Critical Care Summit 2023

A brand-new event on the College's conference calendar, Critical Care Summit 2023 was hosted in Tweed Heads in May 2023. The Summit aimed at providing a targeted education and engagement for critical care practitioners including paramedics, nurses and emergency and retrieval physicians.

Through two days of case-based learning, attendees experienced multi-faceted and interactive presentations centred around complex patient care.

Summit theme: Contemporary care through collaboration

Paediatric Masterclass: The A’s, B’s and C’s

The care of critically unwell paediatric patients will often cause added stress for any critical care clinician. The challenges of paediatric critical care, combined with the added burden of emotion and parents can mean clinicians often worry more about the basics of paediatric critical care more than any other patient type. In the Paediatric Masterclass, the team, led by Dr Victoria Matheson, will give you the practical, fail-safe tools to look after paediatrics, focusing on the fundamentals of A, B and C. This session will include live presentations of paediatric airway management, combined with the latest research and tools to reduce the stress on critical care clinicians when caring for an unwell child.

Presented by:

• Victoria Matheson, HARU Medical officer
• Tash Adams, Senior Critical Care Paramedic, Queensland Ambulance Service
• Matt Humar, MICA Paramedic & Patient Review Specialist, Ambulance Victoria. Teaching Associate, Department of Paramedicine, Monash University. Board member, Safe Airway Society (SAS)
• Libby Hanrahan, Critical Care Helicopter Paramedic, NSW Ambulance

Biographies:

Victoria Matheson - Victoria is a Consultant Emergency Specialist and Paediatrician based on the Gold Coast. She is currently seconded for a 6 month term working with the High Acuity Response Unit working out of Brisbane. She enjoys the challenge of Trauma and is loving the opportunity to hone her skills in the pre-hospital environment.

Tash Adams - Natasha Adams is a Senior Critical Care Paramedic with the Queensland Ambulance Service, working with the Brisbane High Acuity Response Unit. Her clinical interests include progressive trauma and medical care, clinical education and leadership development.

Matt Humar - Matt is an Intensive Care (MICA) Paramedic with Ambulance Victoria, where he has been a paramedic since 2009. Within Ambulance Victoria, Matt also currently works as a Patient Review Specialist. Since 2010, Matt has been a teaching associate with Monash University's undergraduate and postgraduate Paramedic degrees; and is a founding board member, and current secretary, of the Safe Airway Society. Matt is passionate about airway management and patient safety, and improving paramedic education, training, and practice in these areas.

Libby Hanrahan - Libby has worked in the prehospital world for NSW Ambulance for over 20 years. The last 10 years have been in the role of Critical Care Helicopter Paramedic. Even after 10 years she finds the role to be ever evolving with new learnings, challenges and of course amazing comradery with the crew she works alongside. She feels privileged to work alongside the most incredible Paramedics, pilots, air crewmen and doctors. ‘Everyone has worked their off to be in rescue and retrieval medicine – so when the work is on we are at our most fulfilled. I justifies all the hours of training.’