| This initiative began with a discussion between Fathima Paruk, Joche Rojas-Suarez and Stephen Lapinsky which we hope to develop into a broad interest group. The number of intensive care physicians with an interest or expertise in the pregnant patient in any one area is very small, and we would all benefit from international collaboration. While there are several organizations to which many of us belong catering to some aspects of the critically ill pregnant patient, there is none directed specifically to this interest group. Examples include Obstetric Anesthesia organizations, Critical Care Societies (SCCM, ESICM), Obstetric Medicine organizations and MFM societies, all of which deal with critical illness in pregnancy, but these patients are a tiny subgroup and therefore a lower priority. Some important aspects specific to ICU care which do not fall under the area of interest of these other group include: - mechanical ventilation during pregnancy (ie. longer than simply peri-operatively) - prolonged sedation and analgesia in pregnancy - role of delivery in the critically ill pregnant patient - maternal-fetal conflicts - post critical illness syndromes We plan to discuss the potential of developing a Society aimed at facilitating research and education in this field. The benefits of identifying a group of clinicians with a similar interest would be to faciliatet collaborative research and the generation of consensus guidelines or care plans. |