A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

[March 2020]

Dear Colleagues, 

The past few months have been unprecedented in our modern medical history.

Globally the impact has been sweeping and frankly, quite distressing. Images from some of the worst affected areas and the duress under which our Critical Care colleagues there are under seem almost surreal.

While we as a Critical Care community in Canada have experienced SARS and H1N1, COVID-19 is proving to be the most challenging (infectious or non-infectious) threat to medicine and public health to date. Not just in terms of the pathology, morbidity, current and potential mortality, but also in the sheer workload both clinical and non-clinical that is required to plan and deal with the many diverse arising issues.

One of the non-clinical challenges is keeping track of the rapidity in which information is becoming available and evolving alongside the pandemic. The CCCS has decided not to post numerous links or documents available on other websites or platforms. Rather, it will post what may not be available elsewhere and what we feel is of particular interest and importance to the Canadian Critical Care community.

This approach is also meant to avoid the inadvertent assumption that whatever we post is fully endorsed by the CCCS. We are cognizant of the fact that policies, procedures and recommendations regarding COVID related subjects will have geographic variation – sometimes significant regional variation. It would not be a service to our national members if we were to post recommendations that differ – something many of us have already experienced between our sites.

We recognize the importance of maintaining and transparent communication among critical care clinicians across Canada. In order to minimize the already challenging workload of keeping up with emails and texts, etc. the CCCS has established a SLACK page and will continue to operate its google forum page, with a new COVID specific thread.

I urge you to sign up for either or both to be able to quickly and effectively communicate with a large cohort of your Canadian colleagues and CCCS members. To do so, contact cccs@secretariatcentral.com.

Please do not hesitate to contact the CCCS with any questions or concerns.

Dr. Bojan Paunovic

President, CCCS

president@canadiancriticalcare.org