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UCC Anaesthesiology Newsletter - October/November

28 Nov 2022

Welcome

Dr Clare Keaveney Jimenez, SpR, CUH.

Dear readers,

A warm welcome on a blustery November evening to the UCC Anaesthesiology Newsletter.

In this edition, we celebrate Consultant Anaesthesiologist Dr Anita Griffith’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mercy University Hospital. Anyone who has had the pleasure of working with Dr Griffith will agree that such an award is more than well-deserved. Those of us who have trained with Dr Griffith aspire to emulate her qualities in our everyday practice.

Our social highlights include a Halloween-themed “Coffee and a Gas” gathering and we also wish our colleagues well who have been appointed to new roles at home and abroad.

As the dark evenings draw in, the annual Cork “Run in the Dark” never fails to brighten the city up as hundreds don their Hi-Vis attire. Among the sea of runners this year were teams from the CUH and the MUH Anaesthesiology Departments. The international “Run in the Dark” initiative was established by Irish athlete Mark Pollock in 2010 to promote his organisation “Collaborative Cures”.

I hope that you enjoy browsing this edition. As always, we welcome submissions from all UCC-affiliated Anaesthesiology departments and from readers in Ireland and beyond.

“We must be driven enough to compete but, perhaps more importantly, be brave enough to collaborate”– Mark Pollock

 

Lifetime Achievement Award:

Photo source: Twitter- Mercy University Hospital)

Congratulations to Dr Anita Griffith, Consultant Anaesthesiologist at the Mercy University Hospital, on receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award for embodying the Mercy Values in the delivery of dedicated care and service to patients and their families. Dr Griffith also has a unique positive influence on trainees and colleagues every day. 

We congratulate Dr Griffith on this special and well-deserved award.

 

Safety As We Watch:

Congratulations to Dr Joseph Tracey, Dr Declan Warde and Dr John Cahill on the release of their pioneering book “Safety As We Watch”. This book outlines the history of anaesthesiology in Ireland from the delivery of the first ether anaesthetic in 1847 up to the establishment of the College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland in 1998. Looking ahead to what lies in the future of our specialty is all the more stimulating with this insight into its origins in this country. Thank you to Dr Tracey, Dr Warde and Dr Cahill for producing this momentous publication. The book is available online and in bookstores.

 

National Annual Patient Safety in Anaesthesia Conference 2022:

The 6th National Annual Patient Safety in Anaesthesia Conference was organised by the College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland and took place on Friday the 11th of November. This year’s event was a hybrid event and UCC-affiliated anaesthesiology departments were represented in poster and oral presentations. In particular, we congratulate Dr Clare Keaveney Jimenez, SpR CUH (and editor of this newsletter), who was awarded the KP Moore Medal for her presentation on an audit cycle and quality improvement project on inpatient preoperative medication administration which she undertook at the MUH under the supervision of Dr Michelle O’Mahony, Consultant Anaesthesiologist.

 

College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland Appointments:

Dr Niamh Feely, Consultant Anaesthesiologist and Clinical Director, University Hospital Kerry, has commenced the role of Clinical Lead for Simulation at the College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland. Earlier this year, Dr Owen O’Sullivan, Consultant Anaesthesiologist, Mercy University Hospital, took on the new role of Director of Technology Enhanced Learning at the CAI. Both Dr Feely and Dr O’Sullivan are regular faculty on the CAI Simulation programme at the ASSERT Centre, UCC.

 

Adjunct Clinical Lecturers UCC 2022-23: 

We commend the recent appointees to the Adjunct Clinical Lectureship, UCC: Dr Bilal Cheema (Mercy University Hospital), Dr Haroon Maher, Dr Kashif Siddique (Tipperary University Hospital), Dr Sean Croughan, Dr Aniqa Bano, Dr Annlin Bejoy Philip, Dr Michael Johnson, Dr Ahmed Shehata, Dr Mohsin Kamal, Dr Zafar Khan, Dr Ciara Hayden and Dr Ray Kelly (Cork University Hospital).

 

Evidence Based Perioperative Medicine (EBPOM) Dingle Meeting, September 27-29 2022:

The organisers of the 2022 EBPOM Dingle Meeting held another excellent meeting this year. We congratulate Dr Cian Hurley, Dr Mohsin Kamal and Dr Niamh McAuliffe, CUH, who were awarded first prize in the virtual presentations. Dr Hurley outlined in the presentation titled “Improving perioperative protection ventilation with a single sustainable intervention to Positive End-Expiratory Pressure (PEEP) setting on perioperative ventilators” how PEEP use increased from 72% to 100% following a change to the default PEEP settings on perioperative ventilators at the CUH.

 

CAI Simulation Program, ASSERT Centre, UCC:

Dr. Niamh Feely, Dr. Niamh McAuliffe and Dr. Oonagh Hickey would like to thank the candidates, faculty, and staff at the ASSERT Centre for their hard work and enthusiasm during the recent AE (Anaesthetic Emergencies), SICC (Simulation in Intensive and Critical Care) and ARREST (Anaesthesia Related Rare Emergencies- photo) CAI Simulation courses.

Our faculty includes senior anaesthesiologists from Kerry, Limerick, and Cork, bringing with them a wealth of clinical and teaching experience. The anaesthesiology faculty for the recent courses were:

  • Anaesthetic Emergencies:  Dr Niamh McAuliffe, Dr Damian Barry (Consultant Anaesthesiologists, CUH), Dr Annlin Bejoy (ICU Fellow. CUH).
  • Simulation in Intensive and Critical Care: Dr Niamh Feely (Consultant Anaesthesiologist, University Hospital Kerry), Dr Ciara Hayden, Dr Lauren O’Callaghan (SpR SAT 6, CUH).
  • Anaesthesia Related Rare Emergencies: Dr Oonagh Hickey (Consultant Anaesthesiologist, CUH), Dr Aisling Buckley (Consultant Anaesthesiologists, Bons Secours, Cork), Dr Roisin Nee (Consultant Anaesthesiologist, University Hospital Limerick), Dr Ciara Hayden (SpR SAT 6, CUH).

Anyone who is interested in becoming involved in the College of Anaesthesiologists Simulation Program at the ASSERT Centre, UCC, is invited to contact Dr Oonagh Hickey at yesuccanews@gmail.com.

 

Robotic-Assisted Prostatectomy Surgery, CUH:

On the 16th November the Irish Examiner ran a special report on the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer at the CUH, including the use of Robotic-Assisted Prostatectomy Surgery. In the article, Mr Kevin O’Connor, Consultant Urologist, outlined that one in seven men in Ireland will receive a diagnosis of prostate cancer in their lifetime.

Included in the photograph of the urological theatre team are Dr Colm Lane (Consultant Anaesthesiologist), Ms Meera George, Ms Olga Kenny (staff nurses), Ms Bindu Mathew (CNM 1), Ms Maura O’Donoghue (CNM 2), Mr Kevin O’Connor (Consultant Urologist), Mr Mohammed Hegazy (Urology SpR).

 

Run in the Dark 2022:

On the 9th of November, Anaesthesiology trainees from the CUH braved a cold dark night to participate in the 2022 Cork Run in the Dark. They joined 25,000 runners in over 50 cities around the world to promote Mark Pollock’s charity Collaborative Cures. Members of the group participated in the 5km and 10km distances. After the run, pizza was enjoyed at the Rising Sons. Well done to everyone who ran. It is an event we can put in our calendars for next November, perhaps we can gather team members from all UCC-affiliated Departments of Anaesthesiology for 2023.

 

Halloween Coffee and a Gas:

The CUH Department of Anaesthesiology held a Halloween-themed Coffee and a Gas on the 27th October. Cupcakes and mini cheesecakes from The Cupcake Cottage were provided. The Coffee and a Gas Program is an Association of Anaesthetists wellness initiative and provides an opportunity for members of the department to chat in an informal environment.

 

Au Revoir Géraldine!

We wish a special Bon Voyage to Dr Géraldine Armissoglio, Consultant Anaesthesiologist, as she takes up a consultant post at the Royal London Hospital. Géraldine has been a very valuable member of the Anaesthetic Department, CUH, since January 2020. On her last day, she brought in delicious mini cheesecakes for the multidisciplinary teams in the CUH theatre complex and the CUMH Delivery Suite. There was a departmental gathering later in the evening at L’Atitude Wine Bar for drinks and nibbles. 

Bon Chance, Géraldine!

 

Baby news:

Best wishes to Dr Valentina Pacher and Kristo on the safe delivery of baby Sofia. Valentina was a member of the Department of Anaesthesia, CUH, in 2021.

 

The Tour de France en Irelande: 

A very special jersey is to be found in the Acute Medical Unit of the Emergency Department, CUH. It is a reminder of a golden age of Irish cycling when every Irish child (and many adults) wanted to emulate Irish cycling superstars Sean Kelly and Stephen Roche- especially in 1987 when Stephen Roche became the second cyclist ever to win the Triple Crown of Cycling: the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France and the World Championship Road Race. 

Unfortunately the 1998 Tour de France would be nicknamed “The Tour de Farce” as a result of a doping scandal, the “Festina Affair”. However, for the Irish, it was notable because that year the Tour de France started in Ireland. On the 13th July, stage 2 finished in Cork. Unfortunately the race leader, Chris Boardman, was denied the opportunity to cycle up Saint Patricks Hill when he crashed near Youghal. He was knocked unconscious and spent a night in the CUH as a result of his injuries. He donated the yellow jersey that he had been wearing to the CUH and it is now proudly on display on the wall of the AMU. 

The 2014 Giro d’Italia started with 3 stages in Ireland- commencing in Belfast and ending in Dublin. Ireland is currently bidding to host the Grand Départ of the Tour de France in 2026 or 2027, also with the support of governments north and south of the border.

https://waterford-news.ie/2020/05/14/the-tour-de-france-1998-the-race-that-stopped-a-county/

https://www.irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/history-and-genealogy/timeline/tour-de-france-ireland

The Irish News Archive: July 14 1998: Chris Boardman crashes out of Tour - The Irish News

 

Editors:

Dr Clare Keaveney Jimenez, SpR, CUH.

Dr Oonagh Hickey, Consultant Anaesthesiologist, CUH 

Submissions: yesuccanews@gmail.com

 

Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine

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