UCC Anaesthesiology Newsletter

9 May 2023

Welcome to the Spring edition

Dear Readers,

We would particularly like to wish a very Eid Mubarak to our colleagues across the region.

In this edition, we feature the Inaugural UCC Pain Intervention Workshop which took place at the ASSERT Centre, College of Medicine & Health, UCC. The innovative event was a resounding success in introducing the specialty of Pain Medicine to doctors early in their careers. In more Pain Medicine news, we also welcome a new Consultant colleague, Dr Cormac Mullins, who has been appointed to a combined anaesthesia and pain service role at the CUH and the SIVUH.

We highlight an article recently published in the BJA by our colleagues detailing the story of Dr William Brooke O’Shaughnessy, an Irishman who introduced anaesthesia to India and brought eastern medicine to Britain.

Spring is in the air with some excellent themed Coffee and Gas afternoons in recent months, as well as an exciting morning ziplining. The annual CUH Department of Anaesthesia’s Spring Children’s Art Competition brought an abundance of colour and creativity to our inboxes and we have included a selection of entries below.

 

Inaugural UCC Pain Interventional Workshop 2023

Photo: Ms Susan Ronan (PEI Ireland), Professor Dominic Hegarty (Consultant Pain Medicine), Professor Helen Whelton (Head of College of Medicine and Health, UCC), Dr Gabriella Iohom (Consultant Anaesthesiologist, UCC).

Congratulations to Professor Dominic Hegarty and Dr. Gabriella Iohom who recently hosted the first European inaugural pain interventional workshop for young doctors, which proved to be an outstanding success. It was co-ordinated and designed by Professor Dominic Hegarty, Clinical Director Pain Relief Ireland, Associate Professor in Pain Medicine, School of Medicine, UCC.

The course was conducted at the ASSERT Centre, College of Medicine & Health, UCC, a state-of-the-art simulation and surgical training centre, with the support of the School of Medicine, UCC and the College of Anaesthesiologists of Ireland. Ms Susan Ronan, the National Manager at PEI (pain division), a leader in the Irish Healthcare Industry, agreed to be an educational partner in this innovative pilot course. Uniquely this was the first time in Europe that interns were invited to have a “hands-on” real life experience in the skills of interventional pain procedure.

Professor Hegarty stated: “the course aimed to introduce these young doctors to the basic interventional options available to help their patients but also to provide them with an insight into the world of interventional pain at an early stage in their career pathway. The success of this event was due to having an experienced team in place with Ms Tracey Ahern (Senior Executive at ASSERT), Mr Michael Cronin ( Clinical Industry Liaison ASSERT, UCC), and Dr. Gabriella Iohom (Consultant Anaesthesiologist, CUH) who is an Internationally recognised expert in regional anaesthesia, as well as support from the School of Medicine and Department of Anatomy, UCC. All the delegates reported that it exceeded their expectations and would highly recommend this to their colleagues, which really is the vote of confidence to ensure this can become a bi-annual event in order to facilitate as many interns who want to attend as possible. We are already planning the next event and considering how we can up-scale this to ensure greater access to all doctors including those early in their anaesthetic career”.

The program was accredited for 4.5 CPD points by the Educational Committee, College of Anaesthesiology of Ireland. Professor Helen Whelton, Head of College of Medicine and Health at University College Cork and Chief Academic Officer, HSE, SSW Hospital Group attended and was delighted with the success of the event.

This is another first for Pain Medicine in the School of Medicine and we wish all involved the very best of luck with the next event!

 

Departmental updates:

The Cork University Hospital Department of Anaesthesia welcomes Dr Cormac Mullins, who has been appointed to a combined anaesthesia/pain service role at the CUH/SIVUH. Cormac Mullins is originally from Galway and studied medicine in Trinity College Dublin. After finishing his internship, he worked in New Zealand for a year prior to commencing the anaesthetics scheme in Ireland. He worked in many hospitals in Ireland as a trainee including James’s Hospital Dublin, Crumlin, Beaumont, Galway, Sligo and Limerick but somehow resisted the charms of Cork along the way. He completed clinical pain fellowships in St James’s Hospital Dublin and Guy’s and St. Thomas’s NHS Trust London and continued to work in a mixed research/locum consultant capacity in GSTT in London before finally being lured to Cork for his new role. Much of his clinical and research work in London was in the area of spinal cord stimulation. He has also completed a Masters degree in health services management and is keen on bringing these skills to help improve service delivery in acute and chronic pain and anaesthesia in Cork and the surrounding region.

We welcome Dr Mullins to Cork and wish him the very best of luck with his new post.

After nearly 25 years working as a Consultant Anaesthetist at the CUH/CUMH, Dr Fergus Walsh, Consultant Anaesthetist, has commenced work at the Mater Private Hospital, Cork. He is photographed with anaesthetic and midwifery colleagues on his last working day at the CUH/CUMH, including Ms Deirdre Bateman (midwife, left) who retired on the same day. Dr Walsh took a very active role in promoting patient safety and education, and was an excellent colleague and role model for trainees.

Dr Damian Barry also leaves the CUH to take up a Consultant Anaesthetist post at the Bons Secours Hospital, Cork. Dr Barry is an excellent clinician and colleague, and has been a very valuable member of the CUH Anaesthetic Department at various levels of his training. More recently, he has worked as a Consultant Anaesthesiologist at the CUH over the past two years.

We wish all of our colleagues our very best wishes as they take up their new roles.

 

CAI Simulation courses, 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 ARREST (Anaesthesia Related Rare Emergencies- photo), AE (Anaesthetic Emergencies), and SICC (Simulation in Intensive and Critical Care) 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:

• ARREST (Anaesthesia Related Rare Emergencies): Faculty: Dr Oonagh Hickey , Consultant Anaesthetist, CUH; Dr Aisling Buckley, Consultant Anaesthetist, Bons Secours Hospital, Cork; Dr Ciara Hayden, SpR, CUH; Dr Saboor Ahmed, Registrar, CUH
• Anaesthetic Emergencies: Faculty: Dr Niamh McAuliffe, Consultant Anaesthetist, CUH; Dr Owen O’Sullivan, Consultant Anaesthetist, MUH; Dr Agatha Biculescu, Clinical Lecturer, CUH; Dr Arij Mohammad, Registrar, CUH
• Simulation in Intensive and Critical Care: Faculty: Dr Niamh Feely, Consultant Anaesthetist, UHK; Dr Zohaib Aslam, Consultant Anaesthetist, CUH; Dr Sean Farrelly, SpR, 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.

 

The PRactical Obstetric Multi-Professional Training Course (PROMPT):

The PRactical Obstetric Multi-Professional Training Course (PROMPT) provides a unique opportunity for midwives, obstetricians and anaesthesiologists to meet in a non-clinical environment for the common purpose of developing teamwork and improving outcomes of mothers and their babies. Such training has been shown to result in a 50% reduction in neonatal hypoxic brain injuries, a 70% reduction in injuries following shoulder dystocia, and improvements in the management of Category 1 emergency caesarean sections.

Another successful PROMPT course was held in the CUMH on March 25th. The format consisted of on-line lectures on teamwork and clinical topics such as CTG interpretation, pre-eclampsia and maternal collapse which are viewed in advance. On the day of the course, multi-disciplinary teams rotated through various workshops, including shoulder dystocia, sepsis, and anaesthetic emergencies.

The faculty for the Anaesthetic Emergencies and Maternal Collapse Workshop were Ms Mary Prince (CNM 2), Dr Damian Barry and Dr Oonagh Hickey (Consultant Anaesthesiologists, CUH). The clinical scenarios included local anaesthetic toxicity, failed intubation and maternal cardiac arrest.

 

Ziplining outing:

Dr Sara Coffey, Anaesthesiology SAT, CUH

A few adventurous souls braved the rains a few weeks ago to let go (or maybe hold on tight…) for a morning of Ziplining and adventure in Farran Woods. We started with a safety briefing, where we shared amusement and frustration with some finicky parts of the safety gear and then completed the mini course to become familiar with the equipment before we were set loose on the real obstacle courses.

The courses started low to the ground but quickly gained height and difficulty. There was climbing, slacklining, and a giant net to climb across (apparently a nemesis to previous attendees). The brief moments of serenity while Ziplining through the tree canopy made all the climbing and exertion worthwhile.

Everyone had a great time and earned the tea, coffee and treats afterwards, and I think we can all be proud that we were ridiculously good-looking in our harnesses.

Look out for upcoming events, which promise to be just as fun (but won’t be quite as high up)!

 

St Valentine’s Day Coffee and a Gas:

On Saint Valentine’s Day, the CUH Anaesthetic Department gathered for tea and buns. Dr Leon Serfontein, Consultant Anaesthetist, is a man of many talents and showcased his impressive creative skills in table decoration.

The Coffee and a Gas program is an Association of Anaesthetists wellness initiative which provides an opportunity for members of anaesthesia departments to meet and have a chat in an informal environment

 

Saint Patrick’s Day Coffee and a Gas:

At the CUH Anaesthetic Department St Patrick's Day Coffee and a Gas, delicious sandwiches and sweet treats were enjoyed by members of the Department of Anaesthesia, as well as members of the wider theatre team.

Photo: Mr Finbarr Buckley (Portering Department) and Ms Maria O’Mahony (Housekeeping Department) enjoying some of the cakes.

 

Theatre 70’s and 80’s Disco:

Photo: members of the theatre team, including Dr Niamh Coughlan, Anaesthesiology SAT, CUH on right.

Mr Finbarr Buckley (Portering Department- in the wig below) organised a 70’s and 80’s disco for members of the CUH theatre staff at Flannerys Bar on March 31st. After the challenges faced by the theatre team over the last few years, it was a great opportunity for colleagues and friends to have fun together.

 

Spring Children’s Art Competition:

Young family members of those in the CUH Dept. of Anaesthesia were getting creative in the past months creating submissions for the Spring Art Competition. Following last year’s success, we again received a spectacular display of imagination and artistic skills this year.

The calibre was very high as usual and the judges awarded prizes to every participant (a bag of sweets). A selection of the fabulous artwork is included.

 

Dr William Brooke O’Shaughnessy: an Irishman who introduced anaesthesia to India and brought eastern medicine to Britain

Congratulations to Dr Natalie Lenggenhager-Krakoski (Intern, Dept Anaesthesia, CUH), Dr Pradipta Bhakta (Consultant Anaesthesiologist, Hull University Teaching Hospital), Dr Mohanchandra Mandal (Consultant Anaesthesiologist, Seth Sukhlal Karnani Memorial Hospital, West Bengal, India), Professor Dominic Harmon (Consultant Anaesthesiologist, University Hospital Limerick) and Dr Brian O’Brien (Consultant Anaesthesiologist, CUH) whose article on Dr William O’Shaughnessy was recently published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia.

Dr Bhakta was a valuable member of the CUH Department of Anaesthesia in 2017/8 and in 2020. Dr Lenggenhager-Krakoski, currently completing her internship in the South/ Southwest Hospital Group, is pursuing a career in anaesthesiology and we wish her well as she begins in this specialty in July.

We also commend Miss Pratibha Mandal (13 years old) who drew the picture of Dr O’Shaughnessy included in the article.

This fascinating article can be found at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bja.2023.02.008

 

Poetry corner:

We congratulate Dr Brian O’Brien, Consultant Anaesthesiologist, CUH, who’s collection of haiku’s about the gas laws were published in the Irish Medical Journal. A Haiku is a Japanese form of poem of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven and five. Traditionally, they focus on a brief moment in time, bringing together two images (often of the natural world) and creating a sudden sense of enlightenment.

 

Gas laws stated as Haiku- poem

Dr Brian O’Brien, Consultant Anaesthetist, CUH

The inspiration for much poetry involved endeavours to convey the beauty of nature. I am interested in the idea of stating laws of basic science in ways more elegant than the standard functional language. These are three of the gas laws stated as Haikus, the title of each being the creator of the law. As an anaesthesiologist, I need to know these things.

More importantly though, in attempting to state a deep truth in so few syllables, you are forced to pare to its essence the reality it contains. It makes you look closely at patterns that ancient scientists identified, and wonder at the extraordinary insight noted by the giants upon whose shoulders Newton stood- the fact that such patterns exist at all.

 

- Henry -

Liquids dissolve gas

Directly in proportion to

Their partial pressure.

 

-Avogadro-

Regarding gases

Moles, molecules and volumes

Are interchangeable

-Graham-

Gas diffusion rates

Are their densities’ square roots

Relate inversely.

 

O’Brien B. Gas laws stated as Haiku- poem. Irish Medical Journal; 2022: 115; 568.

 

Submissions:

yesuccanews@gmail.com

 

Editors:

Dr Clare Keaveney Jimenez, SpR, CUH.

Dr Oonagh Hickey, Consultant Anaesthesiologist, CUH