Members and friends of the Australasian Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (AuSPEN) are warmly invited to our Annual Scientific Meeting for 2008 which will be held as part of the Asia Pacific Critical Care 2008 Congress in Sydney from October 30th to November 2nd, 2008. Asia Pacific Critical Care 2008 is an exciting venture involving Intensive Care Societies from many countries in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand and AuSPEN. It brings together the 15th Bi-Annual Asia Pacific Association of Critical Care Medicine Congress, the 33rd Australian and New Zealand Annual Scientific Meeting on Intensive Care, the 14th Australian and New Zealand Paediatric Neonatal Intensive Care Conference and the 34th Annual Scientific Meeting of Australian Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Meeting. The congress will be held at one of the best conference facilities in the world, Darling Harbour in Sydney, Australia. The theme is a celebration of Intensive Care looking not only at past achievements in Intensive Care Medicine practices but also at the current state-of-the-art techniques with a view at what the future holds in this exciting area of medicine. Renowned speakers have been invited from Europe, North America, in addition to many of the Asian Pacific countries. The Australian and New Zealand Intensive Care Society (ANZICS) and the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN) usually meet together and it is the premier scientific meeting in our part of the world for the critical care field both scientifically and socially. This year they have welcomed the chance to join with both their Asian counterparts and AuSPEN. This will therefore be a large meeting with an international flavour and will give us at AuSPEN an enormous opportunity to interact and share knowledge with colleagues from the critical care community. There will be many intensivists and ICU nurses who we can both learn from and educate, but it will also give us the chance to raise the profile of both AuSPEN and nutrition and to set up partnerships of our various societies for the future. Given that over the last 10 years we have held 3 very successful meetings with the various societies involved in Australian Gastroenterology Week, this should give us another fabulous opportunity to join with another interested and important group of clinicians and researchers. There will be a nutrition program right throughout the 3 day program with several sessions devoted entirely to critical care nutrition and several to nutrition in areas away from the ICU. We believe that there will be something in the program for everyone, whether you are a dietitian, nurse, pharmacist or doctor. The nutrition program has several international speakers, including: - Prof Daren Heyland - an intensivist and epidemiologist from Kingston, Canada, who is now recognised as a world leader in critical care nutrition.
- Dr Gary Zaloga – an American intensivist with major nutrition expertise, who has recently taken up a position with Baxter Healthcare in the USA.
- Prof Paul Wischmeyer – a critical care physician from Denver, USA who is gaining an international reputation for his basic and clinical research in the nutrition field.
There will also be a number of local experts from the medical, dietitian, pharmacy and nursing fields. The predominant session titles in the nutrition stream are:- - Nutrition as a critical care necessity
- Optimising enteral feeding in the ICU
- TPN in critical care - what's its true role?
- Pharmaconutrients - the future
- Nutrition in other settings
- Delivering effective nutrition without causing harm
- Guidelines for nutrition therapy
- Nutrition in our hospitals - can we do better
There will be many concurrent sessions related to critical care, all of which delegates from each society will be welcome to attend. We hope this will give AuSPEN and intensive care participants a great opportunity to move between their various areas of interest, exposing them to numerous experts from the various fields. The good news is that we have negotiated with the conference organisers for allied health delegates to have a very attractive discount for registration to the meeting. This price will include 2 social functions including the Welcome Party on the Thursday night and the Gala Dinner on the Saturday night, which should be a highlight of the meeting. Abstract prize winners will be announced at that function. Abstract submission will open very shortly and will close on June 30th, so please start getting your abstracts ready. The best 5 nutrition abstracts will be selected for an oral presentation in 2 of the nutrition sessions. We are also delighted to announce the occasion of the second Graham Hill oration, where an esteemed AuSPEN member will make an address at the meeting. This follows the inaugural oration by Bob MacMahon back in 2006, which indeed was a well-received and spectacular lecture from a pioneer of our now diverse and vibrant society. The decision to hold the congress in Sydney allows participants to not only experience the advantages of a top quality Intensive Care and Nutrition Meeting, but also provides an opportunity for exploring the amazing sights and experiences that Sydney and elsewhere in Australia have to offer the curious explorer. Usually at this time of the year the weather is warm and sunny allowing for outdoor pursuits such as sailing on Sydney Harbour or bush walking through wild national parks. For more information, please see the website at www.intensivecareasm.com.au. Andrew Davies AuSPEN Convenor
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