Workshops

The ULTIMATE Project Universal Learning in TIVA in Intensive Medicine & Anaesthesia: A Training & Educational Project

Introduction

The ULTIMATE as a CME Program

THE ULTIMATE is a learning tool for both anaesthetists and intensivists alike to be able, to not only be comfortable with utilising TIVA, but also utilising it in a way that would maximise the benefits of the procedures without compromising patient safety.

The ULTIMATE Project is the epitome of such a tool, where surveys have indicated that training and education are required by most target physicians. A "Continuing Medical Education" (CME) Program was developed through a third party CME Provider (MeduKnowledge) in the UK. The project has been accredited and carries 12 credit hours to attendees in collaboration with "Anaesthesia & Intensive Care" Bodies and Societies in all the countries where the ULTIMATE has been conducted.

In order to address these needs the project comprises two main parts:

• I. An In-Hospital Training: this is the practical part of the project, where the Faculty Experts interact with anaesthetists and intensivists in the hospitals: co-managing cases using TIVA or analgo-sedation; respectively. This is done in the mornings and afternoons.
• II. Lectures, videos and Q&A: this is the theoretical part of the program, where attending HCPs learn the principles of TIVA and interact with the faculty experts in video case discussions and free Q&A sessions. This part runs mainly in the evenings.

Program Curriculum

The curriculum of the program mainly covers the following topics:

• 1. A short historical about total intravenous anaesthesia (TIVA).
• 2. Comparison between TIVA and general anaesthesia.
• 3. Advantages and disadvantages of TIVA and how to overcome the disadvantages.
• 4. Pharmacology of drugs given by infusion (compartmental models).
• 5. Suitability of anaesthetic drug-classes for TIVA.
• 6. Pharmacology of breakthrough products that changed the face of TIVA and the fundamentals of analgo-sedation: hypnotics (e.g. propofol), opioids (e.g. remifentanil) and α-2-agonists (e.g. dexmedetomidine).
• 7. Video sessions and evidence-based lectures for the use of TIVA in the following situations:
• a. Short and Day-case surgery.
• b. Cardiac anaesthesia: anaesthesia for cardiac patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery, and for patients undergoing cardiac surgery.
• c. Neuroanaesthesia.
• d. Obstetric and gynaecological cases.
• e. Paediatric anaesthesia.
• f. Anaesthesia for organ transplantation, especially kidney and liver.
• g. Sedation during regional anaesthesia.
• h. Sedation during special diagnostic procedures.
• i. Analgosedation in the ICU.