circuit 

components 

• Animal model cannulation exercises for medical staff 

• Clinical scenarios simulation 

• Provision of detailed protocol and documentation that can form the basis for 

local protocols, safety and quality assurance and data collection 

A course manual containing selected lecture material and the protocol (with related 

documents) is provided on the day of the course. Electronic copies of all slides 

presented will be sent to paid up registrants on the closing date of registration. 

Closing Date for Registration (and payment): 1 April 2008 

NB: The course numbers will be limited to 50 with cannulation sessions available to 

16. The course has sold out in prior years. 

Costs: Cannulating (medical) $1000 

Non-cannulating $600 

Further information and registration forms 

available from: www.alfredecmo.com.au 

Enquires to Vincent Pellegrino 

email: v.pelligrino@alfred.org.au 

phone: 0419 770 131 


5

ANZCA Foundation 

Donations 

Acknowledgment update 

DONATIONS UP TO $499.00 

Dr C O Jackson 

DONATIONS $500.00 to $999.00 

Dr G Williamson 

DONATIONS $1000.00 and over 

Aspect Medical Systems International 

Mr W P Gurry 

QLD 

VIC 

QLD 

VIC 

$400,000 

$380,000 

$360,000 

$340,000 

$320,000 

DECEMBER TOTAL $31,444.56 

THIS YEAR TO DATE $341,287.02 

$300,000 

$280,000 

$260,000 

$240,000 

$220,000 

$200,000 

$180,000 

$160,000 

$140,000 

$120,000 

$100,000 

$80,000 

$60,000 

$40,000 

$20,000 

0 

6 


DOUGLAS JOSEPH 

PROFESSOR OF 

ANAESTHESIA 

The Council of the Australian and 

New Zealand College of Anaesthetists 

invites applications for the Douglas 

Joseph Professorship of Anaesthesia. 

2009 

This award was established by the 

Board of the Faculty of Anaesthetists 

following a most generous bequest 

from the late Douglas Joseph to 

endow a Fellowship or grant in aid for 

research in human anaesthesia. 

Applications are invited from Fellows 

making an outstanding contribution 

to the advancement of the specialty 

to pursue scholarship and research 

in human anaesthesia in Australia, 

New Zealand, Hong Kong, Malaysia 

or Singapore. 

Each application shall be made 

on the application form, which will 

be available on the ANZCA website 

on 1 December 2007. The names 

of three referees to whom reference 

may be made should also 

be included. 

The Fellowship of $65,000 has 

tenure of approximately one year 

but variations may be made 

at the discretion of the Council. 

The appointee will deliver the 

Australasian Visitor’s Lecture at 

the appropriate Annual Scientific 

Meeting. During the time of the 

appointment, the appointee will 

hold the courtesy title of Douglas 

Joseph Professor of Anaesthesia. 

The closing date for 

applications is 5pm AESST 

29 February 2008 

Applications must be forwarded to: 

The Chief Executive Officer 

Australian and New Zealand 

College of Anaesthetists 


Melbourne Vic 3004 

Email: ceoanzca@anzca.edu.au 

Further information may be 

obtained from the Research Policy 

document, located at: 

http://www.anzca.edu.au/resources/ 

research/Research-Policy.pdf 

or from Jill Humphreys 

jhumphreys@anzca.edu.au 


7

Adult retrieval moves to Ambulance 

The Metropolitan Ambulance Service 

is set to accept responsibility for 

Victoria’s emergency adult retrieval 

service, which last year dealt with 

more than 2000 patients. 

The new service, Adult Retrieval Victoria, 

which will operate 24 hours a day, takes 

over the tasks provided by the Victorian 

Adult Emergency Retrieval and 

Coordination Service (VAERCS). 

The service will be managed by a 

medical director, whose appointment 

will be announced soon. Under the new 

arrangement, doctors will continue to 

provide clinical advice over the phone, 

coordinate the placement of patients 

in coronary care and intensive care hospital 

beds, and retrieve critically ill patients from 

rural areas. 

Three specialist adult retrieval services 

based in rural Victoria will also come under 

the responsibility of MAS. 

In September, the State Government 

formally asked MAS to take over the service, 

following a review by the Department 

of Human Services that identified areas 

for improvement. 

‘We have taken over from an effective service 

and, in the short-term, it will be business 

as usual,’ said MAS General Manager of 

Operations Keith Young. 

‘Over the next year, however, we will 

develop plans to further improve the service 

and, as such, welcome input from anyone 

who wants to contribute to the changes,’ 

Mr Young said. 

From the first day of operation—set 

for 20 November 2007—improvements 

will include a 24-hour 1300 telephone 

number, the voice-recording of all phone 

conversations and a more rigorous system 

of governance. 

‘This is a natural fit for MAS as we 

already provide integrated emergency 

helicopter and plane transport throughout 

the state,’ said Mr Young. 

‘Combined with our road vehicles and 

our close relationship with Rural Ambulance 

Victoria, we believe we can provide an 

excellent service.’ 

‘Under the new arrangement, 

doctors will continue to provide 

clinical advice over the phone, 

coordinate the placement of 

patients in coronary care and 

intensive care hospital beds, and 

retrieve critically ill patients from 

rural areas.’ 

Adult Retrieval Victoria has 

a new statewide phone number: 

1300 368 661. 

The website is www.arv.vic.gov.au 

8 


EXAM DATES 2008 

PRIMARY EXAM 

Location 1st Exam 2nd Exam 

CLOSING DATE 2 December 2007 26 May 2008 

WRITTEN All Major Centres 25 February 2008 21 July 2008 

ORAL Melbourne 21-23 April 2008 8-10 September 2008 

Hong Kong 12 September 2008 

FINAL EXAMINATION & OTS PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT 

Location 1st Exam 2nd Exam 

CLOSING DATE 15 February 2008 4 July 2008 

WRITTEN & Adelaide, Brisbane, 11-12 April 2008 29-30 August 2008 

MEDICAL 

Melbourne, Perth, 

Sydney, Auckland 

and Hong Kong 

ORAL Melbourne 30-31 May 2008 

Sydney 24-25 October 2008 

2008 EXAM FEES 

Primary Examination Fee – A$3,030.00 

The examination fee is to be remitted in 

Australian dollars by bank draft, personal 

cheque (Australia only), or by credit card 

directly to College Headquarters by 

the examination closing date together 

with completed Application to Present 

for Primary Examination. 

Final/OTS Examination Fee – 

A$3,530.00 

The examination fee is to be remitted in 

Australian dollars by bank draft, personal 

cheque (Australia only), or by credit card 

directly to College Headquarters by the 

examination closing date together with 

completed Application to Present for Final/ 

OTS Examination. 

LATE APPLICATIONS OR LATE 

DOCUMENTATION WILL NOT BE 

ACCEPTED AFTER AN 

EXAMINATION CLOSING DATE 

Closing Date – Primary 

Applicants applying to present for the 

Primary Examination, who have not 

already registered with the College, 

should register as an ANZCA trainee at 

least two weeks before the closing date 

for examination applications. This is to 

ensure that any problems in documentation 

can be clarified before the relevant 

examination closing date. 

Please note that because of numbers 

involved it has become necessary for the 

College not to accept any applications to 

present for a College Examination after 

the closing date for that examination. This 

ruling must also apply to documentation 

in support of the application. 

Written Section Venues 

The following are the available venues 

for the written section of the Primary 

Examination: Australia (Adelaide, Brisbane, 

Cairns, Canberra, Darwin, Hobart, 

Launceston, Melbourne, Newcastle, Perth, 

Sydney and Townsville), New Zealand 

(Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, 

Hamilton and Wellington), Asia (Hong 

Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore). 

Closing Date – Final/OTS 

Applicants applying to present for the 

Final Examination must have fulfilled and 

documented all eligibility requirements as 

specified under Regualtion 15, or do so by 

the date of the Written section (including 

24 months clinical anaesthesia) by the date 

on which the written section of the 

Examination commences 

(Regulation 14.6.2). 

Please note that because of numbers 

involved it has become necessary for the 

College not to accept any applications to 

present for a College Examination after 

the closing date for that examination. This 

ruling must also apply to documentation 

in support of the application. Please take 

postage delays into consideration when 

sending applications near to the closing 

date. Registration of mail appears to 

substantially increase the time it takes for 

mail to arrive at the College. Overseas 

candidates should allow extra time for 

applications to arrive by the closing date. 

Written and Medical Clincial 

Sections Venues 

In 2008, the written and medical clinical 

sections will be held only in Adelaide, 

Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, 

Auckland and Hong Kong. 

Contact: Final/OTS Examinations 

finalexam@anzca.edu.au 

Primary Examination 

primaryexam@anzca.edu.au 


9

Letters to the Editor 

Recently Dr Richard Barnes, specialist anaesthetist, was part of a volunteer team that 

visited Atambua Public Hospital, West Timor. This was organised by the Royal 

Australian College of Surgeons, under the umbrella of the Australian government, to 

provide humanitarian aid to developing areas of Indonesia. The province of Nusa 

Tengarra is such an area of need in Indonesia. In a period of 10 days, our Australian 

team provided specialist general and paediatric surgery to local inhabitants, performing 

over 70 operations, 200 consultations as well as acute medical care and ward rounds. 

Our brief was also to impart surgical and anaesthetic skills to the local medical officers. 

As a member of the team, I was humbled by both the expertise and humanity shown by 

Richard in his anaesthetic care. We experienced many difficult and heartfelt cases in our 

time here. At the end of our time all team members agreed that it was indeed an honour to 

be associated with Richard. He is a terrific bloke and excellent anaesthetist in every sense. 

Richard, on the other hand, would not consider himself different to any other, and is 

not one to look for praise. Hence the reason for this correspondence. 

The picture here is of Richard resuscitating a premature infant (1500g)—a common 

scenario in a hospital with very limited resources. He is shown calmly resuscitating the 

infant, and also instructing the attending resident. He donated the resuscitation circuit to 

the theatre staff, and his stethoscope to a refugee doctor from East Timor. 

I often open the Bulletin to see familiar faces, yet again. Perhaps a picture of an 

Australian anaesthetist offering his expertise to an underdeveloped nation may be of 

interest to our colleagues. 

Sincerely 

PAUL SOEDING 

I learned somewhat belatedly of the sad 

passing of Dr David Komesaroff DA 

(Melb.), FANZCA. 

Professor Ross Holland has recently 

recorded some of the remarkable 

achievements of this gifted man 1 , 

but I should like to add a personal 

acknowledgement of David, based upon 

first-hand experience. 

In 1968, several of us began our 

anaesthesia training careers as Registrars 

at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. It was 

there and then that I personally met David 

for the first time. Over the ensuing, very 

hard working, clinical year and with our 

then FFA First Part examinations looming, 

David not only took a close interest in our 

clinical welfare and our study preparations, 

but he gave endlessly of his tremendous 

basic science knowledge and of his clinical 

time, to make that year a valuable one for 

us all. He conducted regular and carefully 

designed tutorials that were to prove so very 

helpful. He also, on more than one occasion, 

took over our respective operating lists to 

release us for other tutorials or study. It 

should also be mentioned that he did not 

hesitate to protect us novice registrars from 

any inappropriate operating list exposures. 

Throughout all this time he exhibited the 

inexhaustibly innovative turn of mind and 

great courage which is well illustrated by 

Professor Holland’s report, introducing 

us to (among many other things) the 

safe applications and limitations of the 

Goldmann vaporiser, rebreathing circuits 

and valve and fluid flow physics. He seemed 

to be everywhere and with good humour 

and his ready smile—in induction rooms, 

in theatre, in recovery and in all teaching, 

quizzing and discussion locations. I also 

know that a great deal of the time he gave us 

was in addition to his ‘official’ hospital time. 

The analgesic and unusual vaporisation 

properties of methoxyflurane were attracting 

his attention at this stage and his influence 

upon Victorian and Australian ambulance 

practice to the benefit of so many patients is 

now a matter of record. 1 

I am proud to say that from 1968 on, 

I enjoyed his friendship and ever-available 

guidance. I feel sure I speak for several 

colleagues when I say that David’s passing 

fills us with sadness. He is a significant loss 

from our professional ranks and I shall for 

ever be grateful for having known him and 

for his selfless and brilliant influence. 

yours sincerely, 

JOHN WILLIAMSON 

1 Holland R. The Inventors. Anaesth Intensive Care 

2006;34, Supplement 1:36-38. 

10 


This letter supports Rod Westhorpe’s 

excellent article in the ANZCA Bulletin of 

July 2007 entitled ‘The risk of overdoing 

it’, in which he comments upon being 

increasingly advised by medical indemnity 

insurers to explain to patients the risks 

of procedures. 

I agree that immediately before an 

operation is an especially inappropriate time 

to explain possible serious complications 

which would be likely to worry a patient, as 

doing so could increase the likelihood of a 

complication occurring without achieving 

any benefit for the patient. What can be 

explained immediately before surgery 

without causing harm must depend greatly 

upon the patient’s state of mind at the time. 

Surgeons can help, to a degree, by 

giving patients general information about 

anaesthetic practices. At the time of advising 

surgery—or of presenting information which 

should enable a patient to make an informed 

decision whether or not to request an 

elective operation—it is the responsibility of 

the surgeon to mention, in general terms, all 

substantive risks (including any anaesthetic 

risks understood by the surgeon), to discuss 

any risks specifically asked about to the 

extent he or she is able to do so and, when 

appropriate, to refer the patient to an 

anaesthetist for further information. 

For elective procedures which carry 

significant or specific anaesthetic risks, a 

pre-anaesthetic consultation with the 

anaesthetist days before the operation is the 

ideal, but this may be difficult to arrange in 

private practice. Perhaps this should change? 

I do, occasionally (usually in the 

presence of a near relative), mention the 

risk of death resulting from an elective 

operation—especially when it seems that the 

procedure may be better deferred or not 

performed, eg. when advising delay of a 

procedure on an infant, and also on those 

rare occasions when a patient asks to be told 

all risks (an extremely small risk of death 

may be compared with the risk of a serious 

car accident on the way home from the 

consultation). 

It is hard to know how to best avoid it, 

but patients often do not like detailed 

discussions with anaesthetists about fees 

immediately before an operation. Again, 

surgeons may give some helpful advice, such 

as the telephone number of the anaesthetist’s 

office and surgeons can sometimes provide 

more detailed information about particular 

anaesthetists’ likely fees for certain 

procedures. Unhappiness related to fees may 

cause other complaints to fester. 

JOHN A BUNTINE 

President 

Australian Association of Surgeons 


11

Letters to the Editor continued 

Overseas Trained Specialists 

and the Final ANZCA Examination 

The Overseas Trained Specialist (OTS) 

anaesthetic group has, in general, a 

significantly lower passing rate in 

the final examination for the ANZCA 

College as compared to Australian 

anaesthetic trainees for several years. 

The resultant question of why this occurs 

with the OTSs who have undergone 

anaesthetic specialist training in their 

own countries and successfully completed 

their respective colleges’ examination 

processes remains unanswered. Several 

confounding factors, however, may 

highlight the vastly different circumstances 

faced by OTSs that have an adverse impact 

on their examination performance. 

One of the most prominent factors is 

that English may be their second language. 

Therefore, the candidate will listen or read 

the question in English, translate it into 

their native language, process the answer, 

convert the answer into English and finally 

give the answer. Depending on the level 

of the mastery of the English language, 

this process may be lengthy and erode 

significantly into the time allocated for 

both the written and viva examinations. In 

addition, the degree of accent in the verbal 

response by the OTS may prove difficult for 

examiners to understand and may lead to 

time delays while the answer is clarified. In 

some cases, the anaesthetic examination 

may become two examinations for OTS— 

one in anaesthesia and the other testing 

the candidate’s written and verbal English 

comprehension. 

This group faces many problems, such as 

their geographical isolation in outlying areas 

of Australia and inaccessibility to suitable 

learning resources. A significant number 

of OTSs are in non-tertiary level hospitals 

and are therefore not exposed to other 

final examination candidates who provide 

an enthusiastic basis for learning as a study 

group. In these remote areas, it may be 

difficult for the limited number of ANZCA 

specialists to provide the OTS with suitable 

written and oral examination preparation. 

To overcome these problems, the provision 

of regular teleconferencing from major 

teaching centres to these remote located 

OTS should be considered as a priority. 

Anaesthetic trainees often prepare 

for the examination in small groups who 

meet at least once a week in the months 

immediately before the examination. These 

study groups allow sharing of topical journal 

articles, gauging one’s progress compared 

to peers and practising exam questions. Of 

equal importance is the provision of moral 

support during the examination period. 

Frequently, the individuals in these groups 

have known each other from medical school 

and often during the three to four years of 

their ANZCA training. Therefore, the groups 

form rapidly into well lubricated functional 

entities at an early stage. Unfortunately, 

the OTS, due to both their geographic 

isolation as well as the demands of spouses 

and families, may find joining such groups 

‘The ‘Overseas Trained Specialist 

Anaesthetists’ Network’ (OTSAN) 

is a self-help group formed by 

anaesthetists in Australia who 

have been trained overseas. 

Their main aim is to allow good 

anaesthetists to become good 

examination candidates again.’ 

difficult or impossible. The limited exposure 

to their peer group and subsequent 

problems of integrating into small study 

groups is being currently addressed with 

the establishment of the OTS network. The 

‘Overseas Trained Specialist Anaesthetists’ 

Network’ (OTSAN) is a self-help group 

formed by anaesthetists in Australia who 

have been trained overseas. Their main aim 

is to allow good anaesthetists to become 

good examination candidates again. The 

OTSAN’s website is www.otsan.org. 

The length of time required for 

examination preparation varies between 

candidates. Often a twelve to eighteen 

month period is required; with many 

candidates continuing to work full-time. 

The first few months may be spent accessing 

previous past examination questions and 

obtaining the required resources for the 

task ahead. This long preparation process 

is hard for anyone, let alone the OTSs who 

12 


ANZCA TRAINING SCHOLARSHIPS FOR 2009 

ANZCA will make available 20 scholarships each year to assist 

anaesthesia trainees who are suffering severe financial hardship. 

Each Scholarship will be awarded in 

the form of a 50% reduction in the 

Annual Training Fee for the following 

year. Applicants must be registered 

trainees of ANZCA. 

Applications must be submitted on 

the prescribed 2009 ANZCA Training 

Scholarship Application Form, 

copies of which are available from 

the College. 

The closing date for applications for 2009 is 

Friday, 1 August 2008. 

Successful applicants will be notified in October 2008. 

Please contact: 

Ms Janelle Talty 


Telephone: +61 3 8517 5334 

usually have family commitments with 

settling in a new country at the same time. 

Equally the spouses of both the OTS and 

local anaesthetic trainee may find that the 

amount of time and effort required for 

their partner to prepare for the ANZCA 

examination disrupts a tranquil family life. 

In addition, the pressure that working visas 

may expire and the possibility that the OTS 

and their family need to return to their 

country if failure occurs adds significantly to 

the stress of the final examination. 

Failure may be due to a lack of 

knowledge or poor presentation skills. 

The lack of knowledge can be global (ie. 

insufficient knowledge for the examination) 

or relative (the examination focused on 

the candidate’s weakest areas). Being at an 

advanced stage of their career, many OTSs 

may have specialised in certain aspects of 

anaesthesia (such as paediatric or cardiac 

anaesthesia) during their professional 

development for years and subsequently 

de-skilled in other areas. Therefore, it is 

important for them to cover a wide scope of 

knowledge during the preparation. Clinical 

rotations of a suitable length (not less than 

4 weeks) to other hospitals may assist them 

in regaining knowledge and experience 

and should be considered as part of their 

examination preparation. Frequently it has 

been several years since most OTSs have 

sat any examination with the resultant loss 

of examination techniques. This lack in 

‘exam-wise’ performance contrasts with the 

more junior anaesthetic trainee who has 

passed their primary examination within the 

previous three to four years and are more 

in-tune with answering written and oral 

examinations. 

Candidates should realise that the 

examiners are not attempting to fail 

them but rather objectively assessing 

their suitability as anaesthetists. In fact, 

candidates fail themselves during the 

examination rather than being failed by 

the examiner. Some OTSs feel that they 

are more experienced in certain areas than 

the examiner and this may cause conflict 

between the examiner and the candidate 

during the oral examination. It would be 

wiser for the OTS in these situations to 

remain calm and provide a logical and 

well-structured answer while avoiding any 

feelings of frustration. 

Finally, I would like to address 

the psychological impact of sitting an 

examination along with more junior 

anaesthetic trainees. The OTS candidate has 

not only fulfilled the requirements of the 

anaesthetic college in their country of origin 

but has often amassed a significant amount 

of experience since that time. Sitting 

another examination along with anaesthetic 

trainees who have little practical experience 

in anaesthetic practice will have 

a humbling effect on some OTSs. The 

impact of this situation is then magnified 

if the OTS fails, with a ripple effect onto 

family and friends. One only has to see its 

impact on the countless OTSs who walk 

up to the results display window with their 

spouses and children only to see them leave 

with the family in tears as they assess the 

impact of their failure. 

During my time assisting some OTSs 

in their examination preparation, I have 

learnt that, though they are a diverse 

group of individuals, they share a common 

characteristic—they are willing to face 

all these hurdles I have mentioned and 

sit an examination that as Australians we 

have accepted as our own. To pass the 

ANZCA final examination is an important 

achievement for locally born Australians; 

I tip my hat to those who were born 

overseas and who attempt this difficult task. 

Don’t be discouraged by a failure. It can be 

a positive experience. Failure is, in a sense, the 

highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery 

of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after 

what is true, and every fresh experience points 

out some form of error which we shall afterwards 

carefully avoid. 

John Keats 

(1795 - 1821) 

K B GREENLAND 

Deputy Director – Research 

Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital 

Contact: french9a@yahoo.co.uk 


13

Obituaries 

Professor G A (Don) Harrison AM, 

MBBS, FANZCA, FJFICM, MHP Ed. 

Professor Don Harrison 

Professor Don Harrison was 

a well known anaesthetist and a 

pioneering intensivist in Sydney, a 

true gentleman, a gifted physician 

plus a friend and mentor to many 

Fellows and colleagues. He 

contributed greatly to the College 

and to the specialties of anaesthesia 

and intensive care for over 40 years. 

Don graduated from Sydney 

University (MBBS 1955). 

He trained at St Vincent’s Hospital in 

Sydney and was awarded Fellowship of the 

Faculty of Anaesthetists of the Royal 

Australasian College of Surgeons (FFARACS) 

in 1959. Following postgraduate training in 

Cardiff and Cleveland he returned to St 

Vincent’s in 1964. Don spent the remainder 

of his working life there and became an 

integral part of the hospital community; 

he was beloved and much respected by 

colleagues, staff and patients. 

His many clinical achievements at the 

hospital have been extensively documented 

and, particularly his work in cardiac 

anaesthesia and cardiothoracic intensive 

care, can best be described as legendary. 

These achievements, plus his research 

interests, his pioneering work in anaesthesia 

and especially intensive care, together with 

his reputation as a teacher, led to Don being 

recognised in the late 1960s as both a doyen 

and a leader in both specialties. In 1972 

Don was awarded the First Lennard Travers 

Professorship by the Faculty in recognition of 

his contributions to research and education 

in anaesthesia. In 1973, he travelled and 

lectured in all states of Australia, New 

Zealand and the United Kingdom. 

It was, therefore, not surprising that he 

was soon elected as a Member of the Board 

of the Faculty of Anaesthetists. Don had 

always believed that ‘Education was the key 

to the best medicine’ and as a Board 

Member, he went on to make major 

contributions to the training of anaesthetists 

in the 1970s and later on the training of 

intensive care specialists. In anaesthesia he 

collaborated on the development of 

Objectives in Training and served as the 

Chair of the Primary Examination 

Committee and as the Chairman of the 

‘He contributed to the pioneering 

work on cardiac bypass surgery and 

was the anaesthetist for the first 

heart transplant in Australia.’ 

Examinations. He went on to develop the 

initial objectives of Training in Intensive 

Care Medicine and became the cornerstone 

which supported the development of the 

Faculty’s Training and Examination program 

in intensive care—the first such program 

leading to specialist recognition in intensive 

care in the world. He did all of this in his 

own calm, dedicated, gentle, humble and 

professional way while contributing greatly 

to the care of patients in St Vincent’s and 

also contributing to many other 

organisations, such as the Australian 

Resuscitation Council and the Surf Life 

Saving Association. 

In 1990, he was awarded the Robert 

Orton Medal by the then Faculty of 

Anaesthetists for distinguished service to 

Anaesthesia and Intensive Care through 

education and research. That occurred just 

before the Faculty became an independent 

College and reflected the high esteem in 

which he was held by both anaesthetists and 

surgeons of the day. 

In 1995, he was recognised by the 

Faculty of Intensive Care in the 

establishment of the G A (Don) Harrison 

Medal for the best performance at the Final 

Examination in Intensive Care. Don 

personally presented that medal each year 

and established a special bond with each of 

the recipients. 

14 


MISSING 

ANAESTHETISTS! 

The college is endeavouring 

to locate several fellows who 

have moved. Can you help? 

Fellow 

Dr S A Kanagasundaram 

Dr B McKinney 

Dr V Y Wai 

Dr I R Metcalf 

Dr W C Houghton 

Dr M A Duncan 

Last known address 

UK 

UK 

Hong Kong 

Canada 

USA 

Clayton VIC 

? 

If you can help with any information on their whereabouts it would be greatly 

appreciated if you would contact Kirsty Robinson at the College. 

Please remember if you do move to inform us of your new contact details. 

Phone: 61 3 9510 6299 

Fax: 61 3 9510 6786 

Email: reception@anzca.edu.au 

Don also contributed to the teaching and 

training programs in Singapore, Malaysia 

and Indonesia, and many of his extrainees 

and friends have asked that their 

condolences be passed on to the family. 

Following his own experiences undergoing 

anaesthetics as a boy, Don had said ‘When I 

grow up I am going to do something about 

these anaesthetics’. He achieved that and 

much more. Professor Don Harrison was a 

remarkable clinician, a gifted researcher, a 

pioneer and, above-all, a superb teacher who 

contributed greatly to the specialties of 

anaesthesia and intensive care. Underlying 

those achievements was a philosophy that 

was centred on patient care and safety, that 

incorporated teaching and research into 

patient care and which was grounded in a 

team approach to patient care. That was 

especially evident in his work in Intensive 

Care, where he combined empathy and a 

genuine regard for patients and their 

families with expert medical care based on 

research and investigation, facilitated by 

a team with genuine respect of each other, 

their capabilities and the needs of the 

patients and their families. Don admitted 

that he had ‘an obsession with the need to 

relieve pain and suffering particularly in the 

critically ill’ combined with ‘a drive to use his 

knowledge of the principles of education to 

help others to better relieve pain and 

suffering and to resuscitate those dying of 

potentially reversible conditions’. It is fair to 

say that he succeeded and that drive and 

commitment was still evident in his recent 

endeavours, including the ongoing research 

related to improving the prediction and 

management of medical emergencies in 

hospitals and his teaching role in 

medical simulation. 

Don achieved an enormous amount in 

his life, which was dedicated to serving the 

community and his family. He was a true 

humanitarian, a gifted doctor, a talented 

teacher and a wonderful mentor. Despite 

his daunting achievements, he carried 

others along with his humility, his quiet 

and unassuming manner and his 

enthusiasm, which, coupled with his 

interest in both them and the cause in 

hand, always encouraged them to seek 

excellence. He was a truly great man who 

will be remembered and greatly missed by 

his family, friends, Fellows and trainees 

DR W R THOMPSON 

President 


15

Series on past Deans and Presidents 

Dr William Moncrieff Crosby 

Dr Bill Crosby was the fifteenth Dean of the Faculty of Anaesthetists and 

served in this role from 1982-1984. He followed Professor Doug Joseph 

and was succeeded by Professor Ross Holland in this post. As Professor 

Michael Davies wrote the citation for the awarding of the Orton medal 

and the obituary for Dr Crosby, I have—with permission—reprinted the 

obituary here that previously appeared in the Bulletin 

of August 1991. Dr Terry Loughnan 

Dr Bill Crosby died on 28 July 1991, 

following a long battle with cancer which 

he had endured with his characteristic 

determination. His death completed a life 

that had been dedicated to his family, his 

friends and to Anaesthesia. Bill graduated 

from the University of Melbourne in 1954 

and completed two years as a resident 

medical officer at the Alfred Hospital 

before commencing training in 

Anaesthesia. He gained his Fellowship of 

the Faculty of Anaesthetists, Royal 

Australasian College of Surgeons in 1959 

and took up a position as a staff 

anaesthetist at the Alfred Hospital. Five 

years later, he was appointed as Deputy 

Director of Anaesthesia. During this time, 

Bill developed his great interest in 

Intensive Care and was responsible for 

establishing the first intensive care unit in 

Victoria, at the Alfred Hospital. 

In 1964, Bill moved to Geelong, 

entering private practice with an 

appointment as Visiting Anaesthetist to 

the Geelong Hospital. He was appointed 

Director of Anaesthesia in 1985 and 

remained in that position until his death. 

During this time, Bill was tireless in his 

promotion of anaesthesia and intensive 

care as a speciality, and recruited many 

impressive people to the developing 

discipline. Hospital politics was his forte 

and many sought his advice in this area. He 

fought strenuously for many improvements 

to the practice of medicine and anaesthesia 

in Geelong and whilst he won many of these, 

readily accepted decisions that went against 

his ideas. Bill also had a strong association 

with the Faculty of Medicine at Monash 

University. He tutored medical students in 

Physiology for over 30 years in which post 

he was able to so effectively relate laboratory 

experiments to clinical human observations. 

He also lectured in the Primary FFA 

course in Melbourne for a long period and 

tutored many anaesthetic trainees for the 

Primary FFA at Geelong Hospital, having 

an excellent record of successful candidates 

sitting for this most difficult examination. 

Bill was appointed an Examiner for 

the Faculty in 1966 and completed 14 

years in that role, becoming Chairman of 

Examinations in those latter three years. 

He was elected to the Victorian Regional 

Committee in 1969 and chaired that 

Committee from 1973 to 1975. In that 

same year, he was elected to the Board of 

Faculty. In 1979, he became the first Faculty 

Treasurer and completely reorganised the 

Faculty finances so that they still remain on 

a solid footing today. He was elected Vice 

Dean in 1980 and was elected Dean of the 

Faculty from 1982 - 1984. Following his 

retirement from the Board of Faculty, Bill 

was elected to the Court of Honour of Royal 

Australasian College of Surgeons in 1987. 

In 1989, the Board of Faculty awarded 

Dr Crosby the Orton Medal for his 

distinguished services to anaesthesia and he 

was presented with this Medal in Wellington, 

New Zealand at the 1990 GSM. The Orton 

Medal is the highest award the Faculty 

may bestow on a practising Fellow and Bill 

Crosby is the first recipient of the Orton 

Medal who had in fact worked with the late 

Dr Orton. 

‘He fought strenuously for many 

improvements to the practice of 

medicine and anaesthesia in 

Geelong and whilst he won many 

of these, readily accepted decisions 

that went against his ideas.’ 

Bill was a tremendous contributor during 

his thirty-four years in anaesthesia. He 

lectured in many parts of Australia, 

New Zealand and South East Asia and wrote 

a number of papers published in both the 

Medical Journal of Australia and Anaesthesia 

and Intensive Care. 

Bill Crosby will be missed by a 

great many people in Anaesthesia—his 

contributions have enhanced and promoted 

our speciality significantly during its 

formative years. 

To Jean and her family, Stuart, Helen 

and Ian, we extend our deepest sympathy. 

We have lost a wonderful colleague and 

friend; the Faculty—one of its greatest 

supporters. 

MICHAEL J. DAVIES 

August 1991 Bulletin: 

Faculty of Anaesthetists 

Royal Australasian College of Surgeons 

16 


CPD Program Information 

The CPD program replaces the MOPS Program in January 2008. 

There is no need for ANZCA Fellows to register for 

enrolment in the CPD Program—you will automatically be 

able to participate in the program. If you do not wish to 

participate in the ANZCA CPD Program could you please 

send the CPD Unit an email or fax to indicate in which 

program you are participating, so that we may note this 

on your record. 

Please note that Fellows are expected to participate 

in CPD, as stated under Professional Document PS16. 

However, we do not require Retired Fellows to participate 

in the program or to contact us with alternative 

program details. 

All Fellows should have received a copy of the CPD 

program booklet with the October Bulletin. This booklet 

contains all the necessary information on the new 

program and we encourage Fellows to read this. The 

booklet should be retained as a reference guide for 

the CPD program. 

• For Key Elements of the CPD program, 

see page three of the booklet. 

• For a description of the Program Framework, 

including the four Categories of the program, 

see page four of the booklet. 

• The Framework Table, which is a matrix of the 

Categories, activity types and associated credits, 

can be found of pages five and six of the booklet. 

This information is available on the College website, 

as is a downloadable PDF version of the booklet. 

An online portfolio will be available to all Fellows 

via the ANZCA website under the Fellows path. 

For those who are unable to utilise the online CPD 

activities record, CPD plan and reflection notes, the 

associated forms may be downloaded from the 

website for completion. 

Practitioners who wish to participate in the CPD 

program as Non-Fellows may do so. Information 

and an application form can be found in the CPD 

Program section of the ANZCA website. 

MOPS Program – Annual Returns 

The submission date for 2007 MOPS Annual Returns is 29 February 2008. 

Online Diary Users 

To submit your Annual Return Online, follow the prompts 

under the User Administration tab of your MOPS Online 

Diary. Instructions are available on the ‘Diary Instructions’ 

page of the website. 

Paper Diary Users 

Please ensure that the fields at the head of the Annual 

Return are completed (Name, MOPS Number, Region 

and so on). Instructions for submitting your return can be 

found on Page 4 of your Paper Diary. 

A Statement of Participation certificate will be sent 

to you once your Annual Return has been processed. 

The certificates for Annual Returns submitted after 

29 February 2008 will be stamped ‘Late Return’ to indicate 

that they were not part of the audit process. 

If you have any questions regarding your activities for the 

year, or would like approval of an activity, please contact 

the CPD office: 

Email: cme@anzca.edu.au 

Phone: 61 3 9510 6299 


17

FINAL FELLOWSHIP EXAMINATION 

(ANAESTHESIA) 

Court of Examiners 

JULY/SEPTEMBER 2007 

The written section of the examination 

was held in Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, 

Canberra, Hamilton, Hobart, Hong Kong, 

Kuala Lumpur, Launceston, Melbourne, 

Newcastle Perth, Singapore, Sydney, 

Townsville, and Wellington 

The oral section of the examination was held 

at the Prince of Wales and Sydney Children’s 

Hospitals, Sydney. 

107 Candidates presented in Sydney and 

89 were approved: 

Sue Young Ahn 

Stewart Alexander Allan 

Michael Richard Ayling 

Neville Bailey 

Remesh Kumar Balasingam 

Peter Francis Barrett 

Renee Gail Beer 

Aaron Joseph Bellette 

Cambell Gill Bennett 

Philip Michael Black 

Andrew David Cairncross 

Shanel Lei Cameron 

Chin-Wern Chan 

Szu-Lynn Chan 

Elena Chernova 

NSW 

NZ 

NSW 

QLD 

MYS 

QLD 

QLD 

NSW 

NZ 

NSW 

NSW 

NSW 

WA 

WA 

VIC 

Chui Chin Chong 

Paul Geoffrey Davies 

Sharon Dempsey 

Sushama Aniruddah Deshpande 

Felicity Ann Doherty 

Daniel Patrick Durack 

Christine Maria Edmonds 

Michael James Edwards 

Michael Ehrlich 

Robert James Elliott 

Muhammad Essop 

Aruna Shantha Evana Hennedige 

Richard Galluzzo 

Callum Radford Gilchrist 

Elizabeth Anne Gooch 

Roderick Kenneth Grant 

Shravani Gupta 

Ali Gur 

Shivakumar Hampasagar 

Timothy Peter Haydon 

Conrad Hermann Heim 

Anjanette Mariko Hylands 

Patricia Kan Kwok Yee 

Michael Hua-Tsung Kao 

Michael John Keane 

Monica May Korecki 

Michael Zdzislaw Kulisiewicz 

Joshua Ho Pui Lau 

WA 

QLD 

NZ 

NZ 

NSW 

WA 

NSW 

QLD 

NSW 

QLD 

ACT 

ACT 

ACT 

ACT 

QLD 

QLD 

QLD 

SA 

TAS 

VIC 

QLD 

NSW 

HKG 

QLD 

VIC 

QLD 

NSW 

WA 

Lisa Chih-Mei Lin 

VIC 

Swee-San Susan Loo 

SA 

Heather Alicia Matthews 

NZ 

Timothy Lachlan McIver 

VIC 

Suzanne Edith Miles 

QLD 

Jodi Simone Murphy 

NSW 

Sarvesh Natani 

QLD 

Hong Jye Neo 

SGP 

Andrea Maree Noar 

QLD 

Thomas Michael Alexander O’Rourke NZ 

Cameron David Leigh Osborne VIC 

Darren Pereira 

NSW 

Senthan Ponniah 

ACT 

Andrew William Potter 

QLD 

Priya Rajendra 

VIC 

Asif Raza 

NSW 

Scott Craig Robinson 

NZ 

Johanna Rose 

NZ 

David Matthew Rusk 

NZ 

Paul Harold Martin Sadleir VIC 

Jason Matthew Schoutrop 

QLD 

Matthew Richard Scott 

NZ 

Tanya Selak 

NSW 

Marianne M Botross Sidhom NSW 

Vincent Michael Sperando 

NSW 

Andrew James Stapleton 

NZ 

Craig Geoffrey Surtees 

NZ 

Tan Liang Hui 

SGP 

18 


2009 ACADEMIC ENHANCEMENT GRANT 

The Council of the College calls for 

applications for a Grant of up to $90,000 

to assist with the enhancement of an 

Academic Department of Anaesthesia 

and/or Intensive Care and/or Pain Medicine. 

Applications will only be accepted on the 

prescribed forms. Please download the Academic 

Enhancement Grant Guide and Form from the 

ANZCA website from 1 December 2007. 

This Grant is open to Fellows who are academic 

title-holders in Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and/or 

Pain Medicine, who occupy the following positions: 

1 Newly established Chairs in Anaesthesia 

and/or Intensive Care and/or Pain Medicine; 

2 Established Chairs in Anaesthesia and/or Intensive 

Care and/or Pain Medicine with new incumbents; 

3 Chairs in Anaesthesia and/or Intensive Care 

and/or Pain Medicine commencing new initiatives; 

4 Second Chairs within a Department; 

5 Academic title-holders (ie Professor, Clinical Professor, 

Associate Professor, Clinical Associate Professor) who 

head significant research foci within Departments of 

Anaesthesia and/or Intensive Care and/or Pain Medicine 

CLOSING DATE FOR APPLICATIONS IS 

29 FEBRUARY 2008 AT 5 PM. 

The Chief Executive Officer 

Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists 


Melbourne Victoria 3004 

Further information can be obtained by contacting 

Ms Jill Humphreys 

Executive Officer (Professional Areas) 

Tel: 03 9510 6299 Fax: 03 9510 6931 

Email: jhumphreys@anzca.edu.au 

Jennifer Ann Taylor 

Matthew James Tey 

Emma Janine Thomas 

Jason David Thomas 

Andrew John van der Poll 

Paul Xavier Vella 

Suresh Venu Gobal 

Benedict John Francis Waldron 

Thomas Bruce Walker 

Tony Wei 

Nicola Margaret Whittle 

Christopher Hayden Wong 

Chin Ming David Woo 

Peter William Wright 

John Yang 

Yip Cheng Bee 

Anthony Carl Young 

Simon Anthony Zidar 

NZ 

NSW 

NZ 

VIC 

NZ 

QLD 

VIC 

VIC 

NSW 

VIC 

NZ 

NZ 

SGP 

TAS 

NSW 

MYS 

NZ 

NSW 

The Court of Examiners recommended that 

the Cecil Gray Prize for the half year ended 

31 December 2007 be jointly awarded to: 

Suzanne Edith Miles 

QLD 

Jodi Simone Murphy 

NSW 

Merit Certificates were awarded to: 

Cambell Gill Bennett 

Callum Radford Gilchrist 

Roderick Kenneth Grant 

NZ 

ACT 

QLD 

Dr Peter Gibson, Chair Final Examination and retiring 

Examiner Dr Maggie Bailey. 

OTS 

Overseas Trained 

Specialist Results 

Twenty two (22) candidates presented 

for the Overseas Trained Specialist 

Performance Assessment held in July/ 

September 2007 and the following 

thirteen (13) candidates were successful. 

Dr Unnikrishnan Chundiran 

Dr Hercules De Wet 

Dr Johannes Els 

Dr Paris Hills-Wright 

Dr Pushpangadan Janardanan 

Dr Piotr Konopka 

Dr Jacob Koshy 

Dr Caroline Lake 

Dr Thomas Ledowski 

Dr Simone Malan-Johnson 

Dr Ravi Tiwary 

Dr Helen Vlachtsis 

Dr Konareddy Yatham 

NT 

QLD 

NSW 

SA 

SA 

QLD 

NT 

SA 

WA 

QLD 

QLD 

SA 

QLD 

A Certificate of Excellence for 

Overseas Trained Specialists was awarded 

to Dr Simone Malan-Johnson. 


19

PRIMARY EXAM 

SEPTEMBER 2007 

A total of one hundred and twenty four 

(124) candidates successfully completed 

the Primary Fellowship Examination at 

this presentation and are listed below: 

Walid Aly 

Agata Ancypa 

Ju Pin Ang 

Anna Antonas 

Negar Asadi 

Siu Wah Sylvia Au 

Tania Bailey 

Liam Balkin 

Daniel Bartlett 

Timothy Benny 

Andrea Bowyer 

Christopher Breen 

Matthew Burke 

David Burton 

Ka Man Carmen Chan 

Marianne Chan 

Brett Chandler 

Michael Chappell 

Alex Kuanyu Chen 

Yu-Ping Chen 

Sandra Chieh Hsiang Cheng 

Suk Kwan Cheung 

Ching Pik Candy Chiu 

Catherine Chwang 

Nina Civil 

James Craig 

Louisa Crowther 

Jayita De 

Gauri Dhara 

Wayne Edwards 

Catherine Egan 

Islam Elhalawani 

Alex Fang 

Thomas Fernandez 

Kate Ferris 

Ingrid Funke 

Jacobus Geertsema 

Nathan Goodrick 

Grace Gunasegaram 

Nathan Harper 

Robert Heavener 

Nicholas Hogan 

QLD 

TAS 

SA 

NSW 

NSW 

HK 

NZ 

QLD 

QLD 

SA 

VIC 

QLD 

NSW 

NZ 

HK 

NSW 

VIC 

QLD 

WA 

WA 

NSW 

HK 

HK 

NSW 

NZ 

QLD 

QLD 

NSW 

VIC 

QLD 

QLD 

SA 

NSW 

NZ 

QLD 

VIC 

VIC 

QLD 

VIC 

NSW 

NSW 

QLD 

Michelle Hughan 

Anthony Jackson 

Bryne John 

Vanessa Jones 

Saul Judelman 

Hasher Pallathu Kadavil 

Matthew Keating 

Zoe Keon-Cohen 

John Kerdic 

Dale Kerr 

Nicholas Knight 

Atlas Ching-Hong Ko 

Steven Koh 

Daniel Kwok 

Zoe Lagana 

Ka Wang Alan Lai 

Man Ling Lai 

Rupert Ledger 

Monn Lee 

Igor Lemech 

Malgorzata Lenarczyk 

Leona Yue Peik Leong 

Nina Loughman 

Isabelle Lusk 

Jason Ma 

Hiu Kwan Jannifer Man 

Gillian Mann 

Kameel Marcus 

Shane McQuoid 

Luke Mercer 

Rosmiyati Mohammed Zabidi 

Christie Moule 

Tracy Murgatroyd 

Luke Murtagh 

Rayhaan Mussa 

Joseph Yeuk-Kei Ng 

Merlin Nicholas 

Toby Nichols 

Panya Nipatcharoen 

Martine O’Neill 

Kellie Ovenden 

Timothy Paterson 

Pieter Peach 

Andrew Peart 

Anna Pedersen 

Slava Poel 

Rebecca Prentice 

NSW 

WA 

NSW 

NSW 

NSW 

NZ 

WA 

VIC 

NSW 

QLD 

SA 

VIC 

NSW 

NSW 

SA 

HK 

HK 

WA 

VIC 

VIC 

QLD 

NZ 

TAS 

NZ 

VIC 

HK 

NZ 

VIC 

NZ 

NZ 

NSW 

SA 

NZ 

SA 

NSW 

WA 

WA 

WA 

NSW 

NSW 

QLD 

WA 

VIC 

NSW 

NSW 

VIC 

NSW 

Leah Purcell 

Nayyera Nudrat Rashid 

Peter Reid 

David Reiner 

Jonathan Samaan 

Simon Samoilenko 

Timothy Sampson 

Paul Sherwin 

Tony Shih 

Hon Earn Sim 

Emma Smith 

Melanie Speer 

Georgia Stefanko 

Phoebe Streat 

Sutharshan Sundaram 

Tamsin Supple 

Nathan Taylor 

Derek Kah Wei Teh 

Minh Hai Tran 

Zain Upton 

Khai Tan Van 

Susan Van Duren 

Andrew Wallace 

Helen Ward 

Katrina Webster 

Brett Wells 

Yasmin Whately 

Carolyn Wills 

Jordan Wood 

David Wright 

Ewan Wright 

Melissa Yee 

John Young 

Lilian Yuan 

Chenqu Zhao 

QLD 

NSW 

QLD 

NSW 

QLD 

QLD 

QLD 

QLD 

NSW 

ACT 

SGP 

NZ 

NZ 

NZ 

VIC 

VIC 

NSW 

NZ 

NSW 

ACT 

QLD 

WA 

SA 

NSW 

TAS 

NSW 

QLD 

QLD 

NZ 

TAS 

NT 

NSW 

NSW 

ACT 

TAS 

20 


Court of Examiners 

PRIZE WINNERS 

Renton Prize 

The Court of Examiners recommended 

that the Renton Prize for the half year ended 

31 December 2007 be awarded to: 

Dr Siu Wah Sylvia Au Hong Kong 

Merit Certificates 

Merit Certificates were awarded to: 

Dr Andrea Bowyer 

VIC 

Dr Christopher Breen QLD 

Dr Kate Ferris 

QLD 

Dr Michelle Hughan NSW 

Dr Vanessa Jones 

NSW 

Dr Steven Koh 

NSW 

Dr Igor Lemech 

VIC 

Dr Luke Mercer 

NZ 

Dr Yvette D’Oliveiro 

Malaysia 

Dr Timothy Paterson WA 

Dr Kalmin Senaratne QLD 

Dr Hon Earn Sim 

ACT 

Dr Georgia Stefanko 

NZ 

Dr Khai Tan Van 

QLD 

Noel Roberts at the Examiners dinner receiving a certificate 

for his retirement as Chairman of Primary Exam 


21

22 THE ANZCA BULLETIN DECEMBER ISSUE 2007


23

NHMRC Project Grants 

ANZCA, JFICM and FPM Fellows were very successful in the recent 

NHMRC Project Grant Round, with grants totalling $3,475,975. 

Successful grants 

491226 A multi-site RCT comparing 

spinal and general anaesthesia on 

neurodevelopmental outcome and apnoea 

in infants $490,750. 

Dr Andrew Davidson, Dr Rodney Hunt, 

Dr Robyn Stargatt, Dr Geoffrey Frawley, 

Ms Pollyanna Hardy. 

512307 Predicting the risk of invasive 

candidiasis in critically ill patients 

$1,200,350. 

Prof Tania Sorrell, Prof Jeffrey Lipman, 

Dr E Geoffrey Playford, Dr Michael Jones, 

A/Pr Jonathan Iredell, Prof David Paterson, 

A/Pr Deborah Marriott. 

519702 Antibiotic dosing in the ‘at risk’ 

critically ill patient $589,000. 

Prof Jeffrey Lipman, Prof Michael Roberts, 

Prof David Paterson, Dr Carl Kirkpatrick, 

Dr Peter Kruger, Mr Jason Roberts. 

508081 Impact of gastrointestinal 

dysmotility on enteral nutrition in the 

critically ill $511,500. 

A/Pr Robert Fraser, Dr Marianne Chapman, 

Dr Christopher Rayner, A/Pr Richard 

Holloway, Prof Gerald Holtmann, 

Prof Michael Horowitz. 

490966 Hyperbaric Oxygen in lower limb 

trauma: a randomised controlled clinical 

trial $684,375. 

Dr Ian Millar, Dr Owen Williamson, 

Prof Peter Cameron, Prof Paul Myles. 

The GAS Study 

Dr Andrew Davidson was successful in 

obtaining his first NHMRC Project Grant for 

his randomised controlled trial of general 

anaesthesia versus spinal anaesthesia for 

neonatal inguinal hernia repair. There has 

been increasing interest in the long term 

effect of anaesthesia on the developing 

brain. The GAS study is a multisite 

randomised controlled trial assessing the 

neurodevelopmental outcome of infants 

who have been randomised to receive a 

general or spinal anaesthetic for hernia 

repair. This trial will determine if having a 

general anaesthetic as an infant is associated 

with long standing neurological damage. 

660 babies—from sites in Australia, New 

Zealand, USA, UK and Canada—will be 

enrolled into the trial, randomised to receive 

a general or local anaesthetic, and then 

followed for five years. The study received 

seed funding from ANZCA, the Murdoch 

Children’s Research Institute and Boston 

Children’s Hospital. This is one of the first 

Dr Andrew Davidson 

large multinational investigator driven trials 

to be attempted in paediatric anaesthesia 

and will answer a crucial question for 

paediatric anaesthesia. The trial is being coordinated 

from Melbourne, involves nearly 

all major paediatric centres in Australia/NZ 

and recruitment has started in several sites. 

The NHMRC funding will provide sufficient 

funds for enrolment and assessment across 

Australia and NZ. 

24 


EDUCATIONAL 

INNOVATION 

GRANTS 2009 

The ANZCA Education and Training Committee 

has established Educational Innovation Grants 

for educational initiatives undertaken by Fellows. 

The aim is to support small workplace-based 

projects with modest budgets that are directly 

relevant to the FANZCA Training Program. 

Applications are now invited from ANZCA 

Fellows for the Educational Innovation Grants. The 

budget available to support these projects is up to 

AUD$40,000 in total, with individual projects allocated 

a maximum of AUD$10,000. Applications for more 

than AUD$10,000 will be returned. 

These grants are offered subject to the 

following conditions: 

1 A detailed prowposal from the applicants and a letter 

of support from the Director of the Department must 

be submitted. Each proposal must include a budget 

and a statement that ethics committee approval will be 

sought, or that the local ethics committee has stated 

that ethics committee approval is not necessary. Monies 

will not be distributed until such approval or statement 

is received by the College and there is evidence of 

appropriate insurance cover. 

2 Applications must be received as a hard copy 

or pdf file including all signatures by 5.00pm 

EST at ANZCA House on the closing date. Late 

or incomplete applications will not be accepted. 

3 Proposals must address the relevance of the 

research project to the education and training 

activities of the College. 

4 Sites may present their results or offer them 

for publication in the peer-reviewed literature, 

with appropriate acknowledgement and the 

prior permission of the Chair of the Education 

and Training Committee. 

CLOSING DATE: 5PM EST, 28 FEBRUARY 2008 

Please submit enquiries and applications to: 

The CEO 

Australian and New Zealand 

College of Anaesthetists 

630 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, Victoria 3004 

ceo@anzca.edu.au 


25

2008 RESEARCH GRANT AWARDS 

The following Research Grants for 

2008, recommended by the Research 

Committee, were awarded by Council 

at the October Council Meeting: 

Pollock, Ashley (Neil) 

$25,000 

Pharmacological characterisation 

of malignant hyperthermia. 

Sleigh, James (Jamie) 

$20,625 

Dreaming and EEG changes 

during anaesthesia. 

Royse, Colin F 

$48,875 

Evaluation of left ventricular function 

using tissue Doppler strain rate with 

pressure-volume loop analysis. 

Brooker, Charles D 

$25,000 

Radiofrequency neurotomy for chronic 

lumbar zygapophyseal-joint pain: 

A randomised double-blinded 

investigation of diagnostic lumbar medical 

branch nerve blocks. 

Cousins, Michael J 

$54,402 

Regulation of serotonin receptors 

by anti-migraine drugs. 

$57,099 

Experimental strategies for preventing 

persistent post surgical pain. 

Sumpter, Anita L 

$40,000 

Age related changes in effects of sedatives 

and analgesics on quantative EEG 

monitoring in paediatric intensive care. 

Davies, Andrew R 

$15,000 

A multi-centre randomised controlled 

trial comparing early jejunal feeding and 

standard feeding in critical illness. 

Wrigley, Paul J 

$40,000 

Cortical and fibre tract changes in 

subjects with neuropathic pain following 

spinal cord injury. 

McIlroy, David R 

$25,000 

Can endothelial dysfunction predict 

perioperative cardiac morbidity? 

Bersten, Andrew D 

$45,000 

lung injury in acute pulmonary oedema: 

are there peripheral markers of tissue 

remodelling predictive of clinical outcome? 

Finfer, Simon R 

$40,000 

SAFE TRIPS: An international 

study of ICU fluid resuscitation practices. 

26 


2009 SIMULATION/EDUCATION GRANT 

Applications are invited from Fellows and 

registered Trainees for the Simulation/Education 

Grants for 2009. Projects that will be considered 

may be in the field of medical simulation and 

education of relevance to anaesthesia, intensive 

care or pain medicine. The total quantum of 

funding for 2009 is $35,000. 

An Application Guide and Form will be available from the 

College website (www.anzca.edu.au) from 1 December 2007 

CLOSING DATE FOR 

APPLICATIONS IS 

29 FEBRUARY 2008 at 5 PM 

Further information can be obtained by contacting: 





Melbourne, Victoria 3004 

Tel: 03 9510 6299 

Fax: 03 9510 6931 


Schug, Stephan A 

$27,590 

Identifying clinical predictors of long-term 

pain outcomes among severe physical 

trauma survivors. 

Cohen, Jeremy 

$15,000 

Tissue cortisol activity in critical illness. 

Cooper, David J 

$15,000 

Permissive Hypercapnia and Alveolar 

Recruitment with Limited Airway Pressures 

(PHARLAP): a phase II randomised trial in 

ARDS patients. 

RESEARCH AWARDS 

That the Harry Daly Research Award be 

awarded to Professor Michael Cousins 

for his project “Regulation of serotonin 

receptors by anti-migraine drugs.” (08/010) 

That the Mundipharma ANZCA Research 

Fellowship be awarded to Dr Anita Sumpter 

for her project ‘Age related changes in 

effects of sedatives and analgesics on 

quantative EEG monitoring in paediatric 

intensive care’. (08/011) 

That the Pfizer ANZCA Research 

Fellowship be awarded to Dr Paul Wrigley 

for his project ‘Cortical and fibre tract 

changes in subjects with neuropathic pain 

following spinal cord injury’. (08/014) 

That the ANS ANZCA Research Fellowship 

be awarded to Dr Charles Brooker for his 

project ‘Radiofrequency neurotomy for 

chronic lumbar zygapophyseal-joint pain: 

A randomised double-blinded investigation 

of diagnostic lumbar medical branch nerve 

blocks’. (08/009) 

That the Aspect ANZCA Research 

Fellowship be awarded to Professor 

Stephan Schug for his project ‘Identifying 

clinical predictors of long-term pain 

outcomes among severe physical trauma 

survivors’. (08/030) 

That the Organon Research Award be 

awarded to Professor Michael Cousins 

for his project ‘Experimental strategies for 

preventing persistent post surgical pain’. 

(08/022) 

2008 Novice Investigator Grants 

Scurrah, Nicholas 

$8,000 

Postoperative analgesia after liver resection: 

a clinical trial with intravenous morphine 

and interpleural analgesia. 

Panwar, Rakshit 

$11,050 

Utility of protein C levels in 

immunocompromised septic patients. 

2007 Academic Enhancement Grant 

Professor Alan Merry 

$89,282.93 

Enhancing the fidelity of modelling 

in simulation. 

2008 Simulation/Education Grant 

Awards 

Fraser, John 

$21,650 

Practical Simulation of the Human 

Cardiovascular System for Education 

and Training. 

Pinder, Mary 

$13,350 

Teaching clinical skills: evaluation of 

information transfer during medical 

handover at change of shift in the ICU. 


27

RESEARCH AWARDS FOR 2009 

Applications are invited from Departments of Anaesthesia and/or Intensive 

Care and/or Pain Medicine, Fellows and registered Trainees of ANZCA, 

the Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine and the Faculty of Pain Medicine 

for research awards for projects related to anaesthesia, resuscitation, 

peri-operative medicine, intensive care medicine or pain medicine. 

In general, the work must be carried 

out in Australia, New Zealand, 

Hong Kong, Malaysia or Singapore, 

however, ANZCA Fellows or Trainees 

who are temporarily working in other 

countries for research experience 

may be considered for research 

support under special conditions. 

The ANZCA Research Policy, 

which provides full details on the 

ANZCA Grant Program, is available 

on the College website and 

should be considered in detail by 

all applicants. 

Two types of research awards 

are offered: 

1 RESEARCH PROJECT GRANTS 

Awarded to support the salary of a 

research assistant and/or to assist 

in the purchase of research 

equipment. Projects that will be 

considered may be in the field of 

basic scientific research, clinical 

investigation or epidemiological 

research. Grants are usually awarded 

for one year, however, consideration 

will be given to the provision of 2 or 

3 year Grants for applications under 

special conditions. 

2 RESEARCH FELLOWSHIPS 

Awarded to Fellows or registered 

Trainees for salaries to support 

full-time or part-time research in a 

recognised university or research 

institute in Australia, New Zealand, 

Hong Kong, Malaysia or Singapore. 

Scholarships are available to 

individuals enrolled as senior 

degree students of any university 

in Australia, New Zealand, Hong 

Kong, Malaysia or Singapore. They 

are available for one to three years, 

subject to category of award made 

and subject to satisfactory reports. 

Applicants are also encouraged to apply for NHMRC, NZ HRC 

or equivalent funding. Any applicant gaining such funding will be 

considered by ANZCA for “top up” funding. 

The stipend and allowances are similar to those provided by the NHMRC. 

The basic stipend is approximately $40,000 inclusive of allowances. 

CLOSING DATE : 29 February 2008 at 5PM 

Applications will only be accepted 

on the prescribed forms. 

The Application Form and Guide to Applicants will be 

available from the College website at 

www.anzca.edu.au on 1 December 2007. 

Further information can be obtained by contacting: 





Tel: 03 9510 6299 Fax: 03 9510 6931 


28 


NOVICE RESEARCH GRANT APPLICANTS 

It is a major goal of the College and its Faculties to encourage and foster 

novice investigators. Writing research applications can be a daunting task for 

the uninitiated. The ANZCA Research Committee therefore invites novice 

investigators to apply for mentoring during the application process. 

Novice investigators may apply by email for mentoring. 

Once the application for mentoring is approved, the College 

must receive a complete grant application from the novice 

investigator by 5 pm EST on January 11th 2008. A mentor, 

who is an experienced investigator, will be appointed by 

the Research Committee. This mentor will assess the 

application and provide prompt feedback. The applicant must 

then resubmit their application to the College by deadline 

of 5 pm EST on 29 February, 2008. Late applications for either 

deadline will not be accepted. All mentoring provided to 

the applicant will be confidential and not available to the 

Research Committee. 

For the purposes of this process, a novice is an investigator 

who: 1) has not been awarded a peer-reviewed research grant 

in the past, and 2) has not published more than 5 research 

papers in the 5 years prior to the year of application, and 3) 

does not have an experienced investigator as a co-investigator 

or associate investigator on the proposed grant. 

Applicants should send a description of the proposed research 

project, a copy of their curriculum vitae and a covering letter 

indicating that they are seeking endorsement from the Trials 

Group and wish to apply for a pilot research grant. Applications 

will be adjudicated by the Trials Group Executive. 

Contact: Ms Jill Humphreys Executive Officer (Professional Areas) 



Tel: 03 9510 6299 Fax: 03 9510 6931 Email: jhumphreys@anzca.edu.au 

ANZCA INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP FOR 2009 

The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists invites 

suitable applicants for the ANZCA International Scholarship for 2009. 

This prestigious award is directed at anaesthetists 

of the highest quality who are destined to be leaders 

in their home countries. The Scholarship is offered 

to a young anaesthetist (up to 40 years of age) from 

Papua New Guinea, Fiji or the South Pacific Islands. 

Applications from Myanmar, Vietnam, Laos or 

Cambodia will also be considered. It is intended 

to provide an opportunity for the anaesthetist to 

develop skills to manage a Department and to 

become competent in the teaching of others in 

their home country. 

The Scholarship is tenable generally for one year 

in a Department of a major hospital in Australia 

or New Zealand. It covers travel expenses between 

the home country and Australia or New Zealand and 

may also include the scholar’s spouse and children 

under 16 years. A living allowance will be provided. 

During the tenure of the Scholarship it is anticipated 

that the appointee will attend the Annual Scientific 

Meeting of the College. 

The closing date for this Scholarship is 

Friday, 8 August 2008. 

No late applications will be considered. 

To obtain additional information on the Scholarship 

and a copy of the Application Form, please contact: 

Ms Janelle Talty 


630 St Kilda Road Melbourne Vic 3004 

Tel: +61 3 8517 5334 Fax: +61 3 9510 6931 



29

The clinical ethics resource: a free on-line 

text and educational program 

Your comments wanted! 

The moral, legal and philosophical issues 

associated with medicine are widely discussed 

today in relation to medical practice and 

research and the formation of social policy. 

New ethical questions constantly appear which 

often attract intense community interest. 

There is a growing expectation that doctors 

will possess detailed knowledge about 

ethical issues and offer reasoned 

responses. While teaching in ethics is now 

a universal part of undergraduate medical 

curricula, however, there are relatively 

few resources for clinicians who wish to 

pursue the study of clinical ethics at a 

higher level. 

In response to this need, a collaboration 

was established in 2005 between various 

Colleges and Monash University to establish 

a short postgraduate clinical ethics course. 

As the project developed, it became 

apparent that if the course were to serve the 

needs of clinicians working in many different 

settings, a complex and flexible approach 

would be needed. The resource would have 

to encompass a wide range of issues, 

incorporate a variety of perspectives, 

provide access to a wide literature, and be 

readily updatable, flexible enough to allow 

individuals to navigate different paths 

through it (depending on their interests) 

and able to be used in a manner that could 

suit busy time schedules. 

As a result, we have developed the 

Clinical Ethics Resource: an expanding 

on-line resource intended to assist clinicians 

in their responses to the wide range of 

moral, legal and philosophical issues that 

arise in practice. The first version of the 

resource is now on-line and your comments, 

suggestions and further contributions are 

sought. The resource is offered as a 

service to the medical and wider 

communities and is presented as a series 

of modules which aim to provide access to 

major currents of thought, arguments and 

resources. The material covers a range of 

perspectives and is not committed to any 

one particular point of view. 

The ultimate scope of the resource is 

not limited. At this stage, we have developed 

modules that cover issues of life and death, 

consent and confidentiality, legal issues in 

clinical medicine, ethics of clinical research, 

relations with industry and conflicts of 

interest, population health, and organ 

donation and transplantation. An additional 

module dealing with ethical issues in 

genetics is nearly complete and further 

modules are being planned. 

A key feature of the resource will be the 

incorporation of an expanding ‘archive’ of 

case experiences collected in video or text 

form from clinicians and other health 

professionals in all areas of practice. This 

archive is under construction and will be 

added in the near future. 

It is intended that specific learning 

programs that meet the needs of 

individual clinicians will be defined within 

the on-line text. These may be incorporated 

within advanced training or continuing 

medical education programs or completed 

as an accredited course which we will be 

happy to offer. 

At this stage, contributions are sought 

from interested people to assist with the 

further development of the resource. Such 

contributions could take the form of: 

• Short articles on particular subjects relevant 

to any aspect of clinical ethics 

• References to the literature or other 

resources, such as images, short videos or 

web site addresses 

• Descriptions of cases that illustrate ethical 

issues arising in clinical practice, preferably 

as 3-5 minute video clips 

• Descriptions of experiences of patients 

or carers that illustrate ethical issues in 

clinical practice 

• Ideas for additional modules or other 

suggestions about how to develop the 

resource further 

• Identification of error, deficiencies, typos 

etc within the existing text. 

The Clinical Ethics Resource can be found 

at http://www.cems.monash.org/ or 

http://mnhs-teaching1b.med.monash.edu. 

au/Public/Clinical%20Ethics/. 

Contributions can be sent by e-mail titled 

‘Clinical ethics resource material’ to 

paul.komesaroff@med.monash.edu.au. 

We look forward to your comments 

and suggestions! 

PAUL KOMESAROFF 

FRACP 

Professor of Medicine, Director, 

Centre for Ethics in Medicine and Society, 

Monash University, 

The Alfred Hospital, Commercial Road, 

Prahran, Victoria 3181 


NEW FELLOWS’ 

CONFERENCE 2008 

Anaesthesia, Intensive Care 

and Pain Medicine 

Theme: Fitness to Practise: Achieving Career Longevity 

Venue: Tuscany Wine Estate Resort, Hunter Valley NSW 

Date: Wednesday 30 April – Friday 2 May 2008 

Applications are invited from Fellows in 

all training regions, up to eight years from 

Fellowship and attending the 2008 Annual 

Scientific Meeting (ASM) in Sydney, for 

selection to attend the 2008 New Fellows’ 

Conference. Selection will be undertaken 

by the Regional Committees, New Zealand 

National Committee, the Joint Faculty of 

Intensive Care Medicine and the Faculty 

of Pain Medicine. 

The program, to which each participant 

will be expected to make significant 

personal contributions, will include mainly 

administration and professional topics. 

The College and Faculties will be responsible 

for the costs of this seminar. However, the 

applicant is responsible for the cost of 

travelling to and from Sydney and all ASM 

registration and associated fees. 

Written applications, with accompanying 

The object of the course is to provide each 

curriculum vitae, should be forwarded to the 

participant with skills to assist them in dealing 

relevant Regional Committee, New Zealand 

with their professional lives and relationships 

National Committee, Faculty of Pain Medicine 

during their work in anaesthesia, intensive 

or Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine by 

care and pain medicine, with special emphasis 

4 January 2008. 

on professional excellence, leadership and 

involvement in College and Faculty affairs. 

08 

Enquiries should be addressed to: 

Ms Christine Gill 

Administrative Officer 


630 St Kilda Rd, Melbourne Vic 3004 

Telephone 03 9510 6299 

Fax 03 9510 6786 

Email cgill@anzca.edu.au 


31

SIG Combined Education, Simulation, 

Welfare and Management 2007 

SIG Meeting, Sheraton Noosa & Spa 

12 – 14 October 

The Changing Face of Anaesthetic Careers 

The 2007 Combined SIG Conference 

was held at the Sheraton Noosa 

Resort & Spa from 12-14 October. 

A popular annual meeting that 

regularly attracts Fellows from all 

over Australia and New Zealand, the 

conference this year was attended by 

more than 130 delegates. 

The main speaker was Dr David Prideaux, 

Professor and Head, Department of Medical 

Education, School of Medicine, Flinders 

University. Dr Prideaux’s research interests 

include decision making models for change 

and innovation in medical education, and he 

brought to the meeting, his expertise in 

curriculum development and evaluation, 

which was most valued by members of all 

four SIGs. The topics of his presentations— 

‘Current Trends in Medical Education’ and 

‘Effective Continuing Professional 

Development’—were particularly relevant to 

the meeting’s theme. 

Other highlights of the weekend 

included a Hypothetical ‘Facing the Public 

Eye’ with a panel discussion moderate by Dr 

Martin Lum, and a workshop presented by 

Phil Smith on ‘Resolving Conflict through 

Negotiation’ from the IMteam. Together 

with a number of Free Paper Sessions, 

delegates had a wide range of sessions to 

attend as well as the time to meet and mix 

with colleagues. 

On Saturday night, a Conference Dinner 

was held at the award-winning restaurant, 

Berardo’s, and was a great success. The 

delegates enjoyed an excellent meal with 

beautiful wines in a relaxed tropical 

atmosphere. 

The next Combined SIG Meeting will 

be held in Queenstown in August 2008 in a 

very different climate, but with an equally 

stimulating program. 

32 



33

Website update 

ANZCA takes first steps in website upgrade 

ANZCA has taken the first steps in a major 

upgrade of its website, presenting a new look 

and advanced features and functionality 

from early November. 

The main driver for the changes to 

the website is the need to make it a more 

effective resource for ANZCA members. 

Undertaken in stages, the major 

upgrade will be completed early in 2008. 

In the coming months, further changes 

to the site will become evident as ANZCA 

works to make it more user-friendly and 

focused on the specific needs of Fellows 

and Trainees. 

The immediate changes to the site 

introduced in November included: 

• enhanced site presentation and navigation 

tools as well as a clearer and more logical 

content flow to make the site more 

user-friendly; 

• new pages and more topical content on the 

site including ‘news items’ on the home page 

to keep members regularly updated 

on ANZCA activities; 

• a more efficient search engine to allow users 

to search for specific items using key words 

in a faster and more effective manner; 

• a new event calendar to allow Fellows 

and Trainees to keep-up-to-date with 

ANZCA events; 

• a quick links function to provide easier 

links to pages accessed on a regular basis. 

The website retains the same address at 

www.anzca.edu.au and ANZCA Fellows and 

Trainees enter the site using the same log-in 

access codes as applied previously. 

Following further revisions over the 

next few months ANZCA will present its 

Fellows, Trainees, staff and stakeholders 

with a significantly enhanced website which 

will prove to be a powerful resource tool for 

all users. 

34 



Subscriptions promotion 

Annual subscriptions are due now! 

Pay your subscriptions by the due date and go in the draw to win some fabulous prizes. 

Prizes 

1st prize is a choice of the following: 

• 6 bottles of 1996 Grange Hermitage* 

or 

• A weekend getaway/theatre package for two to Melbourne 

to see ‘Guys & Dolls’ 

or 

• A travel and accommodation voucher with HRG valued at $2,500 

2nd prize 

• A Montblanc Meisterstuck LeGrand 

Ball Pen valued at $480. 

For further details, contact 

Damien Morgan on 03 8517 5331 or dmorgan@anzca.edu.au 

*Not available to NZ and NT residents 

Terms and Conditions of Entry 

Entry is open to Australian and New Zealand residents over the age of 18 who pay their yearly subscription by the due date. Directors of the College are ineligible. 

Method of entry 

Entry is automatic when subscriptions are paid by the due date as indicated on the subscription invoice issued in November by ANZCA. If a member does not wish to be 

entered in the draw, they may contact Damien Morgan on (03) 8517 5331 to opt out of the draw. 

Duration of promotion 

The promotion commences on 12 November 2007 and closes on 25 January 2008. 

Details of prizes and prize values 

The first entry drawn can select from one of the following three prizes valued at approximately $2,500: 

• 6 bottles of 1996 Grange Hermitage 

(not available to NZ or NT residents); or 

• Weekend getaway for 2 to Melbourne to see Guys and Dolls. Prize includes 2 return economy flights from nearest capital city to Melbourne, transfers 

between Tullamarine airport and The Windsor, 2 nights accommodation at the Windsor, 2 breakfasts for 2, 1 dinner for 2 at Grossi Florentino’s to the value 

of $150, and 2 A-Reserve tickets to Guys and Dolls at the Princess Theatre. 

(Only available for travel between 28/3/08 and 11/5/08 when Guys and Dolls is showing.); or 

• Travel and accommodation voucher for HRG valued at $2,500. 

The second entry drawn will win a Montblanc Meisterstuck LeGrand Ball Pen valued at $480. 

The total prize pool value is $2,980. 

The College reserves the right to substitute elements of the getaway or the release year of the Grange to equivalent or greater value.Prizes are not redeemable for cash. 

Date, time and place of draw 

The draw will be conducted on 28th January 2008 at 12 noon at 630 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, VIC 3004 by the CEO of ANZCA. 

Winners notified 

The winners will be notified by mail and phone. The names of both winners will be published in the The Australian on the 31 January 2008. 

Name and address of Promoter 

The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, 630 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, VIC 3004. (03) 9510 6299 

Permit Numbers 

SA T07/4811 

NSW LTPS/07/27526 


35

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ANZCA ASM 2008 

Planning for the ANZCA ASM 2008 is well underway with both the 

scientific and social program complete. The date of the Meeting is 

3-7 May 2008 and the theme is ‘Anaesthesia: science, art and life’. 

It is a theme about which the scientific committee feel very passionate, and they have 

thoroughly enjoyed putting together a very comprehensive program that fits all aspects 

of this theme. 

The invited speakers specialise in a large range of clinical and academic areas, and 

are known for presenting their information in a very entertaining fashion. Not only 

are all the scientific aspects of anaesthesia covered, including all 16(!) Special Interest 

Groups represented, but a range of non-anaesthetic topics (eg. nutrition, climate change, 

relationships, financial planning, music, art, as well as many medical non-anaesthetic topics 

such as cardiology, gastroenterology, radiology, psychiatry and humanitarian aid) will be 

offered among the six concurrent lecture rooms and nearly 100 workshops and problembased 

learning sessions. There will be something for absolutely everyone. 

Likewise, the social program is innovative and caters for all tastes. Some of the fantastic 

talent from the 1996 World Congress in Sydney has been harnessed to make the College 

Dinner very special. 

The party planned after the College Ceremony, including fireworks and live 

entertainment will be a highlight of the meeting. 

On top of all this, of course, Sydney offers a seemingly endless supply of entertainment 

for those who can’t chose from the many options in the social program. Registration is due 

to open in early December 2007. Please remember the dates—3-7 May 2008—for your diary 

and register early so that you don’t miss out on what will be the scientific program and social 

party of the year. 

DR DAVID ELLIOT 

DR DAVID ELLIOT 

Convener, ANZCA ASM 2008 

36 


MEET THE EXPERTS LUNCH FOR REGISTRARS 

SUNDAY 4TH MAY, 2008 

A Special Invitation to Trainees in Anaesthesia, 

Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Medicine at the 

ANZCA Annual Scientific Meeting in Sydney, May 3-7, 2008. 

The organising committee of the 2008 ANZCA ASM would 

like to invite all registrars and residents registered for the 

scientific meeting to attend a complimentary lunch on Sunday 

4th May 2008.At each table will be a number of well known 

names in the fields of Anaesthesia, Intensive Care Medicine and 

Pain Medicine.A delicious 2 course meal with selected wines will 

be provided while you have your favourite scientific, philosophical 

and practical questions answered by some of the highest profile 

members in our specialty.With the ASM theme of 

“Anaesthesia: Science,Art and Life” this will be the 

perfect opportunity to discuss a range of topics related to 

anaesthesia, medicine or life in general. 

You might sit next to the editor in chief of Anesthesia & Analgesia, 

Steve Shafer, or the editor in chief of Anaesthesia, David Bogod, or 

maybe even the president of ANZCA,Wally Thompson.There will 

also be members of ANZCA Council, the ASA and NZSA 

Councils, the Court of Examiners and prominent researchers and 

heads of department in anaesthesia. 

You will be seated at a table overlooking Darling Harbour, wining 

and dining with some of the biggest names in anaesthesia in 

Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, discussing work-life 

balance, exciting advances in scientific knowledge or the political 

future of the specialty… or maybe you might just want to know 

what they think of the Australian wine industry, the New Zealand 

health system or the problems hindering world peace! Make your 

visit to Sydney a memorable occasion and meet the human side of 

the celebrities of the specialty. 

Please see registration brochure for more details. 

www.anzca2008asm.com 


37

Obituaries 

Raymond Arthur Chapman 

College Secretary 1962 – 1989 

4 March 1928 – 9 August 2007 

Ray Chapman 

Judy (Ray’s widow) has asked 

me to speak about Ray’s career as 

Secretary of the Royal Australasian 

College of Surgeons. It is a privilege 

to do so on behalf of a host of 

surgeons whom Ray has helped 

and befriended in his role as chief 

executive of the College. 

Ray came to the College as a Certified 

Practising Accountant and an Administrative 

Cadet from CSIRO. In mid-1961, the 

position to which he was first appointed was 

Assistant Secretary. 

The President in 1962 was Julian 

Ormond Smith—a swash-buckling, warmblooded 

surgeon of the older school, who is 

credited with having filled every position on 

College committees, although not all at the 

same time. Viewed in retrospect, perhaps 

his master-stroke in 1962 was to appoint, as 

Secretary, Raymond Arthur Chapman who 

was at the ripe age of 34 years. 

I think Julian Smith recognised his 

intelligence, initiative, energy and 

enthusiasm, and that is what he wanted in 

his lieutenant and adjutant. Little did he 

bargain for the versatility, loyalty, sound 

judgement and affable personality which 

Ray brought to the job, and to all his 

dealings with his surgeons. 

For many, first contact with the College 

was made through Ray Chapman. Moreover, 

entry to Fellowship of the College is 

preceded by a stiff but fair Part II exam. Ray 

organised those examinations like clockwork. 

After each, there would be those who were 

happy, and those who were sad. Ray was the 

first to contact each category—no easy task 

with the latter. Ray, who knew his scriptures, 

was able to comply with the exhortations of 

St Paul the Apostle to the Romans to ‘Rejoice 

with them that do rejoice, and weep with 

them that weep’. 

So began a bond with new Fellows of the 

College—some of whom enter at their first 

attempt, some at their second, and others 

taking longer. 

Ray was not one to raise spurious 

hopes by false optimism. One applicant, 

with several unsuccessful attempts, 

wished to try again. In his application, 

he made the proviso that he did not wish 

to be examined again by Mr D R Leslie. 

Mr Chapman, in sending him his exam 

number, acknowledged the proviso, but 

felt it was only fair to indicate that of the 

ten examiners the applicant had faced at 

previous attempts, the only one who had 

passed him was Mr D R Leslie. 

Ray maintained contact with Fellows 

and was a personal friend of many of them 

throughout Australia and New Zealand. 

Many were surprised when they telephoned 

the College that he could recognise the voice 

before they had introduced themselves. In 

Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur 

he was very much the face of the College. 

He was held in high regard at the 

headquarters of the surgical colleges in the 

United Kingdom and Ireland and in the 

‘He was a very enthusiastic 

teacher and showed an interest in 

registrars by giving them tutorials 

at a time when formal in-service 

teaching was rare.’ 

United States of America, where his deep 

knowledge of surgical affairs, his efficient 

approach to business, and his collegiate 

manner were deeply appreciated. 

To my knowledge, there was only one 

occasion on which he was paraded before 

higher authority—to explain his actions 

and for reprimand. I know because I was 

paraded with him. It came about this way: 

In preparation for the Golden Jubilee 

General Scientific Meeting in 1977, the 

command was issued by the Vice-President, 

impending President and former naval 

officer D’Arcy Sutherland that the College 

Headquarters were to be cleaned up. 

Much had accumulated in the vaults at 

Spring Street, and had been put there 

during the war when the College building 

had been occupied by the Red Cross and 

National Authorities. The task was given 

to Chapman and Macleish, who had just 

been appointed to the House Committee. 

Our solution was to put everything from the 

vaults in a removal van and take the lot to 

an empty ward at Heidelberg Repatriation 

Hospital. We spent a weekend in boiler 

suits separating the wheat from the chaff. 

Old telephone books, unused toilet rolls, 

out-dated stationery, etc were thrown out 

and anything bearing a hint of archival 

significance was put in the van and brought 

back to the College. 

38 


In Memory 

Associate Professor G A (Don) Harrison 

3 November 1931 - 10 October 2007 

Teacher 

Innovator 

Worker 

Carer 

Family man 

Thereafter, it was found that certain records 

were missing, including the colourful Grant 

of Arms issued by the College of Heralds 

in London. We were summoned to face 

the Archives Committee, which comprised 

past surgical Office-bearers of impressive 

stature and imperious nature. The dressing 

down was merciless. All we could do was 

to maintain that we had sifted wheat from 

chaff. It carried little weight. A substitute 

Grant of Arms had to be obtained from 

the College of Heralds—through the good 

offices of Wyn Beasley. 

Fortunately, shortly afterwards, an 

official of the ANZ Bank called Mr Chapman 

to state that in the vaults of the bank 

there had been found a red box labelled 

‘Surgeons’, and ‘was he interested?’. He was. 

It contained the missing original Grant of 

Arms. Chapman and Macleish received no 

formal apology, but were not dismissed. 

In 1984, Ray was awarded the RACS 

Medal ‘For singularly valuable and dedicated 

contributions to the College’. He had 

contributed to the well-being of all aspects 

of College activity. It is not my role or 

intention to make odious comparison. I 

know that times change and the College has 

grown. But the simple mathematical fact is 

that all the portfolios that Ray Chapman 

carried are now carried by seven different 

individual people. 

In 1987, after 25 years as Secretary, he 

was elected to Fellowship of the Royal 

Australasian College of Surgeons—a most 

unusual honour for someone who has not 

studied anatomy. As a rule, the anaesthetist 

commences manoeuvres before the surgeon, 

but in this case, two years later he was 

elected to Fellowship of the Faculty of 

Anaesthetists, in recognition of all the work 

he had done for the Faculty in its earlier 

days. He thus became both a surgeon 

and an anaesthetist, but being the good 

administrator that he was, he did not enter 

into competition with his clinical colleagues. 

The College Office was a happy place, 

and his supportive secretarial staff were 

fond of him. The nature of his approach 

was reflected in their enthusiastic work for 

the betterment of the College. In the age of 

acronyms, RACS became interchangeable 

for R A Chapman Secretary and Royal 

Australasian College of Surgeons. 

Had he been CEO of Telstra, he would 

have received greater remuneration. He was 

not highly paid, but as Shakespeare has put 

it, he was ‘wealthy in his friends’. 

When he retired from the College in 1989 

after 28 years service, he left ‘with friends 

and admirers aplenty, and without 

an enemy of consequence’. His 

Headmaster’s report card would have read: 

‘Could not have done better’. 

Though it is difficult to be certain of 

more than a few predictions, I think the 

College will not see his like again. 

May I close by paraphrasing Kipling 

but slightly: 

‘Wherefore praise we famous men— 

Men of little showing, 

For their work continueth 

Broad and deep continueth, 

Great beyond their knowing.’ 

D G (SCOTTY) MACLEISH 

15 August 2007 


39

College Library 

The following services are 

offered to all Fellows and Trainees 

of the College, the Joint Faculty 

of Intensive Care Medicine 

and the Faculty of Pain Medicine. 

• Loan of books and videos 

• Supply of journal articles 

• Literature searches 

ONLINE JOURNALS 

To access online journals go to: 

http://www.anzca.edu.au/infocentres/library/ 

journals/index.htm 

A website username and password is 

required to access the online journals. 

To apply for a website username and 

password go to: 

http://www.anzca.edu.au/reg/anzca_reg.cfm 

CONTACT THE LIBRARIAN 

Phone (03) 8517 5305 

Fax (03) 8517 5381 

Email: libanzca@anzca.edu.au 

NOTICE TO NEW ZEALAND 

FELLOWS AND TRAINEES 

A core collection of anaesthetic textbooks 

is available for loan from the New Zealand 

office of the College. Please check the 

library catalogue at http://www.anzca.edu.au/ 

libcatalogue/index.htm 

for books held in New Zealand. 

Contact details for the New Zealand 

office are as follows: 

New Zealand National Committee 

(ANZCA) 

PO Box 7451 

Wellington South 

New Zealand 

Phone (04) 385 8556 

Fax (04) 385 3950 

Email: anzca@anzca.org.nz 

New additions to the College Library 

NEW BOOKS 

1. Acute pain management: a practical 

guide / PE Macintyre and S Schug – 3rd ed. 

– Edinburgh: Saunders-Elsevier, 2007. 

2. AMA manual of style: A guide for 

authors and editors / C Iverson et al – 10th 

ed. – Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. 

3. Anaesthesia and the practice 

of medicine: historical perspectives 

/ Keith Sykes and John Bunker – London: 

Royal Society of Medicine Press, 2007. 

4. Anesthesia in cosmetic surgery 

/ ed by BL Friedberg – Cambridge: 

Cambridge University Press, 2007. 

5. Anaesthesia science / ed by 

NR Webster and HF Galley – Mass. 

Blackwell Publishing, 2006. 

6. The Australian health care system 

/ S J Duckett – 3rd ed. – Victoria: Oxford 

University Press, 2007. 

7. Better: A surgeon’s notes on 

performance / Atul Gawande – New York: 

Metropolitan Books, 2007. 

8. Cardiopulmonary bypass: principles 

and practice / ed by GP Gravlee, RF Davis, 

AH Stammers and RM Ungerleider – 

2nd ed. – Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer 

– Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2008. 

9. Cardiothoracic critical care / ed by 

D Sidebotham, A McKee, M Gillham and 

JH Levy – Philadelphia: Butterworth 

Heinemann Elsevier, 2007. 

10. Clinical examination: A systematic 

guide to physical diagnosis / NJ Talley and 

S O’Connor – 5th ed. – Sydney: Churchill 

Livingstone Elsevier, 2006. 

11. Core topics in operating department 

practice: anaesthesia and critical care 

/ ed by B Smith, P Rawling, P Wicker and 

C Jones – Cambridge: 


12. Essentials of anaesthetic equipment 

/ Baha Al-Shaikh and Simon Stacey 

– 3rd ed. - Edinburgh: 

Churchill Livingstone Elsevier, 2007. 

13. Evidence-based anaesthesia and 

intensive care / ed by Ann Moller and 

Tom Pedersen – Cambridge: 

Cambridge University Press, 2006. 

14. Examination medicine: a guide 

to physician training / NJ Talley and 

S O’Connor – 5th ed. – Sydney: 

Churchill Livingstone Elsevier, 2006. 

15. How doctors think 

/ Jerome Groopman – Boston: 

Houghton Mifflin Co. 2007. 

16. Inquiry into the misuse / abuse 

of bezodiazepines and other forms of 

pharmaceutical drugs in Victoria: interim 

report / Drugs and Crime Prevention 

Committee – Victoria. Parliament. Drugs 

and Crime Prevention Committee. – 

Melbourne: Government Printer, 2006. 

17. Irwin and Rippe’s intensive care 

medicine / ed by RS Irwin and JM Rippe 

– 6th ed. – Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer 

- Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2008. 

40 


Offer to all Fellows and Trainees 

SPP Books, a specialist medical bookstore, have offered all 

College and Faculty Fellows and Trainees a 15% discount off 

most titles and FREE delivery within Australia. 

American Express and Diners Club card holders 

receive a 10% discount. 

To make use of this offer, all you need to do is to identify 

yourself as a Fellow or a Trainee of the College or Faculty. 

SPP Books 

688 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 

Ph: (03) 9341 7000 Fax (03) 9341 7097 

Email: bookshop@sppbooks.com.au 

www.sppbooks.com.au 

18. Manual of office-based anesthesia 

procedures / ed by FE Shapiro – 

Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer - Lippincott 

Williams and Wilkins, 2007. 

19. Medical emergency teams: 

Implementation and outcome 

measurement / ed by MA DeVita, Ken 

Hillman and R Bellomo -- New York: 

Springer, 2006. 

20. The objective structured clinical 

examination in anaesthesia: 

Practice papers for teachers and trainees 

/ C Mendonca and S Balasubramanian 

– UK: tfm Publishing Limited, 2007. 

21. Peripheral regional anesthesia: 

An atlas of anatomy and techniques 

/ ed by G Meier and J Buettner 

– 2nd ed. – Stuttgart: Thieme, 2007. 

22. A practical approach to cardiac 

anesthesia / ed by FA Hensley, DE Martin 

and GP Gravlee – 4th ed. – Philadelphia: 

Wolters Kluwer - Lippincott Williams and 

Wilkins, 2008. 

23. Rang and Dale’s pharmacology 

/ HP Rang, MM Dale, JM Ritter and 

RJ Flower – 6th ed. – Edinburgh: 

Churchill Livingstone, 2007. 

24. Safety and ethics in healthcare: 

a guide to getting it right / Bill Runciman, 

Alan Merry and Merrilyn Walton – 

Hampshire, England: Ashgate, 2007. 

25. Transoesophageal echocardiography: 

Study guide and practice questions 

/ A Roscoe – Cambridge: 


26. Yao and Artusio’s anesthesiology: 

problem-oriented patient management 

/ ed by Fun-Sun F Yao, Vinod Malhotra 

and Manuel L Fontes 

– 6th ed. – Philadelphia: 

Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2008. 

POPULAR BOOKS 

1. Anaesthesia OSCE / G Arthurs and 

KM Elfituri – 2nd ed – London: 

Greenwich Medical Media, 2002. 

2. Anesthesia and co-existing disease 

/ Robert K Stoelting; Stephen F Dierdorf 

– 4th ed. – New York: 

Churchill Livingstone, 2002. 

3. Benumof ’s airway management: 

principles and practice / ed by CA Hagberg 

– 2nd ed. – Philadelphia: 

Mosby Elsevier, 2007. 

4. The clinical anaesthesia viva book 

/ Simon J Mills; Simon Maguire and 

Julian M Barker – London: 


5. Clinical teaching: a guide to 

teaching practical anaesthesia / ed by 

J David Greaves; Chris Dodds; 

Chandra M Kumar and Berend Mets 

– Lisse: Swets and Zeitlinger, 2003. 

6. Concise anatomy for anaesthesia 

/ Andreas G Erdmann – London: 


7. Crisis management in anesthesiology 

/ David M Gaba; Kevin J Fish and 

Steven K Howard – New York: 

Churchill Livingstone, 1994. 

8. Equipment for anaesthesia and 

intensive care / WJ Russell – 2nd ed 

– Adelaide: W J Russell, 1997. 

9. Evidence-based practice of 

anesthesiology / ed by Lee A Fleisher 

– Philadelphia: Saunders, 2004. 

10. Foundations of anesthesia: basic 

sciences for clinical practice / ed by 

HC Hemmings and PM Hopkins – 2nd ed. 

Philadelphia: Mosby Elsevier, 2006. 

11. Laryngeal mask anaesthesia: 

principles and practice / JR Brimacombe – 

2nd ed. – Philadelphia: Saunders, 2005. 

12. Ophthalmic anaesthesia / ed by 

Chandra M Kumar; Chris Dodds and 

Gary L Fanning – Netherlands: 

Swets and Zeitlinger, 2002. 

13. Peripheral regional anesthesia: 

an atlas of anatomy and techniques 

/ Gisela Meier and Johannes Buettner 

– New York: Thieme, 2005. 

14. Pharmacology for anaesthesia 

and intensive care / TE Peck; SA Hill 

and M Williams – 2nd ed – London: 


15. A practical approach to cardiac 

anesthesia / ed by Frederick A Hensley; 

Donald E Martin and Glenn P Gravlee 

– 4th ed – Philadelphia: 


16. Practical perioperative 

transesophageal echocardiography 

/ ed by David Sidebotham; Alan Merry 

and Malcolm Legget – Edinburgh: 

Butterworth Heinemann, 2003. 

17. Regional anesthesia: 

an atlas of anatomy and techniques 

/ ed by Marc B Hahn; Patrick M McQuillan 

and George J Sheplock – St Louis: 

Mosby, 1996. 

18. Regional nerve blocks and 

infiltration therapy: textbook and colour 

atlas / Danilo Jankovic – 3rd ed. – Mass.: 

Blackwell Publishing, 2005. 

19. Statistical methods for anaesthesia 

and intensive care / Paul Myles and 

Tony Gin – Oxford: 

Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000. 

20. Yao and Artusio’s anesthesiology: 

problem-oriented patient management 

/ ed by Fun-Sun F Yao, Vinod Malhotra and 

Manuel L Fontes – 6th ed. – Philadelphia: 


THE AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND COLLEGE OF ANAESTHETISTS 41

Q & S 

Report on Standards for the Year 2007 

The major activity for standards has been 

internationally due to the retirement of the project 

manager for the main Australian standards committees 

dealing with anaesthesia and intensive care. 

International Standards 

ISOTC121—which is the international 

standards technical committee for 

anaesthetic and intensive care equipment— 

met in San Diego in June. Four 

subcommittees, SC1, SC2, SC3 and 

SC6 met. 

This meeting heard a report from 

the Italian delegation on the death of 8 

patients due to a pipeline error. In 2002, 

this hospital was opened with pipelines for 

air, oxygen, suction and nitrous oxide. 

In 2004, a new building with an intensive 

care ward was built. It included four 

pipelines. The pipelines were tested but 

not connected as the building was not put 

into use because of staff shortages. To this 

point, the pipeline construction appears 

to have been correct and there is 

clear documentation of the system. 

In 2007, this second building was opened 

and the pipeline put into use. There is no 

record of who connected the pipeline into 

the building or how it was connected. 

Supposition is that the connection 

was made by hospital staff. This connection 

crossed the oxygen and the nitrous oxide. 

Because it affected the coronary care unit, it 

is uncertain exactly how many were killed by 

the error. From an Australian point of view, 

could this accident have occurred here? I 

believe not because the Australian pipeline 

standard, AS2896, requires final testing by 

an anaesthetist. The standard states ‘Final 

operational tests. Where non-respirable 

medical gases, eg. nitrous oxide, nitrogen 

are piped, tests shall be performed by 

the anaesthetist-in-charge or a delegated 

anaesthetist’. This testing would have 

identified the cross connection. Generally 

in New Zealand, installers use the British 

standard HTM2022. This does not involve 

a member from the anaesthetic 

department of the hospital, so the error 

could go undetected. 

ISOTC121 SC1 WG9 discussed low pressure 

hose assemblies and agreed to include the 

Australian Sleeve Index System (SIS) as a 

recognised index. Whiplash from ‘quick 

connections’ was identified as a problem 

if the connection is at head height. Nitric 

oxide/nitrogen mixtures were removed from 

the standard and the maximum working 

pressure for hoses for driving gas was 

separated from the normal gas supply. The 

main SC1 committee met in the latter part 

of the week and discussed ISO DIS26825— 

user applied labels for use on syringes 

containing drugs used during anaesthesia. 

This draft will be a final draft 

international standard and will create a 

uniform environment in anaesthesia for 

drug labeling across the world. The standard 

was originally proposed by Australia, using 

AS/NZS 4375 1996, our syringe labelling 

standard, as a basis. 

ISO TC121 SC2 discussed aerosol 

nebulizers. At present, the calibration of 

nebulizers is very variable. The standard 

proposes a series of fine meshes to collect 

various size particles. This is an expensive 

but reliable system. This approach will 

reduce the variability and improve the 

accuracy of delivery into certain regions 

of the airways. 

42 


Recommended 

Reading 

Consultative Council on Anaesthetic Mortality and Morbidity 

Ninth Report of 

The Victorian Consultative 

Council on Anaesthetic 

Mortality and Morbidity 

The ninth triennial report of the 

Victorian Consultative Council 

on Anaesthetic Mortality and 

Morbidity edited by A/Prof Larry 

McNicol has now been released 

and may be viewed at 

http://www.health.vic.gov.au/vccamm/ 

Consultative Council on 

Anaesthetic Mortality and Morbidity 

GPO Box 4923 

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 8060 

Website: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/vccamm/ 

23627 - CCAMM Ninth Report Cover1 1 1/11/07 2:51:16 PM 

ISO TC121 SC6 reviewed, at Germany’s 

request, the maximum allowable pressure for 

vacuum. The current value is difficult to 

achieve within some ceiling pendants. A 

proposal for the inclusion of stainless steel 

piping for medical gas systems was made. 

After much discussion, it was accepted that 

this is not excluded by the current standard. 

The committee considered a proposal to 

develop a standard for oxygen conserving 

devices. Canada suggested that there should 

be a standard for the extraction of laser 

plumes which is to be a new work item. 

ISOTC121 SC 3 accepted the standard for 

CPAP devices. This standard should help 

the performance of devices such as those for 

sleep apnoea. This committee also spent a 

day considering the ramifications of the 

explosion of medical terminology to assist 

communication and interoperability. At 

present, SNOMED would appear to have 

the lead and although it is a private venture 

both the FDA and UK Health have 

purchased the system. 

Because much of the equipment we use is 

imported, and indeed much of it has no 

manufacture in Australia or New Zealand, 

we can only influence manufacturers by 

having an international standard to specify. 

These standards will also be used across 

the world which increases the compliance 

incentive for manufacturers. 

Australian Standards 

Activity over the past 12 months has 

been subdued on the Australian/ 

New Zealand scene. 

One committee which has met is HT021 

to review AS3003. This revision has clarified 

which areas should be cardiac protected and 

hopefully this will reduce unnecessary areas 

of cardiac protection with associated cost 

reduction. The committee also identified 

that two 10 mA Residual current devices 

are available across the world. Only one, 

the type 1 RDC, reacts within the 40 

msec window and is therefore suitable for 

protection with medical equipment. 

Conclusion 

Finally I would once again like to express 

my appreciation to those members who 

have contributed to standards. In most 

of the committees where we have 

representation, ours is the only medical 

input and this input is vital if workable 

practical ways are to be found to achieve 

a safe and functional environment. 

JOHN RUSSELL 

Adelaide 


Q & S 

‘Can’t intubate, can’t ventilate’ 

‘Can’t intubate, can’t ventilate’ situations 

are amongst the most terrifying faced in 

anaesthetic practice. 

ALERT: 

Dantrolene 

dosage 

This problem was highlighted in a recent 

coronial report which followed the death 

of a young woman, who died while being 

anaesthetised for elective abdominal surgery. 

After administration of a paralysing dose 

of atracurium, it became apparent that 

her trachea was not easy to intubate, and 

that effective ventilation by face mask or 

laryngeal mask was not possible. Eventually 

intubation of the trachea was achieved by 

the blind nasal route, but too late to save the 

patient’s life. 

The patient suffered from torticollis, 

and had undergone a cervical spinal 

fusion 15 years earlier. She had undergone 

anaesthesia on at least one other previous 

occasion, but no attempt was made to access 

her past anaesthetic record. When the 

patient was asked about these preoperatively, 

she said she had not had problems. In fact 

there had been some difficulty with her 

airway, but of a relatively minor nature, 

and it was said in evidence that this was not 

severe enough to warrant informing the 

patient or general practitioner, or to justify 

arranging a medic alert bracelet. 

The Coroner’s recommendation was 

as follows: 

I recommend that anaesthetists be encouraged 

to adopt a practice of reporting difficulties with 

the ventilation or intubation of patients during 

anaesthesia to their referring physician and the 

patient in writing and to place a copy of the letter 

in the patient’s medical record. 

We endorse the Coroner’s recommendation, 

recognising that there are many lessons 

from this tragic case. Adequate preoperative 

assessment of the airway is critically 

important in avoiding or preparing for 

such situations. Several excellent advanced 

airway management courses are available 

in Australia and New Zealand, and all 

anaesthetists should participate in these 

from time to time. In addition, regular 

practice in simulation centres in handling 

crises of this type should be undertaken by 

all anaesthetists. 

ANZCA would assure the community 

of its commitment to avoiding this sort of 

tragedy in the future and to this end the 

Quality and Safety Committee is convening 

a meeting in early 2008 to review guidelines 

for emergency equipment for difficult 

intubations. 

ALAN MERRY 


PATRICIA MACKAY 

Victoria 

The College has been advised by experts in 

the field that the recommended initial dose 

of intravenous Dantrolene for the treatment 

of Malignant Hyperthermia is 2.5mg/kg, 

not 1mg/kg. It is suggested that old posters 

displaying the lower dosage should be 

removed, and that a poster with the higher 

dosage be sought from the supplier. 


The Australian and New Zealand 

Prospective Audit of Peripheral Nerve 

and Plexus Blockade 

The Australian and New Zealand 

prospective audit of peripheral nerve and 

plexus blockade aims to determine the 

incidence of permanent neurological 

complications following peripheral nerve/ 

plexus blockade. In addition, nonneurological 

side-effects and quality 

markers of clinical practice including 

efficacy, patient satisfaction and recovery 

are recorded. This project has full support 

from the Regional Anaesthesia Special 

Interest Group. 

Large scale studies such as the one by 

Auroy indicate that the incidence of 

neurological complications following 

peripheral nerve/plexus blockade are rare 1 . 

However clinical practice is evolving with the 

increasing use of ultrasound to locate and 

block nerves/plexuses and with that new 

operators and procedures. The audit aims to 

collect data from tens of thousands of 

patients so that rare complications may be 

determined, and also so that precursors to 

adverse events may be detected. It has clear 

methodology, well defined follow-up 

procedures and uses standardised 

definitions 2 all of which were of variable 

quality in previous studies 3 . 

Data entry is via an online database 

www.regional.anaesthesia.org.au. 

Registering as a test user and entering test 

data (which will later be deleted) facilitates 

familiarity with this project. A test user can 

later be converted to a full registered user. 

The web-based interface facilitates ease of 

data entry, multi-centre collaboration and 

capture of other data so that the incidence 

of non-neurological complications can also 

be established 2 . The initial data entry takes 

two minutes and it is recommended that it 

occurs online in the intraoperative period, 

facilitating accurate data collection. It is also 

recommended that the local coordinator(s) 

have a hands-on approach and ideally have 

some non-clinical time allocated to this 

project. An alternative method of validating 

the denominator data should be established 

at each site. Postoperative follow-up occurs 

at 24-48 hrs (efficacy and block recession 

data) and for potential neurological 

complications at 7-10 days using a 

standardised online questionnaire. 

Reminders regarding follow-up are received 

via email. An important requirement is a 

commitment to the provision of a quality 

data collection process such that all relevant 

data from all patients are collected. 

A clinical pathway for neurological 

assessment and investigation has been 

established following a recent study 4 . 

Triggers for referral, the referral pathway, 

and the standardised neurological 

questionnaire are located at 


A collaborative approach with a neurologist 

with expertise in peripheral neuropathies 

and nerve conduction studies is essential. 

This project offers a unique opportunity 

for anaesthetists from Australia and New 

Zealand to collect data following peripheral 

nerve/plexus blockade. When completed, 

it should be of value to anaesthetists 

worldwide. Anaesthetists from Anaesthesia 

groups and departments (public, private, 

large or small) are invited to participate in 

this project. To learn more visit 


DR MICHAEL BARRINGTON 

Project Coordinator 

Department of Anaesthesia 

St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne 

michael.barrington@svhm.org.au 

1 Auroy Y, Benhamou D, Bargues L, Ecoffey C, 

Falissard B, Mercier FJ, Bouaziz H, Samii K. 

Major complications of regional anesthesia in 

France: The SOS Regional Anesthesia Hotline 

Service. Anesthesiology 2002;97:1274-80. 

2 Schulz-Stubner S, Kelley J. Regional Anesthesia 

Surveillance System: first experiences with a 

quality assessment tool for regional anesthesia 

and analgesia. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 2007. 

3 Brull R, McCartney CJ, Chan VW, 

El-Beheiry H. Neurological complications 

after regional anesthesia: contemporary 

estimates of risk. 

Anesth Analg 2007;104:965-74. 

4 Watts SA SD. Long-term neurological 

complications associated with surgery and 

peripheral nerve blockade: outcomes after 

1065 consecutive blocks. Anaesth Intensive Care 

2007;35:24-31. 


29TH ANNUAL COMBINED 

ASA/ANZCA CME MEETING 

ANAESTHETISTS: THE MULTI-ORGAN SPECIALISTS ! 

Saturday 26th July 2008 

Sofitel Hotel, 

25 Collins Street, Melbourne 3000 

A Refresher Course focusing on important Cardiovascular, 

Respiratory, Neuro, Renal and Metabolic problems that confound 

Anaesthetists from time to time. 

For information contact: 

Ms Daphne Erler 

Australian & New Zealand College of Anaesthetists 

Victorian Regional Committee 


MELBOURNE VIC 3004 

Email: vic@anzca.edu.au 

Telephone: (03) 9510 6299 or (03) 8517 5313 

Fax: (03) 9510 6786 

Become an effective clinical educator 

POSTGRADUATE PROGRAMMES IN CLINICAL EDUCATION 

The Centre for Medical and Health Sciences Education offers 

qualifications for doctors and other health professionals involved in 

delivering medical undergraduate or specialist training programmes. 

The programmes aim to develop a theoretical base and practical 

skills in teaching and educational research. The programme options 

are: 

Master of Clinical Education 

Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Education 

Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Education 

Courses are delivered by distance through an online learning platform, plus a two-day workshop for 

most courses. Ongoing support from the course instructor is provided at each stage and students 

may enrol either full or part-time. 

Courses include: 

Clinical Teaching 

Assessing Clinical Performance 

Learning in Small Groups 

E-Learning and Clinical Education 

Curriculum and Course Design 

Simulation and Clinical Skills 

Research Methods in Health 

Current Trends in Clinical Education 

Research Project on Evaluation 

Research Project on Assessment 

Masters Dissertation, Thesis, Research Portfolio 

INTERESTED? Please contact Rohan Reilly on 09 373 7599 ext 86391, email r.reilly@auckland.ac.nz 

or visit our website www.fmhs.auckland.ac.nz/faculty/cmhse 

46 


2008 Annual Combined Meeting of the Medical 

Education, Simulation and Skills Training, Welfare 

of Anaesthetists and Anaesthetists in Management 

Special Interest Groups 

29 – 31 August 2008 

Queenstown, New Zealand 

For further information please contact 

Ms Gay Hopgood 

ANZCA Professional Development 


Melbourne VIC 3004 Australia 

Telephone +61 3 9510 6299 

Fax +61 3 9510 6786 

Email ghopgood@anzca.edu.au 


47

The Rural Special Interest Group 

in association with 

The Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine 

The Accidental Intensivist 

Voyages Ayers Rock Resort 

1-2 August 2008 

For further information contact: 

Juliette Mullumby 

ANZCA Continuing Professional Development 

630 St Kilda Road, Melbourne VIC 3004 

Telephone: (+61 3) 9510 6299 

Email: jmullumby@anzca.edu.au 

48 



49

SPECIALIST ANAESTHETIST 

Applications are invited from suitably qualified anaesthetists for this specialist position 

at our Warrnambool Campus. 

A primary medical degree fully registrable in Victoria, the qualification of FANZCA or 

equivalent and appropriate experience are essential. 

Attractive remuneration and conditions; together with the mode of appointment; will be 

negotiated with the successful applicant, who will join seven (7) other specialist 

Anaesthetists in providing services to South West Healthcare. Each of the seven 

current Anaesthetists is supportive of an additional Specialist entering practice in 

Warrnambool. An appointment to the local private Hospital would also be available to 

a suitable applicant. 

South West Healthcare provides a comprehensive range of specialist services from 

geographically separate campuses. The Warrnambool campus treats in excess of 

14,000 inpatients and 22,000 Emergency Department patients per annum; is a 

designated Regional Trauma Service and has a 15 bed Rehabilitation Unit. 

With a population of 31,700, Warrnambool is a popular seaside resort and is located 

263 kilometres southwest of Melbourne. The city boasts excellent sporting, education, 

social and cultural facilities. 

Enquiries regarding this appointment may be directed to Dr. Keith Prest (Director of 

Anaesthetics) on telephone (03) 5563 1666 or Angela Dawson (Senior Anaesthetist) 

on 0418 529 657. 

JOHN F. KRYGGER 

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER 

SOUTH WEST HEALTHCARE IS COMMITTED TO THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE 

IN RURAL AND REGIONAL HEALTHCARE 

WARRNAMBOOL CAMPUS 

RYOT STREET WARRNAMBOOL 3280 

www.southwesthealthcare.com.au 

50 


Effective Management of Anaesthetic Crises (EMAC) 

2008 Course Dates Australia & New Zealand 

Effective Management of Anaesthetic Crises (EMAC) 

is a course intended to provide techniques in the 

management of anaesthetic emergencies. EMAC 

brings a significant new approach to medical training 

that targets not only the technical skills required 

during an emergency, but emphasises the behavioural 

aspects of managing anaesthetic crises. 

Created under the direction of the Australian and 

New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, this course 

meets fellowship training requirements. Consultant 

anaesthetists may claim 3 credits per hour under 

category 3 / level 2 of ANZCA Program. 

EMAC is offered in Melbourne (St Vincent’s 

and Southern Health), Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, 

Wellington and Auckland. 

Please contact individual centres for bookings and enquiries. 

Melbourne 

St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne 

Ph: (03) 9288 2900 

tess.vawser@svhm.org.au 

20 – 22 May 2008 

18 – 20 November 2008 

Southern Health Simulation and Skill Centre 

Ph: (03) 9288 2900 

Jennifer.Hogan@southernhealth.org.au 

24 – 26 January 2008 

6 – 8 March 2008 

26 – 28 June 2008 

21 – 23 August 2008 

16 – 18 October 2008 

11 – 13 December 2008 

Sydney 

Sydney Medical Simulation Centre 

Ph: (02) 9926 6758 

smsc@nsccahs.health.nsw.gov.au 

27 – 29 March 2008 

24 – 26 July 2008 

25 – 27 September 2008 

16 – 18 October 2008 

27 – 29 November 2008 

Perth 

Clinical Training and Education Centre 

Ph: (08) 6488 8044 

courses@ctec.uwa.edu.au 

31 July – 3 August 2008 

13 – 16 November 2008 

Brisbane 

Queensland Health Skills Development Centre 

Ph: (07) 3636 6500 

sdc-admin@health.qld.gov.au 

13 – 15 March 2008 

19 – 21 June 2008 

4 – 6 September 2008 

23 – 25 October 2008 

Wellington New Zealand 

National Patient Simulation Training Centre 

Wellington Hospital. 

Sylvia Jarvis 

Ph: 04 385 5887 

sylvia.jarvis@ccdhb.org.nz 

22 – 24 May 2008 

14 – 16 August 2008 

6 – 8 November 2008 

Auckland New Zealand 

Advanced Clinical Skill Centre Mercy Hospital 

Liesl Ploos van Amstel 

Ph: 09 373 7599 ext 89304 

acscadmin@auckland.ac.nz 

27 – 29 March 2008 

5 – 7 June 2008 

18 – 20 September 2008 

27 – 29 November 2008 


51

JOINT FACULTY OF INTENSIVE CARE MEDICINE 

Dean’s message 

Dr Richard Lee 

Avocation 

- a calling or occupation 

- a hobby or pastime 

A common theme can be discerned in 

recent changes to the intensive care scene. 

These developments include: 

• Sadly, the death of Don Harrison after a 

most productive career. Don, aged 75, was 

still working to improve patient care as a 

teacher in the simulation centre now named 

after him. 

• The appointment of Rinaldo Bellomo as 

Editor-In-Chief of Critical Care and 

Resuscitation. Tub Worthley spawned and 

grew the Journal and Vernon van Heerden 

has taken it on to indexation and 

professional production. Rinaldo’s 

appointment moves the JFICM Journal into 

the next phase of development as a high 

impact journal in the world of intensive 

care medicine. 

• The presentation of 61 candidates at the 

latest Fellowship Examination and passing 

of 40. It was an exhausting process for all 

involved. The resources of two major Perth 

hospitals and 33 examiners were needed to 

complete the task very successfully. 

• The latest NHMRC Grant round results. 

Members of the intensive care community 

were very successful. The total grants to 

the group approached $5M. 

• ANZCA Foundation Grant results. Fellows 

were also successful in this round receiving 

approximately 30% of the grants. 

• The notice of retirement of several key board 

members. This will lead to a Board Election 

and search for the next generation of fellows 

interested in Joint Faculty affairs, training, 

assessment and continuing education. 

• The shifting of some assessments into 

training time and the associated increase 

in work for Supervisors of Training. 

• The commencement of planning for 

several mega units in Australia with greater 

than 50 beds and needing perhaps more 

than 20 specialists with diverse non-clinical 

portfolios. 

The theme revolves around the 

commitment of intensivists as volunteers 

to specialty affairs. I don’t believe that we 

should try to dissect or excessively analyse 

why highly talented and hardworking 

doctors give of their time unpaid. Whether 

the desire to volunteer is driven by altruism, 

sense of debt or sense of duty to the 

specialty, desire for personal growth, 

continuing education or professional 

development or the enjoyment of the social 

mix, it appears to be driven internally. Often 

called intrinsic motivation by psychologists; 

whatever the impetus, it is clear that the 

specialty is dependent on and indebted to 

these workers. 

DR RICHARD LEE 

‘JFICM will need an understanding 

of the particular intrinsic 

motivation and areas of interest of 

future generations to harness their 

skills. It will require facilitation 

more than external motivation.’ 

The question arises as to how we sustain this 

effort into the future. 

It has been suggested that we should 

pay volunteers for their time, but simple 

maths would suggest that it would be 

impossible. A straightforward addition— 

even neglecting travel and preparation 

time—shows that in a year, the time worked 

by JFICM Board members and examiners 

would total more than 4,200 hours. For 

ANZICS, it would also mean funding hours 

of diverse work provided by Board members, 

database committees, PRICE Committee, 

Foundation executive and members of the 

CTG. Paid at even minimum rates, this 

would financially cripple organisations 

such as ours. 

52 


The literature also suggests that providing 

external motivation—such as financial 

incentives or rewards—minimalises or 

trivialises the work, removes or distracts 

from the true incentives and discourages 

continuing the effort. Researchers 

identify the effect and liken it to that of 

attempting to pay your friends for dinner 

at their house. 

It has also been suggested that future 

generations will be less inclined to volunteer. 

I do not believe this is true. Members of 

generation X will be our next leaders. They 

have grown up in a unique environment 

of technological innovation. Members are 

often characterised as individualistic or 

even, in Wikepedia, as ‘apathetic, cynical, 

disaffected, streetwise loners and slackers 

[sic]’. These simplifications have no inherent 

truths and in no way suggest that the desire 

to help has been bred out of doctors 

belonging to generation X. In fact, the 

belief that generations are divided by values 

and attitudes is not supported by evidence, 

which actually suggests the differences are 

due more to varying life stages. 

As one of the fathers of modern economics, 

Adam Smith, wrote in 1759, ‘How selfish 

soever man may be supposed, there are 

evidently some principles in his nature, 

which interest him in the fortunes 

of others, and render their happiness 

necessary to him, though he derives nothing 

from it, except the pleasure of seeing it.’ 

He must have been observing a Supervisor 

of Training with trainees. 

Nonetheless, JFICM will need an 

understanding of the particular intrinsic 

motivation and areas of interest of future 

generations to harness their skills. It will 

require facilitation more than external 

motivation. JFICM will assess ways, as well 

as reimbursing costs, to help make it possible 

for the next group of fellows to continue 

to give a part of their busy lives, without 

unreasonable sacrifice, by: 

• Valuing non-patient contact work in 

regulations and documents; 

• Stressing to hospitals the provision of 

non-clinical time during accreditation 

inspections; 

• Providing backfill salaries to hospitals 

to cover office bearers with busy portfolios; 

and 

• Employing professional officers to support 

more roles. 

We do not know that we will be successful, 

but we do know that JFICM is, and will be, 

dependent on volunteers for 

the support of the systems, which maintain 

the structure of our specialty (accredited 

hospitals, training schemes, research, 

examinations, courses, CME, conferences) 

and justify our processes to bodies such as 

the ACCC, AMC and the jurisdictions. 

DR RICHARD LEE 

Dean 

Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine 


53


Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine 

Policy Documents 

IC-1 (2003) Minimum Standards for Intensive Care Units 

IC-2 (2005) Intensive Care Specialist Practice in Hospitals 

Accredited for Training in Intensive Care Medicine 

IC-3 (2003) Guidelines for Intensive Care Units seeking 

Accreditation for Training in Intensive 

Care Medicine 

IC-4 (2006) The Supervision of Vocational Trainees in 

Intensive Care 

IC-6 (2002) The Role of Supervisors of Training in Intensive 

Care Medicine 

IC-7 (2006) Secretarial Services to Intensive Care Units 

IC-8 (2000) Quality Assurance 

IC-9 (2002) Statement on the Ethical Practice of Intensive 

Care Medicine 

IC-10 (2003) Minimum Standards for Transport 

of the Critically Ill 

IC-11 (2003) Guidelines for the In-Training Assessment of 

Trainees in Intensive Care Medicine 

IC-12 (2001) Examination Candidates Suffering from Illness, 

Accident or Disability 

IC-13 (2002) Recommendations on Standards for 

High Dependency Units Seeking Accreditation 

for Training in Intensive Care Medicine 

IC-14 (2004) Statement on Withholding and 

Withdrawing Treatment 

IC-15 (2004) Recommendations of Practice Re-entry for 

an Intensive Care Specialist 

PS38 (2004) Statement Relating to the Relief of Pain and 

Suffering and End of Life Decisions 

PS39 (2003) Intrahospital Transport of Critically Ill Patients 

PS40 (2005) Guidelines for the Relationship between Fellows 

and the Healthcare Industry 

PS45 (2001) Statement of Patient’s Rights to Pain Management 

PS48 (2003) Statement on Clinical Principles for Procedural 

Sedation Bulletin 

PS49 (2003) Guidelines on the Health of Specialists 

and Trainees 

JFICM ASM 2008 

Call for Abstracts – Felicity Hawker Medal 

30 May - 1 June 2008 

Sofitel, Melbourne 

Invitation 

The Organising Committee invites you to submit Abstracts for consideration 

of the Felicity Hawker Medal to be presented during the JFICM ASM 2008. 

The Felicity Hawker Medal will be awarded for the best presentation 

of a Formal Project. To be eligible to present for the Felicity Hawker Medal 

an applicant must be a Trainee or Fellow within one year of award of 

Diploma of Fellowship. 

Further comprehensive information on the Prize and formatting 

and submission of abstracts will be available on the JFICM ASM 2008 website: 

www.jficm.anzca.edu.au/asm 

or from Ms Christine Gill, Conference Secretariat: 

cgill@anzca.edu.au 

The closing date for abstracts will be 

1 April 2008 and notification of selection 

will be mid April 2008. All presenters 

are required to register for the meeting 

by 30 April 2008. Oral presenters will 

be notified of presentation time by 

15 May 2008. 

A joint meeting of the Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine, 

Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and Royal Australasian College of Physicians 


55

JFICM NEW FELLOWS CONFERENCE 

MAY 2008 

The Board of the Joint Faculty recently endorsed a proposal for a 

separate New Fellows Conference to be held for the first time in 2008. 

Applications are invited from delegates to attend 

the Joint Faculty New Fellow Conference to be held 

on 27-29 May 2008. 

Fellows who are no more than 7 years postgraduation 

are eligible to be nominated. The Regional Committee 

or New Zealand National Committee will select the 

nominee for its region for ratification by the Board at its 

meeting in February. Nominees should be attending the 

Joint Faculty ASM in Melbourne as expenses for the 

New Fellows Conference will be covered, however travel 

to and from Melbourne, and accommodation during the 

ASM are not covered. 

Sessions will cover: 

• The utility of medical simulators in 

Intensive Care training and education 

• Legal issues for the Intensivist 

• When colleagues need assistance 

• When trainees need assistance 

• What is the JFICM and what it does for you 

• Getting career direction early 

Venue: Royce Hotel/Ulimaroa, Melbourne 

Nominations are to be submitted via the 

Regional/National Committee to the Faculty office, 

with an accompanying CV by 31 January 2008. 

Enquiries can be directed to the 

JFICM office on (03) 9530 2861 

JFICM Board Members 

JFICM Board Members 

Dean 

R P Lee 

Vice-Dean& Censor 

P V van Heerden 

Assistant Censor, 

MOPS Officers & ASM Officer 

M S Robertson 

Treasurer 

J Myburgh 

Education Officer and Co-ordinator of 

Advanced Training 

P Morley 

Co-opted Representative, Tasmania 

B Venkatesh 

Immediate Past Dean 

J Havill 

Chairman, Hospital Accreditation 

Committee, Rural Focus 

Officer and International Liaison Officer 

R Freebairn 

Assistant Education Officer 

C Corke 

Chair, Paediatric Examination 

Committee, and Communications 

Officer, Journal Officer 

B Lister 

Co-opted ANZCA Council 

Representative 

P Cook 

Co-opted RACP Council Representation 

N Thomson 

Chairman, Examinations Committee, 

Chair, Fellowship Examination 

B Venkatesh 

Co-opted Representative, South 

Australia 

M O’Fathartaigh 

Co-opted Representative, Tasmania 

A Beswick 

New Fellow Representative 

N Blackwell 


New Training 

and Examinations 

direct phone number 

+61 3 8517 5317 

EXAM DATES 2008 

GENERAL FELLOWSHIP EXAMINATION 

March/May Location Date 

Written section All Major Centres 31 March 2008 

Oral Section Adelaide 21-23 May 2008 

Closing date Sydney 4 February 2008 

August/October Location Date 

Written section All Major Centres 18 August 2008 

Oral section Melbourne 15-17 October 2008 

Closing date 30 June 2008 

PAEDIATRIC FELLOWSHIP EXAMINATION 

August/October Location Date 

Written Section All Major Centres 18 August 2008 

Oral Section Melbourne 13-14 October 2008 

Closing Date 30 June 2008 

PRIMARY EXAMINATION 

July/September Location Date 

Written Section All Major Centres 25 February 2008 

Oral Section Sydney 8 April 2008 

Closing Date 15 December 2007 

Please note that late applications to present for a Faculty Examination after the closing 

date for that examination will not be accepted. This ruling must also apply 

to documentation in support of the application. For this reason, trainees are urged 

to send documented evidence of training to the Faculty Executive Officer early—even 

before the application to present for the examination—so that any problems 

in documentation can be clarified before the relevant examination closing date. 

LATE APPLICATION AND LATE DOCUMENTATION WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED 

AFTER THE CLOSING DATE FOR AN EXAMINATION 

JOINT FACULTY OF INTENSIVE CARE MEDICINE 57

FACULTY OF PAIN MEDICINE 

Dean’s message 

Dr Roger Goucke 

On Friday the 19th of October, 

Access Economics, along with the 

MBF, launched a report outlining 

the economic impact of Persistent 

Pain in Australia 2007. 

Many of you will not be surprised at the 

enormous dollar value that can be 

attributed to persistent pain. Pain has been 

ranked fourth in prevalence order after 

visual disorders, musculoskeletal 

conditions and cardiovascular disorders, 

and third in health expenditure order 

following cardiovascular and 

musculoskeletal conditions. 

Following an extensive review and 

using, among others, AIHW data, Access 

Ecomomics have estimated (for 2007) that 

the total cost of chronic pain will be over 

34 billion dollars. In this fascinating report, 

there are useful estimations of who bears 

this enormous cost, with just over 50% being 

borne by individuals themselves and over 

25% via Federal and State governments. 

Fellows are urged to read this report 

and bring it to the attention of hospital 

administrators and State and Federal 

politicians. It should be useful at all levels, to 

easily justify and hopefully argue strongly for 

more funding to address the needs of our 

patients with pain. 

The report may be accessed at: 

http://www.accesseconomics.com.au/ 

publicationsreports/showreport.php?id=142 

&searchfor=2007&searchby=year 

October saw the conclusion of the ‘Global 

Year Against Pain in Older Persons’. With the 

increase in Australia’s population together 

with the changing demographics relating to 

age, it is predicted that by 2050 there will 

be over 5 million Australians experiencing 

chronic or persistent pain with a significant 

number (>10%) over the age of 80 years. 

So, although the year to bring the plight of 

elders with pain to our attention has passed, 

the issue will remain and continue to require 

our input. 

As Pain in Older Persons closes, 

the Global Year Against Pain in Women, 

subtitled ‘Real Women, Real Pain’, opens. 

This IASP campaign aims to empower 

women and raise awareness of pain issues 

affecting women world-wide. 

The IASP website (www.iasp-pain.org) has 

a number of excellent fact sheets covering 

all the significant issues. In the western 

world, apart from pain related conditions 

specific to women, several other common 

painful conditions are much more common. 

Migraine has a 2.5 to 1, chronic widespread 

pain syndrome (fibromyalgia) has a 4 to 1 

and irritable bowel syndrome also a 4 to 1 

increased prevalence in women. 

DR ROGER GOUCKE 

The Faculty will take the opportunity 

during this year to develop links with our 

Gynaecological colleagues, to develop more 

multidisciplinary services for female chronic 

pelvic pain. 

With the data provided by Access 

Economics and the excellent information 

provided by the IASP, I hope that Fellows 

of our Faculty can continue to lead the 

way in developing better preventative and 

treatment services for our patients. 

DR ROGER GOUCKE 

Dean 

58 


Faculty of Pain Medicine Dean’s Prize 

Fellows and Trainees are reminded of the Faculty Dean’s 

Prize, for the Fellow/Trainee judged to have presented the 

most original Pain Medicine/Pain Research paper, of sufficient 

standard, at the Free Papers Session of the FPM ASM. 

Eligibility is limited to Trainees of the 

Faculty of Pain Medicine or Trainees of 

the five participating professional bodies 

of the FPM, or Fellows of FPM within eight 

(8) years of admission to their original 

Fellowship at the date of the meeting. 

The prize takes the form of a certificate and 

a grant of $1,000 for educational or research 

purposes. The prize will be awarded at the 

FPM Annual General Meeting. 

If you wish to be considered for this prize, 

you should mark your abstract submission 

accordingly. The deadline for submission 

of abstracts is 8 February 2008. See the 

ASM website for further details: 

http://anzca2008asm.com/Abstracts.html 

The Faculty Free Papers session is open 

to all registrants. For those not eligible for 

the Dean’s Prize, a Best Free Paper award, 

in the form of a Certificate, will be made. 

Locum Rehabilitation Physician 

or Pain Physician for 

Multidisciplinary Pain Clinic, Caulfield 

March to August 2008 

2 to 3 sessions a week 

We are seeking a consultant to cover outpatient 

assessment and management in the context 

of a multidisciplinary pain clinic at Caulfield 

Pain Management Centre in Caulfield General 

Medical Centre. The locum is to cover 

sabbatical leave. The consultant assesses new 

referrals, reviews and patients and contributes 

to ongoing management. 

Patients are also assessed by a multidisciplinary 

team (Physio, OT & Psychology) and engage 

in group and individual treatment programs 

where appropriate. An Anaesthetist, GP, Rehab 

Physician and Psychiatrist consult and Rehab 

registrars rotate through the service. The team 

is dynamic and friendly, and the cases varied 

and interesting. 

Please contact Dr. Michael Chou, Head of Rehabilitation Services, 

CGMC on 03 9076 6268 or m.chou@cgmc.org.au for more information. 

FACULTY OF PAIN MEDICINE 59

Highlights from the Board Meeting 

Held on 11 October 2007 

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE BOARD 

MEETING 

Fellowship 

In October, Drs Michelle Tan and David 

Chung were admitted to Fellowship by 

training and examination. 

FINANCE 

2008 Subscriptions and Fees 

The Board acknowledged a need for an 8% 

increase in annual subscriptions and an 

increase in fees for 2008 in line with 

ANZCA’s, reflecting the increased activity 

within the Faculty and the need to provide 

adequate resources to meet initiatives arising 

from committee activity and the strategic 

planning process. 

EDUCATION AND TRAINING 

Australian Curriculum Framework for 

Junior Doctors – PGY1&2 

Professor Ted Shipton and Dr Jane Trinca 

will represent the Faculty at the inaugural 

meeting of the Institute for Medical 

Education and Training (IMET) in Sydney. 

IMET will be driving the development of the 

PGY1 and 2 educational program. A 

document has been developed for 

circulation to the CPMEC outlining desired 

minimal skills to be used as a basis to 

develop the PGY1 and 2 curriculum. 

Undergraduate Medical Curriculum 

A document on Pain and the Undergraduate 

Medical Curriculum, outlining the learning 

objectives for medical undergraduates, was 

accepted for circulation to Curriculum 

Committee Chairs. This information will 

also be made available to Fellows through 

the Faculty website. 

Responses from medical schools to 

recent communications indicate a raised 

awareness of pain medicine in the 

undergraduate curriculum. 

Blueprinting 

The multidisciplinary Blueprinting Subcommittee 

will continue to progress the 

development of a blueprint of the Fellowship 

program. A recent meeting focused on the 

conceptual frameworks of what defines a 

Pain Medicine specialist. The process is 

expected to take approximately 12 months 

with a face-to-face meeting planned during 

the ASM in May 2008. 

FPM Training Program 

The Board considered drafts of a Training 

Agreement, outlining the responsibilities of 

both the Trainee and the Faculty, and a 

Trainee Performance Review document, 

outlining the process for independent review 

of a trainee with difficulties. It was agreed 

that input be sought from Supervisors of 

Training to the Training Agreement and 

further revisions were suggested to the 

Trainee Performance Review. 

A Trainee Newsletter has been 

developed and it is hoped this will develop 

into a more substantial communication and 

will encourage trainees to interact. 

The Board discussed exposure to 

Paediatric Pain and it was noted that there 

are not currently many Faculty-accredited 

paediatric facilities to provide this training. 

The possibility of a Paediatric Pain Medicine 

training program was raised and it was 

agreed that further consideration be given 

on how to move this forward. 

Supervisors of Training 

A Supervisor of Training Workshop was 

convened during the inaugural Spring 

Meeting focusing on the development of a 

trial Mini-CEX (Clinical Evaluation Exercise) 

on Neuropathic Pain and a marking guide. 

Mini-CEX is a formative in-training 

assessment which provides a snapshot of 

doctor/patient interaction designed to assess 

the clinical skills, attitudes and behaviours 

of trainees essential to providing high 

quality care. 

Continuing Professional Development 

The revised ANZCA/FPM CPD Program will 

be launched in January 2008. 

Documentation associated with the new CPD 

Program is available on the Faculty website. 

Fellows are encouraged to explore these 

documents. A randomly selected audit of 5% 

of the Fellowship’s 2006/2007 MOPS returns 

has been undertaken. 

EXAMINATION 

Sixteen trainees attended the preexamination 

Workshop at the Royal 

Adelaide Hospital in September and 

seventeen candidates have registered for the 

examination to be held in Geelong, 28-30 

November 2007. 

TRAINING UNIT ACCREDITATION 

The Royal Hobart Hospital was reaccredited 

for Pain Medicine training for a period of 5 

years and an individual joint training 

program between Axxon Health/ 

Greenslopes Private Hospital and the Royal 

Brisbane Hospital was approved for one 

trainee for 2008. 

RESEARCH 

The Dean’s Prize/FPM Free Papers session 

will be held on Sunday 4 May 2008 during 

the ASM. In addition to the Dean’s Prize for 

the Fellow/Trainee judged to have presented 

the most original Pain Medicine/Pain 

Research Paper of sufficient standard, a Best 

Free Papers Prize in the form of a certificate 

will be presented to the best Free Paper for 

those not eligible for the Dean’s Prize. 

At the Melbourne ASM workshop, 

participants had been strongly in favour 

of developing a minimum dataset and to 

develop outcome measures. A subcommittee 

has been formed to progress this 

initiative and further consultation with the 

Fellowship is anticipated. The Research 

Committee will make contact with the 

Australasian Rehabilitation Outcomes 

Centre (AROC) and seek their input to 

quality outcome measures. 

60 


Admission to Fellowship of 

the Faculty of Pain Medicine 

By training and examination: 

• Dr Michelle Tan - WA 

• Dr David Chung - QLD 

Professor Stephan Schug was nominated 

to represent the Faculty on the ANZCA 

Research Committee. 

PROFESSIONAL 

PM1 (2006) Policy for Trainees Seeking 

Faculty Approval of Programs for 

Training in Multidisciplinary Pain 

Medicine 

The Board moved that this document be 

rescinded and that the Administrative 

Instructions be revised and used as the 

reference source for entry into training 

and Fellowship of the Faculty. 

Opioid Prescribing 

The Board noted the RACP/AChAM 

working group’s interim draft 

recommendations with regard to the 

management of pain in people with drug 

dependence and prevention of drug 

dependence in management of CNMP. 

Recommendations include a uniform system 

for monitoring prescriptions and tracking 

diversions. The working Group is looking at 

existing guidelines and attempting to 

standardise them. Further input is being 

sought locally and from New Zealand. 

Interdisciplinary Opioid Taskforce 

A recommendation made to the CPMC and 

AMA that the Faculty attempt to coordinate 

an Interdisciplinary Opioid Taskforce to 

address issues relevant to the Faculty has 

met with a positive response. It was hoped 

that this would also find some political 

support. The need to engage GPs in the 

process was acknowledged. It will be a 

natural successor to the RACP/AChAM 

working group and be able to work on the 

application or their recommendations. 

Recognition of Pain Medicine as a 

Specialty – New Zealand 

The Board reviewed the latest draft and, 

following input from New Zealand Board 

Members and the Chairman and Executive 

Officer of the NZNC, it was anticipated the 

application would be submitted before the 

end of the year. 

CONTINUING EDUCATION 

2008 ASM Sydney and 

Refresher Course Day 

The Faculty’s 2008 Annual Scientific 

Meeting Program is in the final planning 

stages and will be published on the ASM 

website http://anzca2008asm.com. The 

FPM Foundation Visitor is Professor 

Quinn Hogan (USA), who will undertake 

a regional visit to Western Australia 

following the ASM. Dr Linda Watkins 

(USA) is the NSW Visitor (Pain Medicine). 

The Refresher Course Day Theme is ‘Pain 

and Opioids’. Registration brochures will 

be circulated early in the new year. 

2010 ASM Christchurch 

Professor Ted Shipton was appointed 

Faculty Convenor for 2010. 

Inaugural Spring Meeting 

12-14 October 2007 

The Faculty’s inaugural Spring Meeting, 

in conjunction with the Medico-Legal 

Society of Queensland attracted 

128 delegates, 3 major sponsors and 

6 exhibitors. Professor Atkinson and 

Dr Moore and Mr David Tait were praised 

for their efforts in convening 

this very successful inaugural meeting. 

Ms Christine Gill, Conference Secretariat, 

was commended on her organisation of 

the event. 

Spring Meeting 2008 

The venue and time were confirmed as the 

Uluru Meeting Place, Ayers Rock, 18-20 

September 2008. The meeting will be held 

in conjunction with the ANZCA/ASA Acute 

Pain SIG and the IASP Acute Pain SIG. 

American Academy of Pain medicine 

Meeting – Hawaii 2009 

The Board is keen to expand the 

relationship with the AAPM and there 

was support to accept the opportunity 

for involvement in the AAPM 2009 

meeting in Hawaii. 

CORPORATE AFFAIRS 

Board Restructure 

In further discussion of the Board 

restructure, to take effect from May 2008, it 

was agreed that not all committee Chairs 

were required to be Board Members. The 

Faculty’s Administrative Instructions will be 

amended to reflect the new structure. The 

role of ‘Censor’ will be changed to ‘Assessor’ 

from May 2008. 

2008 Board Election 

There will be four vacancies on the Board in 

the 2008 election. One vacancy must be 

filled by a FANZCA FFPMANZCA and one 

vacancy by a FRANZCP FFPMANZCA. The 

remaining two vacancies may be filled by 

FFPMANZCAs from any of the five 

participating specialties. Nomination forms 

will be circulated to Fellows by mail and must 

be in the hands of the Executive Officer 

before 5.00pm on Friday 1 February 2008. 

Visitors to the Board 

Mr Ian Dickinson, Chair, Professional 

Development and Standards Board, RACS, 

met with the Board and discussion focused 

on progressing an MoU between RACS and 

the Faculty. It was reported that, in 

considering the draft MoU, Presidents of the 

specialty societies had been supportive of a 

Pain Medicine module or theories of pain 

management and a number of synergies 

were evident in the training of surgeons and 

the professional development area. 

Opportunities for interaction were discussed, 

including examination tools and processes, 

delivery of a Pain Module and opportunities 

to advertise CPD activities. 

Dr Christine Tippett, President of the 

RANZCOG has been invited to the February 

2008 Board Meeting. 


61

2007 Spring Meeting 

Waves of Change in Pain and Suffering 

The inaugural Spring Meeting of the 

Faculty of Pain Medicine in association 

with the Medico-Legal Society of 

Queensland was held at the Sheraton 

Mirage Resort and Spa, Gold Coast from 

12-14 October 2007. The event was highly 

successful, with 129 delegates in 

attendance over the three days. 

Entitled ‘Waves of Change in Pain 

and Suffering’, this meeting featured a 

number of outstanding medical and legal 

speakers, including Professor Dan Carr, 

Tufts University, Boston, USA; The Hon. 

Cecil William Pincus QC, Professor of 

Law, Queensland; Alastair Lynch, Former 

Captain, Brisbane Lions and Nikki Hudson, 

Captain of the Australian Hockeyroos. We 

would like to thank all the presenters for 

their contribution and expertise. 

The meeting focused on advances and 

new developments for Pain Physicians and 

lawyers and explored topics such as the 

‘Clinical Assessment of Neurpoathic Pain’; 

‘Pain and Sport Injuries’; ‘Chronic Pain and 

Recovery’ and much more. 

The social program included the Conference 

Dinner at L’Esprit on the Water which 

allowed delegates the chance to unwind with 

colleagues in a relaxed atmosphere. 

The meeting also acknowledges the 

generous support of all the sponsors and 

exhibitors. 

On behalf of the Organising 

Committee, we encourage all Fellows and 

Trainees to attend the 2008 Spring Meeting 

of the Faculty of Pain Medicine, the Acute 

Pain SIG of ANZCA, ASA and NZSA and 

the Acute Pain SIG of IASP. This will be held 

at the Voyages Resort, Ayers Rock, from 

18-20 September. The theme of the meeting 

is ‘Pain at the Centre’. 

A/PROF LEIGH ATKINSON 

DR BRENDAN MOORE 

Co-Convenors, 2007 Spring Meeting 

Top to bottom, left to right: 

> Dr Roger Goucke and Dr Michael Butler 

> Delegates enjoying the Conference Dinner 

> Presentation by A/Prof Leigh Atkinson on 

‘Pain and Western Art’ at the Conference Dinner 

> Dr Roger Goucke and Professor Dan Carr 

> Alastair Lynch, Nikki Hudson and Dr Brendan Moore 

> Delegates form a rapt audience during a lecture session 

Below: 

> Delegates enjoying the Conference Dinner 

62 


2008 FPM BOARD ELECTION 

Call for Nominations 

Fellows are invited to forward nominations for 

four vacancies on the Board of the Faculty of Pain 

Medicine, Australian and New Zealand College of 

Anaesthetists, in accordance with Administrative 

Instructions 1.1.1 to 1.1.7 [see below]. One vacancy 

must be filled by a FANZCA FFPMANZCA and 

one vacancy by a FRANZCP FFPMANZCA. 

The remaining two vacancies may be filled by 

FFPMANZCAs from any of the five participating 

specialties. Each nomination must be signed 

by two Fellows of the Faculty and the Nominee. 

The Board is at present constituted as follows: 

Carolyn Ann ARNOLD, AFRM RACP, Victoria 

Rupert Leigh ATKINSON, FRACS, Queensland 

Penelope Anne BRISCOE, FANZCA, South Australia 

Milton Laurence COHEN, FRACP, New South Wales 

Charles Roger GOUCKE, FANZCA, Western Australia 

** Christopher HAYES, FANZCA, New South Wales 

David JONES, FANZCA, New Zealand 

* Brendan Joseph MOORE, FANZCA, Queensland 

* Frank James NEW, FRANZCP, Queensland 

* Edward Archibald SHIPTON, FANZCA, New Zealand 

* Retiring Board Members eligible for re-election 

** Co-opted Board Member eligible for election to the Board 

Nomination forms have been circulated 

by mail and must be in the hands of the 

Executive Officer before 5.00pm on 

Friday 1 February 2008. 

Extract from Faculty Administrative Instructions. Administrative Instructions 1.1.1 to 1.1.7: 

1.1.1 Ten Fellows of the Faculty, elected or nominated in accordance with these Administrative Instructions 

1.1.2 At least four shall be Fellows of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) 

1.1.3 At least one shall be a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) 

1.1.4 At least one shall be a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS) 

1.1.5 At least one shall be a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) 

1.1.6 At least one shall be a Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine (RACP) (AFRM RACP) 

1.1.7 The remaining two Fellows can be from any of the five participating bodies. 

Election is by gaining the highest number of votes. 

FACULTY OF PAIN MEDICINE 63


AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND 

COLLEGE OF ANAESTHETISTS 

REFRESHER COURSE DAY 

AND FACULTY DINNER 

FRIDAY 2 MAY 2008 

AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM 

‘Pain and Opioids’ 

The Faculty of Pain Medicine will hold its sixth annual Refresher 

Course Day on 2 May 2008 in Sydney. The meeting theme is ‘Pain and 

Opioids’. The course will present a great deal of new information about 

basic sciences, therapeutic decision making and adverse effects and 

complications from recognised experts in the field. Additional visiting 

speakers will discuss mutual areas of interest to Pain Medicine and 

Addiction Medicine. The meeting will be of value for Fellows, Trainees 

and other practitioners who have an interest in Pain Medicine and will 

precede the ANZCA/FPM Annual Scientific Meeting. 

The Faculty of Pain Medicine Dinner follows the course and is being 

held at the Art Gallery of NSW. Attendees will have the opportunity to 

view the Archibald Portrait Prize Exhibition. 

Keynote Speakers: 

Professor Quinn Hogan, Professor 

of Anesthesiology and Director, Anesthesia 

Pain Research, Medical College of 

Wisconsin Milwaukee, USA. 

Professor Linda Watkins, Professor in 

the Department of Psychology, a University 

of Colorado President’s Teaching Scholar, 

and the Director of the Interdepartmental 

Neuroscience Ph.D. Program, University of 

Colorado at Boulder, USA. 

FPM Annual Dinner: 

Art Gallery of New South Wales 

The Domain, Sydney 

Registration 

Registration Brochures will be 

mailed early in 2008 and will be 

available for download from: 

www.fpm.anzca.edu.au 

or contact the Faculty Office: 

painmed@anzca.edu.au 

Telephone: +61 3 8517 5337 

2007 MOPS Annual Returns 

The submission date for 2007 MOPS Annual Returns if approaching. 

The due date is 29 February 2008. 

Annual Returns submitted after this date will be stamped ‘Late Return’ 

to indicate that they were not part of the audit process. 

Online Diary users, please submit your Annual 

Return Online by following the prompts under 

the User Administration tab of your MOPS 

Online Diary. 

Paper Diary users are reminded to complete 

the fields at the head of their Annual Return 

(Name, MOPS Number, Region etc) to ensure 

they are correctly identified. Instructions 

for submitting your return can be found on 

Page 4 of your Paper Diary. 

If you have any questions regarding your 

activities for the year, or would like approval of 

an activity, please contact Jennifer Sheppard in 

the MOPS Office. 

Tel: +61 3 9510 6299 

Fax: +61 3 9510 6786 

Email: cme@anzca.edu.au 


FPM Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Program 

The CPD Program replaces the MOPS Program in January 2008. 

All Fellows should have received a copy of the ANZCA CPD program 

booklet with the October Bulletin and this has been adapted for 

Faculty Fellows and published on our Website. 

This publication contains all the necessary 

information on the new program and should 

be used as a reference guide for the program. 

Accompanying documentation relating to 

the revised program is also available on the 

Faculty Website. 

An online portfolio will be available under the 

Fellows’ section of the Faculty Website. For 

those unable to utilise the online CPD activities 

record, CPD plan and reflection notes, the 

associated forms can be downloaded from the 

website for completion. 

Faculty Fellows are reminded that participation 

in a Continuing Professional Development 

Program is mandatory. Fellows can complete 

the Faculty CPD Program or the MOPS/CPD 

program of their primary specialty College. 

Faculty of Pain Medicine 

Professional Documents 

PM2 (2005) Guidelines for Units Offering Training in 

Multidisciplinary Pain Medicine 

PM3 (2002) Lumbar Epidural Administration 

of Corticosteroids 

PM4 (2005) Guidelines for Patient Assessment and 

Implantation of Intrathecal Catheters, Ports and 

Pumps for Intrathecal Therapy 

PM5 (2006) Policy for Supervisors of Training 

in Pain Medicine 

PM6 (2007) Guidelines for Longterm Intrathecal Infusions 

(Analgesics/Adjuvants/Antispasmodics) 

PS3 (2003) Guidelines for the Management of Major 

Regional Analgesia 



PS40 (2005) Guidelines for the Relationship Between Fellows 


PS41 (2007) Guidelines on Acute Pain Management 

PS45 (2001) Statement on Patients’ Rights 

to Pain Management 

PS48 (2003) Statement on Clinical Principles for 

Procedural Sedation 



ANZCA Professional Documents 

adopted by the Faculty: 

PS4 (2006) Recommendations for the Post-Anaesthesia 

Recovery Room (Adopted February 2001) 

PS7 (2003) Recommendations on the Pre-Anaesthesia 

Consultation (Adopted November 2003) 

PS8 (2003) Guidelines on the Assistant for the Anaesthetist 

(Adopted November 2003) 

PS9 (2007) Guidelines on Conscious Sedation for Diagnostic, 

Interventional Medical and Surgical Procedures 

(May 2002) 

PS10 (2004) The Handover of Responsibility During an 

Anaesthetic (Adopted February 2001) 

PS15 (2006) Recommendations for the Perioperative Care 

of Patients Selected for Day Care Surgery with 

amendment to the title to read Recommendations 

for the Perioperative Care of Patients Selected for 

Day Care Procedures 

(Adopted February 2001) 

PS18 (2006) Recommendations on Monitoring During 

Anaesthesia (Adopted February 2001) 

PS20 (2006) Recommendations for Responsibilities of the 

Anaesthetist in the Post-Operative Period 

(Adopted February 2001) 

PS31 (2003) Recommendations on Checking Anaesthesia 

Delivery Systems (Adopted July 2003) 

T1 (2006) Recommendations on Minimum Facilities for 

Safe Anaesthesia Practice in Operating Suites 

(Adopted May 2006) 


65


AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND 


5 December JFICM QLD REGIONAL COMMITTEE IN 

Brisbane 

ASSOC WITH QLD ANZICS 

Qld 

Theme: Coiling, Lysing, Stenting and 

everything else: Cutting Edge applications 

of Radiology in the ICU 

Venue: Wesley Private Hospital, Auchenflower 

Contact: Ms Sharon Miethke, 

Regional Administrative Officer, ANZCA, 

PO Box 1843, Milton QLD 4064 

Tel: 07 3831 6686 Fax: 07 3839 5604 

Email: qld@anzca.edu.au 

6 - 8 December EFFECTIVE MANAGMENT OF 

Auckland 

ANAESTHETIC CRISES 

New Zealand Venue: Advanced Clinical Skill Centre, 

University of Auckland 

Contact: Ms Liesl Ploos van Amstel 

Tel: +64 9 373 7599 ext: 89304 

Fax: +64 9 373 7971 

Email: acscadmin@auckland.ac.nz 

Website: www.acsc.auckland.ac.nz/emac.htm 

2008 

15 - 17 February TASMANIAN ANZCA/ASA ANNUAL 

Launceston SCIENTIFIC MEETING 

Tas 

Venue: Launceston Country Club Casino 

Contact: Di Cornish, 

147 Davey Street, Hobart 7000 

Tel: 03 6223 8848 Fax: 03 6223 5019 

Email: tas@anzca.edu.au 

15 - 18 February AUSTRALASIAN SYMPOSIUM OF 

Melbourne ULTRASOUND AND REGIONAL 

Vic 

ANAESTHESIA (ASURA) 

Venue: St Vincent’s Hospital, Melbourne 

Contact: Cassandra Hargreaves, ASURA Event 

Manager, PO Box 600, Edgecliff NSW 2027 

Tel: 02 9327 4022 Fax: 02 9327 7666 

Email: chargreaves@fed.asa.org.au 

5 - 8 March 13TH INTERNATIONAL OTTAWA 

Melbourne CONFERENCE ON 

Vic 

CLINICAL COMPETENCE 

Theme: Ozzawa 2008 - Assessment for Life 

Venue: Melbourne Exhibition & 

Convention Centre 

Contact: The Meeting Planners, 

91 - 97 Islington Street, Collingwood Vic 3066 

Tel: 03 9417 0888 Fax: 03 9417 0899 

Email: ozzawa13@meetingplanners.com.au 

Website: www.ozzawa13.com.au 

29 March WA AUTUMN SCIENTIFIC MEETING 

Crawley 

Venue: The University Club of Western Australia, 

WA 

Crawley, WA 

Contact: Sandra Box, WA Administration Officer, 

Mail Point M305, University of Western Australia, 

35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009 

Tel: 08 6488 8772 Fax: 08 6488 8773 

Email: anaesthesia.wa@ctec.uwa.edu.au 

29 March - 2 April 28TH ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC MEETING OF 

Perth 

THE AUSTRALIAN PAIN SOCIETY 

WA 

Theme: The Spectrum of Pain 

Venue: Perth Convention Exhibition Centre 

Contact: DC Conferences, Suite 1, 

26 Ridge Street, North Sydney NSW 2060 

Tel: 02 9954 4400 Fax: 02 9954 0666 

Email: aps@dcconferences.com.au 

Website: http://dcconferences.com.au/aps2008/ 

31 - 4 April REMOTE SITUATIONS DIFFICULT 

Frankston 

CIRCUMSTANCE DEVELOPING 

Vic 

COUNTRY ANAESTHESIA 

Theme: Developing Country Anaesthesia 

Venue: Frankston Hospital 

Contact: Dr Chris Bowden, 

Anaesthestic Department Frankston Hospital 

Tel: 03 9 784 7445 Fax: 03 9 784 7441 

Email: cbowden@phcn.vic.gov.au 

12 - 13 April HEARTSCAN (HAEMODYNAMIC 

Melbourne ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY ASSESSMENT 

Vic 

IN REAL TIME) WORKSHOP 

Contact: Mrs Marcelle Wood, 

Department of Pharmacology, 

The University of Melbourne 

Tel: 03 8344 5673 Fax: 03 8344 5193 

Email: woodm@unimelb.edu.au 

Website: www.pharmacology. 

unimelb.edu.au/echocourse 

1 - 2 May POINT OF CARE ULTRASOUND FOR 

Sydney 

PERIOPERATIVE AND CRITICAL CARE 

NSW 

WORKSHOP 




Tel: 03 8344 5673 Fax: 03 8344 5193 


Website: www.pharmacology.unimelb.edu.au/ 

echocourse 

66 


3 - 7 May 2008 ANZCA ASM 

Sydney 

Theme: Anaesthesia: Science, Art and Life 

NSW 

Venue: Sydney Convention Centre 

Contact: Ms Emma Bowyer, General Manager, 

ANZCA ASM 2008 Organiser 

GPO Box 3270, Sydney NSW 2001 

Tel: 02 9254 5000 Fax: 02 9251 3552 

Email: info@anzca2008asm.com.au 

Website: www.anzca2008asm.com 

7 - 9 May 2008 COMBINED CONFERENCE OF 

Adelaide 

THE AUSTRALASIAN FACULTY OF 

SA 

REHABILITATION MEDICINE 

AND THE AUSTRALASIAN FACULTY 

OF OCCUPATIONAL & 

ENVIRONMENTAL MEDICINE 

Theme: People at Work - Managing Complexity 

Venue: Hilton Hotel, Adelaide 

Contact: DC Conferences Pty Ltd, PO Box 637, 

North Sydney NSW 2059 

Tel: 02 9954 4400 Fax: 02 9954 4666 

Email: afrmafoem@dcconferences.com.au 

Website: www.dcconferences.com.au 

30 May - 1 June 2008 JFICM/ANZICS ASM 

Melbourne Theme: Blood and Blood Product Usage 

Vic 

in the ICU 

Venue: Sofitel, Melbourne 

Contact: Ms Christine Gill, ANZCA House, 

630 St Kilda Road, Melbourne Vic 3004 

Tel: 03 9510 6299 Fax: 03 9510 6786 

Email: cgill@anzca.edu.au 

Website: www.jficm.anzca.edu.au/ 

asm/welcome.htm 

14 June THE 4TH BIENNIAL NORTHERN 

Darwin 

TERRITORY ANAESTHESIA CME MEETING 

NT 

Venue: Royal Darwin Hospital, 

Northern Territory 

Contact: Ms Laura Freed, 

Department of Anaesthesia, 

Royal Darwin Hospital, 

PO Box 41326 Casuarina NT 0811 

Tel: 08 8922 8713 Fax: 08 8922 8325 

Email: laura.freed@nt.gov.au 

1 - 2 August THE RURAL SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP 

Ayers Rock IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE JOINT 

NT 

FACULTY OF INTENSIVE CARE MEDICINE 

Theme: The Accidental Intensivist 

Venue: Voyages Ayers Rock Resort 

Contact: Ms Juliette Mullumby, ANZCA 

Continuing Professional Development, 


Tel: 03 9510 6299 


29 - 31 August ANNUAL COMBINED MEETING OF 

Queenstown THE MEDICAL EDUCATION, SIMULATION 

New Zealand AND SKILLS TRAINING, WELFARE OF 

ANAESTHETISTS and ANAESTHETISTS IN 

MANAGEMENT SPECIAL 

INTEREST GROUPS 

Contact: Ms Gay Hopgood, 

ANZCA Continuing Education, 


Tel: 03 9510 6299 Fax: 03 9510 6786 

Email: ghopgood@anzca.edu.au 

Website: www.anzca.edu.au 

18 - 20 September COMBINED CME SPRING MEETING: FPM; 

Ayers Rock ACUTE PAIN SIG OF ANZCA, ASA, NZSA; 

NT 

ACUTE PAIN SIG OF IASP 

Theme: Pain at the Centre 

Venue: Voyages Ayers Rock Resort, 

Ayers Rock, Australia 

Contact: Ms Christine Gill, ANZCA House, 


Tel: 03 9510 6299 Fax: 03 9510 6786 

Email: cgill@anzca.edu.au 

Website: www.fpm.anzca.edu.au/ 

2008-spring-meeting/ 

20 - 21 September ULTRASOUND GUIDED NERVE BLOCKS 

Sydney 

AND VASCULAR ACCESS WORKSHOP 

NSW 




Tel: 03 8344 5673 Fax: 03 8344 5193 



echocourse 

9 - 10 October POINT OF CARE ULTRASOUND FOR 

Wellington PERIOPERATIVE AND CRITICAL 

New Zealand CARE WORKSHOP 




Tel: 03 8344 5673 Fax: 03 8344 5193 



echocourse 

11 - 14 October AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY OF 

Wellington ANAESTHETISTS AND NEW ZEALAND 

New Zealand SOCIETY OF ANAESTHETISTS COMBINED 

SCIENTIFIC MEETING 

Theme: Communication in Anaesthesia 

Venue: Wellington, Convention Centre, 

Wellington New Zealand 

Contact: Ms Liz Budden, CMSL, PO Box 24329, 

Manners St, Wellington 

Tel: +64 4 479 4162 Fax: +64 4 479 4163 

Email: asanzsa@cmsl.co.nz 

Website: www.asanzsa2008.org.nz 


67

16 - 17 October OBSTETRIC ANAESTHESIA CONTINUING 

Blenheim 

MEDICAL EDUCATION MEETING 

New Zealand Theme: 2020 - A Vision of the Future for 

Obstetric Anaesthesia 

Venue: Montana Brancott Winery 

Contact: Ms Juliette Mullumby, ANZCA 

Continuing Education, 630 St Kilda Road, 

Melbourne, Vic 3004 

Tel: 03 9510 6299 Fax: 03 9510 6786 


30 October - ASIA PACIFIC CRITICAL CARE 

2 November 2008 CONGRESS 

Sydney Theme: Past, Present, Future - 

NSW 

Celebration of Intensive Care 

Venue: Darling Harbour, Sydney 

Contact: ANZICS/ACCCN Intensive Care ASM, 

PO Box 164, Carlton Vic 3053, Australia 

Tel: 03 9340 3435 Fax: 03 9340 3499 

Email: info@intensivecare.com.au 

Website: www.intensivecareasm.com.au/ 

asiapacific2008 

2010 

1 - 5 May ANZCA 2010 ASM 

Christchurch Theme: How meets Why: Clinical Practice and 

New Zealand the Science Behind it 

Venue: Christchurch Convention Centre, 


Contact: Ms Rachel Cook, 

Conference Innovators, PO Box 13494, 

196 Gloucester Street, Christchurch 8011 

Tel: +64 3 379 0390 Fax: +64 3 379 0460 

Email: Rachel@conference.co.nz 

31 October - WA ANNUAL REFRESHER COURSE 

2 November Venue: Quay West Resort, Bunker Bay, WA 

Bunker Bay Contact: Ms Sandra Box, 

WA 

WA Administration Officer, 

Mail Point M305, University of Western Australia, 

35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009 

Tel: 08 6488 8772 Fax: 08 6488 8773 

Email: anaesthesia.wa@ctec.uwa.edu.au 

6 - 9 November SPANZA ANNUAL SCIENTIFIC 

Hunter Valley MEETING 2008 

NSW 

Venue: Hunter Valley 

Contact: Conference Secretariat 

Tel: 02 4973 6573 Fax: 02 4973 6609 

Email: spanza2008@willorganise.com.au 

Website: www.willorganise.com.au/spanza2008 

2009 

2 - 6 May ANZCA 2009 ASM 

Cairns 

Theme: Branching Out 

Qld 

Venue: Cairns Convention Centre, Queensland 

Contact: Ms Emma Bowyer, ANZCA ASM 2009 

Organiser, GPO Box 3270, Sydney NSW 2001 

Tel: 02 9254 5000 Fax: 02 9251 3552 

3 - 6 July 8TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON 

Brisbane 

AMBULATORY SURGERY 

Qld 

Theme: The Destiny of Day Surgery 

Contact: Conferences & Events Management, 

Royal Australasian College of Surgeons 

Tel: 03 9249 1273 

Email: iaas2009@surgeons.org 

Website: www.iaascongress2009.org 

68 



OVERSEAS 


7 - 11 December NEW YORK STATE SOCIETY OF 

New York 

ANAESTHESIOLOGISTS 61ST 

USA 

POSTGRADUATE ASSEMBLY IN 

ANESTHESIOLOGY 

Venue: The New York Marriott Marquis 

Contact: The New York State Society of 

Anesthesiologists, Inc, 85 Fifth Avenue, 

8th Floor, New York NY 10003, USA 

Tel: 1 212 867 7140 Fax: 1 212 867 7153 

Email: kurt@nyssa-pga.org 

Website: https://nyssa-pga.net/nyssa/index.lasso 

30 December - MEDICINE WITH ALTITUDE 

6 January Venue: Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort, Canada 

Whistler 

Contact: Sue Abbott, Medicine With Altitude, 

Canada 

Conference Secretariat 

Tel: +61 418 237 021 Fax: +61 2 6545 1439 

Email: info@medicinewithaltitude.com 

www.skitourscanada.com 

2008 

16 - 18 January AAGBI WINTER SCIENTIFIC MEETING 

London 

Contact: Nicola Heard/David Williams/ 

UK 

Clare Bergin, Educational Events Co-ordinators 

Tel: 020 7631 8805/8862/8803 

Email: WSMLondon@aagbi.org 

Website: www.aagbi.org/events/wsm.htm 

17 - 19 January FIFTH CONGRESS EURONEURO 2008 

Maastricht Venue: Maastricht Exhibition and Congress 

Netherlands Center, Maastricht, Limburg Netherlands 

Contact: Congress and Meeting Services 

Holland, Symposium Secretariat EURONEURO, 

Postbus 18, 5298 ZG, LIEMPDE, 

Noord-Brabant 5298 ZG, Netherlands 

Tel: 011 31 411 611 199 

Fax: 011 31 411 633 805 

Email: info@euroneuro.eu 

Website: www.euroneuro.eu 

3 - 8 February ASPEN ANESTHESIA 2008 

Colorado 

Venue: Silvertree Hotel and Convention Center, 

USA 

Snowmass Village, Colorado 

Contact: Holiday Seminars, Inc., 

755 Long Hollow Pike, Goodlettsville, 

TN 37072, USA 

Tel: 877 859 0550 Fax: 615 859 3019 

Email: office@holidayseminars.com 

Website: www.holidayseminars.com 

10 - 16 February SOCIETY OF CARDIOVASCULAR 

San Diego ANESTHESIOLOGISTS 11TH ANNUAL 

USA 

COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW 

AND UPDATE OF PERIOPERATIVE 

ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY 

Venue: Sheraton Harbor Island, 

San Diego, California 

Contact: SCA, P.O. Box 11086, 

2209 Dickens Road, Richmond, 

VA 23230-1086, USA 

Tel: 804 282 0084 Fax: 804 282 0090 

Email: sca@societyhq.com 

Website: www.scahq.org 


69

18 - 28 February MEDICAL CHALLENGES SERIES - 

Ushuaia 

CONFERENCE IN ANTARCTICA 

Argentina 

Theme: The Painful Joint: From Problems 

to Solutions 

Venue: Ushuaia, Argentina 

Contact: Peregrine Travel Centre, Level 3, 

380 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 

Tel: 03 8601 4444 

Email: sales@peregrineadventures.com 

Website: www.peregrineadventures.com 

24 - 29 February COLORADO REVIEW OF ANAESTHESIA 

Colorado AND SKI HOLIDAY (CRASH) 2008 

USA 

Venue: Vail’s Marriott Mountain Resort and Spa 

Contact: Beverly Janik, Course Coordinator 

Tel: 720 848 6725 Fax: 720 848 7375 

Email: Beverly.Janik@uchsc.edu 

Website: www.cucrash.com/ 

28 February - MEDICAL CHALLENGES SERIES - 

9 March CONFERENCE IN ANTARCTICA 

Ushuaia 

Theme: Emergency & Wilderness Medicine: 

Argentina 

Where every decision counts! 

Venue: Ushuaia, Argentina 

Contact: Peregrine Travel Centre, Level 3, 

380 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 

Tel: 03 8601 4444 

Email: sales@peregrineadventures.com 

Website: www.peregrineadventures.com 

2 - 7 March 14TH WORLD CONGRESS OF 

Cape Town ANAESTHESIOLOGISTS 

South Africa Venue: Cape Town International 

Convention Centre (CTICC) 

Contact: Barbara Quantz. 

Tel: 00 32 2 641 7470 Fax: 00 32 2 641 7471 

Email: info@optionsglobal.com 

Website: www.optionsglobal.com / 

www.wca2008.com 

8 - 14 March 20TH ANNUAL WINTER 

Snowmass Village ANESTHESIA CONFERENCE 

USA 

Venue: Silvertree Hotel and Snowmass 

Conference Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado 

Contact: Holiday Seminars, Inc., 

755 Long Hollow Pike, Goodlettsville, 

TN 37072, USA 

Tel: 877 859 0550 Fax: 615 859 3019 

Email: office@holidayseminars.com 

Website: www.holidayseminars.com 

28 March - 1 April INTERNATIONAL ANESTHESIA RESEARCH 

San Francisco SOCIETY (IARS) 82ND CLINICAL 

USA 

AND SCIENTIFIC CONGRESS 

Venue: Hyatt Regency Embarcadero Center, 

San Francisco, California 

Contact: IARS Headquarters, 

2 Summit Park Drive, Suite 140, 

Cleveland , OH 44131, USA 

Tel: 216 642 1124 Fax: 216 642 1127 

Email: iarshq@iars.org 

Website: www.iars.org 

3 - 6 April PEDIATRIC ANESTHESIOLOGY 2008 

San Diego Venue: Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina 

USA 

Contact: Society for Pediatric Anesthesia, 

2209 Dickens Road, Richmond, 

VA 23230-2005, USA 

Tel: 804 282 9870 Fax: 804 282 0090 

Email: spa@societyhq.com 

Website: www.pedsanesthesia.org 

26 - 29 April GERMAN CONGRESS OF 

Nurnberg ANAESTHESIOLOGY 2008 

Germany 

Venue: Congress Center Nurnberg Ost 

Contact: Petra Dorflinger, MCN Medizinische 

Congressorganisation Nuernberg AG, 

Zerzabelshofstr. 29, Nuernberg, 

Germany 90478, Germany 

Tel: 011 49 911 393 1621 

Fax: 011 49 911 393 1678 

Email: dac@mcnag.info 

Website: www.mcn-nuernberg.de 

30 April - 4 May 40TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE 

Chicago 

SOCIETY FOR OBSTETRIC ANESTHESIA 

USA 

AND PERINATOLOGY 

Venue: Renaissance Chicago Hotel, USA 

Contact: SOAP Headquarters, 2 Summit Park 

Drive, Suite 140, Cleveland, OH 44131, USA 

Tel: 216 447 7863 Fax: 216 642 1127 

Email: soaphq@soap.org 

Website: www.soap.org 

1 - 4 May AMERICAN SOCIETY OF REGIONAL 

Cancun 

ANESTHESIA AND PAIN MEDICINE 

Mexico 

(ASRA) ANNUAL REGIONAL ANESTHESIA 

MEETING AND WORKSHOPS 

Venue: Aventura Spa, Cancun 

Contact: Gary Hoormann, ASRA, 

520 N. Northwest Hwy, Park Ridge, 

IL 60068, US 

Tel: 847 825 5586 Fax: 847 825 5658 

1 - 4 May SOCIETY FOR AMBULATORY ANESTHESIA 

Miami Beach 23RD ANNUAL MEETING 

USA 

Venue: Loews Miami Beach Hotel, 

Miami Beach, Florida 

Contact: Nicole Bradle, American Society of 

Anesthesiologists, 520 N. Northwest Hwy, 

Park Ridge, IL , USA 

Tel: 847 825 5586 Fax: 847 825 5658 

Email: n.bradle@asahq.org 

Website: www.asahq.org 

24 - 27 May 5TH ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL 

Toronto 

SYMPOSIUM FOR ULTRASOUND AND 

Canada 

REGIONAL ANESTHESIA 

Venue: Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 

Toronto, Ontario, Canada 

Contact: Christine Drane 

Fax: 416 603 6494 

Email: Christine.Drane@uhn.on.ca 

70 


31 - 3 June EUROANAESTHESIA 2008 ANNUAL 

Copenhagen MEETING OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY 

Denmark 

OF ANAESTHESIOLOGY 

Venue: Copenhagen 

Contact: ESA, rue des Comédiens 24, Brussels, 

Brussels 1000, Belgium 

Tel: 011 32 2 743 3295 Fax: 011 32 2 743 3298 

Email: esa@euroanesthesia.org 

Website: www.euroanesthesia.org 

13 - 17 June CAS 64TH ANNUAL MEETING 

Halifax 

Venue: World Trade and Convention Centre 

Canada 

and Delta Halifax 

Contact: CAS Meeting Coordinator, 

Canadian Anesthesiologists’ Society, Suite 208, 

1 Eglinton Avenue East, 

Toronto, Ontario Canada M4P 3A1 

Tel: 416 480 0602 Fax: 416 480 0320 

Email: meetings@cas.ca 

Website: www.cas.ca/annual_meeting/glance/ 

17 - 22 August IASP 12TH WORLD CONGRESS ON PAIN 

Glasgow 

Venue: Scottish Exhibition and 

Scotland 

Conference Centre 

Contact: IASP. 909 NE 43rd St, Suite 30, 

Seattle, WA 98105, USA 

Tel: 206-547-6409 Fax: 206-547-1703 

Email: iaspdesk@iasp-pain.org 

Website: www.iasp-pain.org/meetopen.html 

16 - 18 September 21ST INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS 

Tel Aviv 

OF THE ISRAEL SOCIETY OF 

Israel 

ANESTHESIOLOGISTS 

Venue: Dan Panorama Hotel, Israel 

Contact: Target Conferences, PO Box 29041, 

Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv 61290, Israel 

Tel: 011 972 3 517 5150 

Fax: 011 972 3 517 5155 

Email: ana@targetconf.com 

Website: www.ana2008.com 

17 - 19 September AAGBI ANNUAL CONGRESS 

Torquay 

Venue: Riviera Conference Centre, Torquay, UK 

UK 

Contact: Nicola Heard/David Williams/ 

Clare Bergin, Educational Events Co-ordinators 

Tel: 020 7631 8805/8862/8803 

Email: annualcongress@aagbi.org 

Website: www.aagbi.org/events/aagbicalendar.asp 

17 October SOCIETY FOR AMBULATORY ANESTHESIA 

Orlando 

MID YEAR MEETING 

USA 

Venue: Orlando, Florida 

Contact: SAMBA, 520 N. Northwest Hwy, 

Park Ridge, IL 60068-2573 USA 

Tel: 847 825 5586 Fax: 847 825 5658 

Email: samba@asahq.org 

Website: www.sambahq.org 

17 October AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CRITICAL 


CARE ANESTHESIOLOGISTS 21ST 

USA 

ANNUAL MEETING 


Contact: ASCCA, 520 N. Northwest Hwy, 

Park Ridge, IL 60068-2573, USA 

Tel: 847 825 5586 Fax: 847 825 5658 

Email: ascca@asahq.org 

Website: www.ascca.org 

17 October SOCIETY OF NEUROSURGICAL 


ANESTHESIA AND CRITICAL CARE 

USA 

ANNUAL MEETING 


Contact: Society of Neurosurgical Anesthesia and 

Critical Care, 520 N. Northwest Hwy, 

Park Ridge, IL 60068-2573, USA 

Tel: 847 825 5586 Fax: 847 825 5658 

Email: snacc@asahq.org 

Website: www.snacchq.org 

18 - 22 October ASA ANNUAL MEETING 2008 



USA 

Contact: ASA, 520 N. Northwest Hwy, 


Tel: 847 825 5586 Fax: 847 825 5658 

20 - 23 November AMERICAN SOCIETY OF REGIONAL 

Huntington Beach ANESTHESIA (ASRA) ANNUAL PAIN 

USA 

MEDICINE MEETING AND WORKSHOPS 

Venue: Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach, 

California 

Contact: Gary Hoormann, 

ASRA, 520 N. Northwest Hwy, Park Ridge, 

IL 60068, USA 

Tel: 847 825 5586 Fax: 847 825 5658 

* Additional Meetings can be found on the ANZCA website at www. 

anzca.edu.au 

17 October SOCIETY FOR EDUCATION OF 


ANESTHESIA FALL ANNUAL MEETING 

USA 


Contact: SEA, 520 N. Northwest Hwy, 


Tel: 847 825 5586 Fax: 847 825 5658 

Email: sea@asahq.org 

Website: www.seahq.org 


71

AUSTRALIAN AND NEW ZEALAND 

COLLEGE OF ANAESTHETISTS 

ABN 82 055 042 852 

PROFESSIONAL DOCUMENTS 

P = Professional T = Technical EX = Examinations PS = Professional standards TE = Training and Educational 

TE1 (2005) Recommendations for Hospitals Seeking College 

Approval for Vocational Training in Anaesthesia 

TE2 (2006) Policy on Vocational Training Modules and Module 

Supervision (interim review) 

TE3 (2006) Policy on Supervision of Clinical Experience 

for Vocational Trainees in Anaesthesia 

TE4 (2003) Policy on Duties of Regional Education Officers 

in Anaesthesia 

TE5 (2003) Policy for Supervisors of Training in Anaesthesia 

TE6 (2006) Guidelines on the Duties of an Anaesthetist 

TE7 (2005) Guidelines for Secretarial and Support Services 

to Departments of Anaesthesia 

TE8 (2003) Guidelines for the Learning Portfolio for Trainees 


TE9 (2005) Guidelines on Quality Assurance in Anaesthesia 

TE10 (2003) Recommendations for Vocational 

Training Programs 

TE11 (2003) Formal Project Guidelines 

TE13 (2003) Guidelines for the Provisional Fellowship Program 

TE14 (2007) Policy for the In-Training Assessment of Trainees 


TE17 (2003) Policy on Advisors of Candidates for 

Anaesthesia Training 

TE18 (2005) Guidelines for Assisting Trainees with Difficulties 

EX1 (2006) Policy on Examination Candidates Suffering from 

Illness, Accident or Disability 

T1 (2006) Recommendations on Minimum Facilities for Safe 

Administration of Anaesthesia in Operating Suites 

and Other Anaesthetising Locations 

T3 (2006) Minimum Safety Requirements for Anaesthetic 

Machines for Clinical Practice 

PS1 (2002) Recommendations on Essential Training for Rural 

General Practitioners in Australia Proposing to 

Administer Anaesthesia 

PS2 (2006) Statement on Credentialling in Anaesthesia 

PS3 (2003) Guidelines for the Management of Major 

Regional Analgesia 

PS4 (2006) Recommendations for the Post-Anaesthesia 

Recovery Room 

PS6 (2006) The Anaesthesia Record. Recommendations on the 

Recording of an Episode of Anaesthesia Care 

PS7 (2003) Recommendations on the 

Pre-Anaesthesia Consultation 

PS8 (2003) Guidelines on the Assistant for the Anaesthetist 

PS9 (2007) Guidelines on Sedation and/or Analgesia for 

Diagnostic and Interventional Medical Procedures 

PS10 (2004) Handover of Responsibility During an Anaesthetic 

PS12 (2007) Statement on Smoking as Related to the 

Perioperative Period 

PS15 (2006) Recommendations for the Perioperative Care 

of Patients Selected for Day Care Surgery 

PS16 (2001) Statement on the Standards of Practice of a 

Specialist Anaesthetist 

PS18 (2006) Recommendations on Monitoring 

During Anaesthesia 

PS19 (2006) Recommendations on Monitored Care 

by an Anaesthetist 

PS20 (2006) Recommendations for Responsibilities of 

the Anaesthetist in the Post-Operative Period 

PS21 (2003) Guidelines on Conscious Sedation for 

Dental Procedures 

PS24 (2004) Guidelines on Sedation for Gastrointestinal 

Endoscopic Procedures 

PS26 (2005) Guidelines on Consent for Anaesthesia or Sedation 

PS27 (2004) Guidelines for Fellows who Practice Major 

Extracorporeal Perfusion 

PS28 (2005) Guidelines on Infection Control in Anaesthesia 

PS29 (2002) Statement on Anaesthesia Care of Children in 

Healthcare Facilities without Dedicated 

Paediatric Facilities 

PS31 (2003) Recommendations on Checking Anaesthesia 

Delivery Systems 

PS37 (2004) Regional Anaesthesia 

and Allied Health Practitioners 



PS39 (2003) Minimum Standards for Intrahospital Transport 

of Critically Ill Patients 

PS40 (2005) Guidelines for the Relationship Between Fellows 


PS41 (2007) Guidelines on Acute Pain Management 

PS42 (2006) Recommendations for Staffing of Departments 

of Anaesthesia 

PS43 (2007) Statement on Fatigue and the Anaesthetist 

PS44 (2006) Guidelines to Fellows Acting on Appointments 

Committees for Senior Staff in Anaesthesia 

PS45 (2001) Statement on Patients’ Rights to Pain Management 

PS46 (2004) Recommendations for Training and Practice of 

Diagnostic Perioperative Transoesophageal 

Echocardiography in Adults 

PS47 (2002) Guidelines for Hospitals Seeking College Approval 

of Posts for Vocational Training in Diving and 

Hyperbaric Medicine 

PS48 (2003) Statement on Clinical Principles for 




PS50 (2004) Recommendations on Practice Re-entry for 

a Specialist Anaesthetist 

72 


PROFESSIONAL DOCUMENTS 

UNDER REVIEW 

In line with College policy, the following 

Professional Documents are due for review in 2008: 

TE4 

TE5 

TE8 

TE10 

TE11 

TE13 

TE17 

PS3 

PS7 

PS8 

PS21 

PS31 

PS39 

PS48 

PS49 

Policy on Duties of Regional Education Officers 


Policy for Supervisors of Training in Anaesthesia 

Guidelines for the Learning Portfolio for 

Trainees in Anaesthesia 

Recommendations for Vocational 

Training Programs 

Formal Project Guidelines 

Guidelines for the Provisional Fellowship Program 

Policy on Advisors of Candidates for 

Anaesthesia Training 

Guidelines for the Management of 

Major Regional Analgesia 

Recommendations on the 

Pre-Anaesthesia Consultation 

Recommendations on the 

Assistant for the Anaesthetist 

Guidelines on Conscious Sedation for 

Dental Procedures 

Recommendations on Checking 

Anaesthesia Delivery Systems 

Minimum Standards for Intrahospital Transport 

of Critically Ill Patients 

Statement on Clinical Principles for 


Guidelines on the Health of Specialists 


Council will welcome any input or suggestions relating to these 

documents which will be considered during the review. 


73

PS9 

(2007) 

GUIDELINES ON SEDATION AND/OR ANALGESIA 

FOR DIAGNOSTIC AND INTERVENTIONAL MEDICAL 

OR SURGICAL PROCEDURES 

This document is intended to apply wherever procedural 

sedation and/or analgesia for diagnostic and interventional 

medical and surgical procedures are administered, especially 

where sedation and/or analgesia may lead to general 

anaesthesia. The Australian and New Zealand College of 

Anaesthetists recognises that practitioners with diverse 

qualifications and training are administering a variety of 

medications to patients to allow such procedures to be 

performed. This document addresses pertinent issues for all 

practitioners involved in such activities. 

1. DEFINITIONS 

1.1 Procedural sedation and/or analgesia implies that the patient 

is in a state of drug-induced permissiveness of uncomfortable 

or painful diagnostic or interventional medical or surgical 

procedures. Lack of memory of distressing events and/or 

analgesia are desired outcomes, but lack of response to 

painful stimulation is not assured. 

1.1.1 Conscious Sedation is defined as a drug-induced depression 

of consciousness during which patients are able to respond 

purposefully to verbal commands or light tactile stimulation. 

No interventions are usually required to maintain a 

patent airway, spontaneous ventilation or cardiovascular 

function. Conscious sedation may be achieved by a wide 

variety of techniques and may accompany local anaesthesia. 

All conscious sedation techniques should provide a 

margin of safety that is wide enough to render loss of 

consciousness unlikely. 

1.1.2 Deep levels of sedation, where consciousness is lost and 

patients only respond to painful stimulation, are associated 

with loss of the ability to maintain a patent airway, 

inadequate spontaneous ventilation and/or impaired 

cardiovascular function. Deep levels of sedation may have 

similar risks to general anaesthesia, and may require an 

equivalent level of care. 

1.1.3 Analgesia is reduction or elimination of pain perception, 

usually induced by drugs which act locally (by interfering 

with nerve conduction) or generally (by depressing pain 

perception in the central nervous system). 

1.2 General Anaesthesia is a drug-induced state characterised 

by absence of response to any stimulus, loss of protective 

airway reflexes, depression of respiration and disturbance 

of circulatory reflexes. General anaesthesia is sometimes 

indicated during diagnostic or interventional medical or 

surgical procedures and requires the exclusive attention 

of an anaesthetist (see College Professional Document T1 

– Recommendations on Minimum Facilities for Safe 

Administration of Anaesthesia in Operating Suites and 

Other Anaesthetising Locations). 

. 2. AIMS AND RISKS OF PROCEDURAL SEDATION 

AND/OR ANALGESIA 

The aims of procedural sedation and/or analgesia are to 

ensure patient safety and comfort, and to facilitate 

completion of the planned procedure. In order to achieve 

these aims, a range of sedation options may be required 

during any one procedure, with a continuum from no 

medication, through conscious sedation and deep sedation, 

to general anaesthesia. While no sedation or conscious 

sedation with small doses of drugs such as benzodiazepines 

and opioids are options for some patients and proceduralists, 

many patients and proceduralists want deep levels of 

sedation or general anaesthesia to be an option during 

each procedure. 

Practitioners authorised or credentialled to administer 

procedural sedation and/or analgesia should be aware that 

the transition from complete consciousness through the 

various depths of sedation to general anaesthesia is a 

continuum and not a set of discrete, well-defined stages. 

The margin of safety of drugs used to achieve sedation and/or 

analgesia varies widely between patients and loss of 

consciousness with its attendant risk of loss of protective 

reflexes may occur rapidly and unexpectedly. Therefore 

practitioners who administer sedative or analgesic drugs 

that alter the conscious state of a patient must be prepared to 

manage the following potential risks: 

2.1 Depression of protective airway reflexes and loss 

of airway patency. 

2.2 Depression of respiration. 

2.3 Depression of the cardiovascular system. 

74 


2.4 Drug interactions or adverse reactions, including anaphylaxis. 

2.5 Individual variations in response to the drugs used, 

particularly in children, the elderly, and those with preexisting 

medical disease. 

2.6 The possibility of deeper sedation or anaesthesia being used 

to compensate for inadequate analgesia or local anaesthesia. 

2.7 Risks inherent in the wide variety of procedures performed 

under procedural sedation and/or analgesia. 

2.8 Unexpected extreme sensitivity to the drugs used for 

procedural sedation and/or analgesia which may result in 

unintentional loss of consciousness, respiratory or 

cardiovascular depression. 

Over-sedation, airway obstruction, respiratory or 

cardiovascular complications may occur at any time. 

Therefore, to ensure high standards of quality safe patient 

care, the following guidelines are recommended. 

3. PATIENT PREPARATION 

3.1 The patient should be provided with written information 

which includes the nature and risks of the procedure, 

preparation instructions (including the importance of 

fasting), and what to expect during the immediate and longer 

term recovery period, including after discharge. 

3.2 Informed consent for sedation and/or analgesia and for the 

procedure should be obtained (see College Professional 

Document PS26 – Guidelines on Consent for Anaesthesia 

or Sedation). 

4. PATIENT ASSESSMENT 

4.1 All patients should be assessed before procedural sedation 

and/or analgesia. Assessment should include: 

4.1.1 Details of the current problem, co-existing and past 

medical and surgical history, history of previous sedation 

and anaesthesia, current medications (including nonprescribed 

medications), allergies, fasting status, the presence 

of false, damaged or loose teeth, or other evidence of 

potential airway problems. 

4.1.2 Examination, including that relevant to the current problem, 

of the airway, respiratory and cardiovascular status, and other 

systems as indicated by the history. 

4.1.3 Results of relevant investigations. 

4.2 This assessment should identify those patients with special 

risks, such as patients in ASA Grades P-3 to P-5 (see Appendix 

I), including the elderly and those with severely limiting heart 

disease, cerebrovascular disease, lung disease, liver failure, 

acute gastrointestinal bleeding with cardiovascular 

compromise or shock, severe anaemia, morbid obesity, and 

previous adverse events due to sedation/analgesia/ 

anaesthesia. In addition, the potential for aspiration of gastric 

contents must be considered and prevented, if necessary by 

endotracheal intubation. An anaesthetist should be present to 

administer sedation in the patients identified in this section. 

See also College Professional Document PS7 – 

Recommendations on the Pre-Anaesthesia Consultation. 

5. STAFFING 

5.1 There must be a minimum of three appropriately trained 

staff present: the proceduralist, the practitioner 

administering sedation and monitoring the patient, and 

at least one additional staff member to provide assistance to 

the proceduralist and/or the practitioner providing sedation 

as required. 

5.2 The assistant to the practitioner administering sedation/ 

anaesthesia must be exclusively available to the practitioner 

at induction of and emergence from sedation/anaesthesia, 

and during the procedure as required. If general anaesthesia 

is intended, and especially in emergency situations where 

endotracheal intubation is planned, a fourth person to 

specifically assist the practitioner throughout the procedure 

is required. (See College Professional Document PS8 

Guidelines on the Assistant to the Anaesthetist) 

5.3 The practitioner administering procedural sedation and 

analgesia requires sufficient training to be able to: 

5.3.1 Understand the actions of the drugs being administered, 

and be able to modify the technique appropriately in patients 

of different ages, or in the case of concurrent drug therapy 

or disease processes. 

5.3.2 Monitor the patient’s level of consciousness and 

cardiorespiratory status. 

5.3.3 Detect and manage appropriately any complications arising 

from sedation. 


PS9 continued 


5.4 A medical practitioner who is skilled in airway management 

and cardiopulmonary resuscitation must be present whenever 

procedural sedation and/or analgesia are administered. 

5.5 Techniques intended to produce deep sedation or general 

anaesthesia must not be used unless an anaesthetist is present 

(see College Professional Documents PS1 Recommendations on 

Essential Training for Rural General Practitioners in Australia 

Proposing to Administer Anaesthesia, PS2 Statement on 

Credentialling in Anaesthesia, PS8 Guidelines on the Assistant to the 

Anaesthetist, PS16 Statement on the Standards of Practice of a 

Specialist Anaesthetist, TE3 Policy on Supervision of Clinical 

Experience for Trainees in Anaesthesia, T1 Recommendations on 

Minimum Facilities for Safe Administration of Anaesthesia in 

Operating Suites and Other Anaesthetising Locations). 

5.6 In situations other than those when an anaesthetist must be 

present (noted in 4.2 and 5.5), administration of sedation 

and/or analgesia and monitoring of the patient should be 

performed by an appropriately trained medical practitioner 

other than the proceduralist. 

5.7 If an appropriately trained medical practitioner is not present 

solely to administer sedation and/or analgesia and monitor 

the patient, there must be an assistant to the proceduralist 

present during the procedure, who is appropriately trained in 

observation and monitoring of sedated patients, and in 

resuscitation, and whose sole duty is to monitor the level of 

consciousness and cardiorespiratory status of the patient. This 

person may, if appropriately trained, administer sedative and/ 

or analgesic drugs under the direct supervision of the 

proceduralist, who must have advanced life support skills and 

training (see 5.4). If loss of consciousness, airway obstruction 

or cardiorespiratory insufficiency occur at any time, all staff 

must devote their entire attention to monitoring and treating 

the patient until recovery, or until such time as another 

medical practitioner becomes available to take responsibility 

for the patient’s care. 

6. FACILITIES AND EQUIPMENT 

The procedure must be performed in a location which is 

adequate in size, and staffed and equipped to deal with a 

cardiopulmonary emergency. This must include: 

6.1 Adequate room to perform resuscitation should this 

prove necessary. 

6.2 Appropriate lighting. 

6.3 An operating table, trolley or chair which can be tilted 

head down readily. 

6.4 An adequate suction source, catheters and handpiece. 

6.5 A supply of oxygen and suitable devices for the 

administration of oxygen to a spontaneously 

breathing patient. 

6.6 A means of inflating the lungs with oxygen 

(e.g. a self-inflating bag) together with a range of 

equipment for advanced airway management 

(e.g. masks, oropharyngeal airways, laryngeal mask 

airways, laryngoscopes, endotracheal tubes). 

6.7 Appropriate drugs for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and a 

range of intravenous equipment and fluids (See Appendix II). 

6.8 Drugs for reversal of benzodiazepines and opioids. 

6.9 A pulse oximeter. 

6.10 A sphygmomanometer, or other device for measuring 

blood pressure. 

6.11 Ready access to an ECG and a defibrillator. 

6.12 A means of summoning emergency assistance. 

6.13 Within the facility there should be access to devices for 

measuring expired carbon dioxide. 

(See College Professional Documents T1 Recommendations on 

Minimum Facilities for Safe Administration of Anaesthesia in 

Operating Suites and Other Anaesthetising Locations, PS15 

Recommendations for the Perioperative Care of Patients Selected for 

Day Care Surgery.) 

7. TECHNIQUE AND MONITORING 

7.1 Reliable venous access should be in place for all procedures 

when procedural sedation and/or analgesia are used. 

7.2 As most complications of sedation are cardiorespiratory, doses 

of sedative and analgesic drugs should be kept to the 

minimum required for patient comfort, particularly for those 

patients at increased risk. 

7.3 Monitoring of the patient’s response to verbal commands 

must be routine. Loss of patient response to verbal commands 

indicates that loss of airway reflexes, respiratory and/or 

cardiovascular depression are likely. 

7.4 All patients undergoing procedural sedation and/or 

analgesia must be monitored continuously with pulse 

oximetry and this equipment must alarm when appropriate 

limits are transgressed. 

7.5 There must be regular recording of pulse rate, oxygen 

saturation and blood pressure throughout the procedure in 

all patients. 

7.6 According to the clinical status of the patient, other monitors 

such as ECG or capnography may be required (see College 

Professional Document PS18 Recommendations on Monitoring 

During Anaesthesia). 

76 


8. OXYGENATION 

Hypoxaemia may occur during procedural sedation and/or 

analgesia without oxygen supplementation. Oxygen 

administration diminishes hypoxaemia during procedures 

carried out under sedation /or analgesia, and must be used in 

all patients. Pulse oximetry enables the degree of tissue 

oxygenation to be monitored and must be used in all patients 

during procedural sedation and/or analgesia. 

9. MEDICATIONS 

A variety of drugs and techniques are available for procedural 

sedation and/or analgesia. The most common intravenous 

agents used are benzodiazepines (such as midazolam) for 

sedation and opioids (such as fentanyl) for analgesia. Even 

small doses of these drugs may result in loss of consciousness 

in some patients. Special care is required when local 

anaesthesia of the larynx and/or pharynx has been 

administered to facilitate the procedure. 

Intravenous anaesthetic agents such as propofol or 

thiopentone must only be used by a medical practitioner 

trained in the use of anaesthetic agents and techniques, 

because of the risk of unintentional loss of consciousness. 

These agents must not be administered by the proceduralist. 

10. DOCUMENTATION 

The clinical record should include the names of staff 

performing sedation and/or analgesia, with documentation of 

the history, examination and investigation findings. A written 

record of the dosages of drugs and the timing of their 

administration must be kept as a part of the patient’s records. 

Such entries should be made as near the time of 

administration of the drugs as possible. This record should 

also note the regular readings from the monitored variables, 

including those in the recovery phase, and should contain 

other information as indicated in the College Professional 

Document PS6 The Anaesthesia Record. Recommendations on the 

Recording of an Episode of Anaesthesia Care. 

11. RECOVERY AND DISCHARGE 

11.1 Recovery should take place under appropriate supervision in 

a properly equipped and staffed area (see College 

Professional Document PS4 Recommendations for the Post- 

Anaesthesia Recovery Room). 

11.2 Adequate staffing and facilities must be available in the 

recovery area for managing patients who have become 

unconscious or who have suffered complications during 

the procedure. 

11.3 Discharge of the patient should be authorised by the 

practitioner who administered the drugs, or another 

appropriately qualified practitioner. The patient should be 

discharged into the care of a responsible adult to whom 

written instructions should be given, including advice about 

eating and drinking, pain relief, and resumption of normal 

activities, as well as about making legally-binding decisions, 

driving, or operating machinery. 

11.4 A system should be in place to enable safe transfer of the 

patient to appropriate medical care should the need arise. 

12. TRAINING IN PROCEDURAL SEDATION AND/OR 

ANALGESIA FOR NON-ANAESTHETIST 

MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS 

It is recommended that non-anaesthetist medical 

practitioners wishing to provide procedural sedation/ 

analgesia should have received a minimum of 3 months full 

time equivalent supervised training in procedural sedation 

and/or analgesia and anaesthesia. They should participate in 

a process of In-Training and Competency Assessment. 

Training should include completion of a crisis resource 

management simulation centre course. 

Annual certification in advanced cardiac life support, and 

evidence of relevant Continuing Professional Development 

are highly desirable for credentialling. 

Such trained medical practitioners should receive oversight 

from nominated anaesthetists in the hospital or centre. 

13. REFERENCES 

The following references provide evidence to support the 

recommendations made in this document. 

1 American Society of Anesthesiologists Task Force on Sedation and 

Analgesia by Non-Anesthesiologists Practice Guidelines for Sedation 

and Analgesia by Non-Anesthesiologists. Anesthesiology 2002; 96: 

1004-1017 

2 Faigel DO, Pike IM, Baron TH et al. Quality Indicators for 

Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Procedures: An Introduction. 

Gastrointestinal Endoscopy 2006; 63: (4 Suppl.) S3-S9 

3 Godwin SA, Caro DA Wolf SJ et al. ACEP Clinical Policies 

Subcommittee on Procedural Sedation and Analgesia Clinical Policy: 

Procedural Sedation and Analgesia in the Emergency Department. 

Ann Emerg Med 2005; 45: 177-196 

4 Harrington L. Nurse-Administered Propofol Sedation: A review of 

Current Evidence. Gastroenterology Nursing 2006; 29: 371-383 

5 American College of Radiology. ACR Practice Guideline for Adult 

Sedation/Anesthesia. www.acr.org 2005 

6 Clarke AC, Chiragakis L, Hillman LC, Kaye GL. Sedation 

for Endoscopy: the safe use of propofol by general practitioner 

sedationists. Med J Aust 2002; 176: 159-162 

7 Ward DA, Bell GD, Gray A, Quine A, Bowles J et al. Sedation for 

Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Procedures in the Elderly: Getting Safer 

But Still Not Safe Enough. www.gsg.org.uk/clinicalprac/guidelines/ 

sedation/htm 2006 


PS9 continued 


8 American Society of Anesthesiologists Statement on Granting 

Privileges to Nonanesthesiologist Practitioners for Personally 

Administering Deep Sedation or Supervising Deep Sedation by 

Individuals who are not Anesthesia Professionals. www.asahq.org 2006 

9 Sauterau D. La sedation en endoscopie: qui fera quoi et comment? 

Gastroenterology Clinical Biology 2005; 29: 1087-1089 

All College Professional Documents must be complied with, 

but particular note should be taken of the following: 

PS1 Recommendations on Essential Training for Rural General 

Practitioners in Australia Proposing to Administer Anaesthesia 

PS2 Statement on Credentialling in Anaesthesia 

PS4 Recommendations for the Post-Anaesthesia Recovery Room 

PS6 The Anaesthesia Record. Recommendations on the Recording of an 

Episode of Anaesthesia Care 

PS7 Recommendations on the Pre-Anaesthesia Consultation 

PS8 Guidelines on the Assistant to the Anaesthetist 

PS15 Recommendations for the Perioperative Care of Patients 

Selected for Day Care Surgery 

PS16 Statement on the Standards of Practice of a Specialist Anaesthetist 

PS18 Recommendations on Monitoring During Anaesthesia 

PS26 Guidelines on Consent for Anaesthesia or Sedation 

T1 Recommendations on Minimum Facilities for Safe Administration of 

Anaesthesia in Operating Suites and Other Anaesthetising Locations 

TE3 Policy on Supervision of Clinical Experience for Vocational Trainees 


APPENDIX I 

The American Society of Anesthesiologists’ classification 

of physical status: 

P-1 A normal healthy patient 

P-2 A patient with mild systemic disease 

P-3 A patient with severe systemic disease 

P-4 A patient with severe systemic disease that is a constant 

threat to life 

P-5 A moribund patient who is not expected to survive 

without the operation 

P-6 A declared brain-dead patient whose organs are being 

removed for donor purposes 

E Patient requires emergency procedure 

Excerpted from American Society of Anesthesiologists Manual 

for Anesthesia Department Organization and Management 

2003-04. A copy of the full text can be obtained from ASA, 520 N 

Northwest Highway, Park Ridge, Illinois 60068-2573 

APPENDIX II 

Emergency drugs should include at least the following: 

adrenaline 

atropine 

dextrose 50% 

lignocaine 

naloxone 

flumazenil 

portable emergency O2 supply 

APPENDIX III 

Personnel for Procedural Sedation and Analgesia 

Scenario 1: Three practitioners – Sedation by Proceduralist 

• Medical practitioner proceduralist with airway and 

resuscitation skills, and training in sedation 

• Practitioner with training in monitoring sedation 

• Assistant to assist both 

• Conscious sedation in ASA 1-2 patients 

• Propofol, thiopentone and other intravenous anaesthetic 

agents must not be used 

Scenario 2: Three practitioners – Sedation by Medical 

Practitioner 

• Proceduralist 

• Medical practitioner with airway and resuscitation skills, and 

training in sedation 




agents may only be used by a medical practitioner trained in 

their use 

78 


Scenario 3: Four practitioners – Sedation by Medical 

Practitioner 


• Medical practitioner with airway and resuscitation skills, and 

training in sedation 

• Assistant to assist each* 



agents may only be used by a medical practitioner trained in 

their use 

Scenario 4: Three practitioners – Sedation by Anaesthetist 


• Anaesthetist 


• Conscious, deep sedation or general anaesthesia 

in all patients 

• All approved anaesthetic drugs may be used 

Scenario 5: Four practitioners – Sedation by Anaesthetist 

COLLEGE PROFESSIONAL DOCUMENTS 

College Professional Documents are progressively 

being coded as follows: 

TE Training and Educational 

EX Examinations 

PS Professional Standards 

T Technical 

POLICY – defined as ‘a course of action adopted and pursued 

by the College’. These are matters coming within the authority 

and control of the College. 

RECOMMENDATIONS – defined as ‘advisable courses 

of action’. 

GUIDELINES – defined as ‘a document offering advice’. 

These may be clinical (in which case they will eventually be 

evidence-based), or non-clinical. 

STATEMENTS – defined as ‘a communication setting 

out information’. 

This document has been prepared having regard to general circumstances, 

and it is the responsibility of the practitioner to have express regard to the 

particular circumstances of each case, and the application of this document 

in each case. 

Professional documents are reviewed from time to time, and it is the responsibility 

of the practitioner to ensure that the practitioner has obtained the current version. 

Professional documents have been prepared having regard to the information 

available at the time of their preparation, and the practitioner should therefore 

have regard to any information, research or material which may have been 

published or become available subsequently. 

Whilst the College endeavours to ensure that professional documents are as 

current as possible at the time of their preparation, it takes no responsibility 

for matters arising from changed circumstances or information or material 

which may have become available subsequently. 

Promulgated (as P9): 1986 

Reviewed: 1991, 1996, 2001, 2005 

Date of current document: Oct 2007 

© This document is copyright and cannot be reproduced 

in whole or in part without prior permission. 

College Website: http://www.anzca.edu.au/ 


• Anaesthetist 

• Assistant to assist each* 

• Conscious sedation, deep sedation or general anaesthesia 

in all patients 

• All approved anaesthetic drugs may be used 

* Recommended if assistance is likely to be required for the majority 

of the case (e.g. complex or emergency patients) 


79

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