Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society
Obstetric Section

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MINUTES
CAS Obstetric Section 2002 Business Meeting
June 24, 2002 in Victoria, British Columbia

The meeting was called to order at 0700 hrs.

PRESENT

Chair: Campbell DC, Vice-Chair: Nunn R, Treasurer: MacArthur A, Secretary: Morgan P. Members: Ali K, Angle P, Biehl D, Douglas J, Kronberg J, Lucy S , Morningstar B, Preston R, Shukla R, Tarshis J, Weeks S

1. Minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

Minutes of the OB section meeting, June 2001, Halifax, Nova Scotia were approved following correction of Section 6: New Business, SOJC should read SOGC.

Motion for approval: Dr. Shukla, Seconded by Dr. MacArthur

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2. BUSINESS ARISING

2.1 New Executive- last year approved that all executive positions would be for 3 years, with each member of the executive then assuming the next position.

Due to the resignation of Dr. R. Nunn as Vice-Chair of the Section, a new position in the executive is available. Suggestions for the Vice-chair position were offered by Dr. Shukla. Dr. Campbell indicated that protocol would suggest that Executive positions within the Section follow a certain order. Therefore, it was motioned that the current Executive advance so that effective July 1st, 2002:

Dr. A. MacArthur would take the position of Vice-Chair Dr. P. Morgan would take the position of Treasurer. Motion carried.

It was moved by Dr. Biehl and seconded by Dr. Kronberg that Dr. Pamela Angle be appointed to position of Secretary, effective July 1st, 2002. Motion carried.

2.2 Dr. Campbell commented on the ease of organization of the meeting in comparison to previous years, thanks to the work of Susan Wilson (CAS meeting coordinator) and other CAS administrative staff. Their contribution has made the planning of the meeting both efficient and a pleasure.

2.3 The Best Obstetric Anesthesia Paper of the Meeting award was initiated this year. The Section has made a 5-year commitment to the CAS to sponsor this award which is valued at $1000.00 per annum. Winning the Best Obstetric Anesthesia Paper of the Meeting does not preclude that poster/presentation from being part of the Best Paper of the entitre meeting competition nor the resident competition.

2.4 Section Luncheon. One hundred people have registered for the luncheon which is the most number of people of any CAS section.  Dr. Joy Hawkins will present a didactic lecture on Obstetric Emergencies.

2.5 NRFHR Guidelines: Update from Dr. Nunn Dr. Nunn presented these guidelines to the CAS Standards Committee, however the guidelines have were not incorporated into the CAS standards of practice. It was suggested that the guidelines be posted on our website and that an abstract of these guidelines be submitted to the 2003 Society for Obstetric Anesthesiology and Perinatology Annual meeting (SOAP) for possible poster presentation. It was further suggested that the Section Chair contact the SOGC’s Dr. Andre Lalonde for possible inclusion in their Societies newsletter and website.

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3. REPORTS

3.1 Scientific Affairs: Agreement with ASA and European Society that abstracts can now be submitted to both CAS and ASA, and European Society meetings. The abstracts are not indexed, therefore, are not considered duplicate publications.

This year there were 14 abstracts from residents, 6 of which were entered into the Resident’s Competition. There were more abstracts submitted this year than last year, 89 vs 65. All abstracts (except 2 which weren’t blinded) were accepted for presentation. There were enough Obstetric Anesthesia abstracts to have a full Obstetric Anesthesia Poster session. The winner of the Best Obstetric Anesthesia paper for 2002 was Dr. Michelle Chochinov from the University of Toronto for her poster: “Alpha-1 agonists vs ephedrine for C/S hypotension: A systematic review.”

3.2 Section Executive Meeting: The Section Executive meeting was held at 10:00 on Saturday morning. There was a discussion and review of costs per Section and it was decided that larger Sections would pay more than smaller Sections, based upon membership size.

It appears that our Section membership list is somewhat outdated. It was suggested that Susan Wilson be contacted to provide the Section with an up-to-date membership list. Dr. Preston suggested that the appropriate CAS committee be contacted to ensure that the CAS website have a link to the Obstetric Anesthesia Section website.

3.3 Treasurer: Dr. MacArthur reported that $10000.00 was received from industry sponsors for this year’s meeting events with a carry-over from last year of about $20000.00. Generally speaking the Obstetric Anesthesia luncheon is revenue neutral.

Dr. Preston initiated a discussion that the Section standardize the honorarium for our Visiting Lecturers.

The following motion was made by Dr. Lucy and seconded by Dr. Tarshis An honorarium of $1500.00 will be given to our Visiting lecturers above that provided by the CAS. The motion was carried

3.4 Website (Dr. Roanne Preston) The actual website address is obanesthesia.org. However, the website can be reached by using the word anesthesia, with and without diphthong. All Section members or Visiting lecturers who gave presentations at the meeting are encouraged to get the slides and material to Dr. Preston so the material can be put on the website. All members are encouraged to please send updated email addresses to Dr. Preston so communication with all section members will be easily conducted. The ACUDA (Association of Canadian University Departments of Anesthesia) is now hyperlinked from the Obstetric Anesthesia website. It was suggested that interesting articles found in Journals not commonly read by Anesthesiologists could be hyperlinked to the website and other items such as job opportunities in Obstetric Anesthesia be posted there as well.

It was motioned and carried that the webmaster by given a $1000.00 honorarium for the outstanding work done to date.

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4. CORRESPONDENCE

4.1 SOGC – Dr. Campbell was an invited speaker at the Regional meting of SOGC held in Toronto in November 2001. He highlighted the importance of continuing to keep open lines of communication with our Obstetrical colleagues. Presentations were well received. Feedback for attendees suggested that Obstetric Anesthesia Refresher Courses are needed (i.e. questions from GP Anesthetists pertaining to doses of IT anesthetics for C-delivery, use of IT morphine for Postoperative analgesia, NSAIDS etc). Current challenges facing National and Provincial Departments of Anesthesia include the provision of CME for GP Anesthetists. Many GP Anesthetists are very interested in topics pertaining to Obstetric Anesthesia.

4.2 SOGC Journal :Review Article (May 2002) The article “Nitroglycerine as a uterine relaxant: A systemic Review Morgan PJ, Kung R, Tarshis J. J Obstet Gynaecol Can 24:403-9, 2002” was published in the SOGC’s journal, which will now be indexed. Such articles are important as they keep our Obstetrical Colleagues appraised of advances in our specialty. Good follow-up to the article published in the same Journal in 1997 entitled: Emergent uterine relaxation with intravenous nitroglycerine for a vaginal breech delivery: Clinical report and review. Campbell DC, Epp A, Turnell R. J SOGC 19:415-20, 1997 - hopefully we can put the May 2002 review article up on website.

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5. NEW BUSINESS

5.1 Member Acknowledgment: Joanne Douglas will be stepping down as Clinical Head at BC Women’s Hospital and will be undertaking a year as Visiting Professor at Women’s College Campus of Sunnybrook & Women’s College HSC at U of T. We are pleased to learn that Joanne will not then retire, but will return to work at BC Women’s Hospital.

5.2 Membership benefits: A discussion was held about having members of the Section paying a reduced amount for the annual Section Luncheon held at the CAS. It was agreed that Section members would be charged $20.00 for the Luncheon, while non-members would be charged $40.00.

It was suggested that a letter of welcome be given to each new Section member with a letter from the Chair highlighting section activities, website address and benefit of attending the annual luncheon at a reduced rate. This information could also appear on the website and may perhaps encourage people to join.

5.3 Section Sponsorship: Predominantly year to year canvassing. This year was very successful, however, this will likely vary considerably from year to year. Form letters and form e-mails have been created by the current Chairman that goes through local reps, because they have the contacts at Head Office. All sponsorship cheques go directly to CAS Head Office with notation “Obstetric Section”.

5.4 Section Evaluation of Expert Panel and Luncheon: CAS evaluation forms provide very little information to assist with planning. This year the Chairman will introduce a new form (one used at U of S) to provide feedback from attendees at the Expert panel and Section Luncheon. Hopefully will have better response and indication of “needs assessment” than general meeting evaluation form provides.

5.5 Advertisements of Job Opportunities on Website: Jobs can be posted on the website although with the current shortage, the response may be somewhat limited.

Of note, at SOAP 2002 the ASA President announced that there are approximately 4,000 Anesthesia positions vacant in the USA. The pressure on Academic centers to retain and recruit educators and researchers will continue to be very difficult. The manpower outlook for Canada does not look good as our supply has already outstripped demand and will certainly worsen over the next 10 years. The importance of increasing our Anesthesia residency training positions can not be overemphasized.

5.6 CAS Speaker Reimbursement Policy: The CAS policy was distributed and reviewed and is available in an electronic format.

5.7 Future Meetings  Next year’s meeting will be in Ottawa 2003 and in 2004 in Quebec City. Dr. Preston agreed to be site host for the Ottawa 2003 meeting. She will be responsible for finding 2 individuals to give Case discussions. Dr. Campbell has already organized next year’s speaker who will be Dr. Ed Riley from Stanford. Suggestions for topics for his talks are welcome. Also suggestions for topics for an expert panel are needed (post C-delivery analgesia, PPTL, PDPH etc). Involvement of GP anaesthetists was discussed.

5.8 Other Business: Dr. Rob Nunn was thanked for all of his hard work and contributions to the Section.

Since there was no further business, the meeting was adjourned @ 08:40.