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SPA Response to Recent Supreme Court Decision on Abortion

The recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, the rescinding of Roe vs Wade and overturning the constitutional right to abortion, directly impedes the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship and will harm our patients and colleagues. The mission of the SPA is to care for children, their families, and our pediatric anesthesia community based on the science and best evidence available to us. Therefore, as patient safety experts, we stand firm in our support for access to safe abortion care for all who seek it and the reproductive rights of all. We offer our support to our members as we all navigate the new waters raised by this decision.

SPA Board of Directors

Call for Workshop and PBLD Submissions

Do you have an idea for a Workshop or Problem-Based Learning Discussion (PBLD) that would benefit the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia membership? If so, please see the requirements and submission information below for the SPA-AAP Pediatric Anesthesiology 2023 meeting, March 31-April 2, 2023 in Austin, TX.

WORKSHOPS – Submission deadline is July 15, 2022

We are looking for workshops topics that will be of interest to those who provide anesthesia, sedation, pain management, and critical care services to infants and children.

Requirements:

If your workshop will require equipment provided in-kind by vendors/commercial supporters – please confirm with vendors that they are willing to provide/ship the equipment prior to submitting your proposal.
Please list all proposed faculty on your submission; confirm that they are willing to participate prior to submitting your proposal.
Only SPA members may participate as workshop faculty – SPA will not provide any compensation or reimbursement to non-member faculty for workshops.

Please click here for the workshop proposal form. We will also accept proposals for workshops that have been presented at past meetings or submitted previously (and not selected for presentation). If there are any specific barriers to address or resources we can help with please include those in your application. Submissions will be closely reviewed by the meeting planning committee.Please complete and submit the form to [email protected] no later than July 15, 2022.

PBLD SUBMISSIONS – Submission deadline is July 15, 2022

PBLD Submissions may be a case or problem that is real or fictitious, and could describe issues related to clinical anesthesia, resident education, medical ethics, or professionalism. Reviewers will score submissions for interest, scientific accuracy, and clarity of thought and expression.

Two moderators must be named for each submission, and if accepted, both must agree to participate as moderators for the group discussion at the meeting. One moderator should be an experienced educator, and the other a junior faculty member or a fellow in-training. Senior moderators may not be included on more than TWO PBLD submissions. Institutions/hospitals may submit multiple PBLDs, however, no more than TWO PBLD submissions from an institution/hospital will be accepted for presentation at the meeting.

Please remember that the goal of the PBLD is for the LEARNER to participate in discussing the management options, not for the MODERATOR to tell participants how he/she actually did the case.

An effective PBLD:

is relevant to the practice of many pediatric anesthesiologists (i.e. not an extremely rare case)
has controversy and/or decision making that should be discussed/debated
has some surprises, “twists or turns”
has well-written objectives that are covered by the discussion
has well selected references

Many unusual cases are better suited to a Medically Challenging Case or Case Report/Scientific Abstract instead of a PBLD. Therefore, it is important for the author to demonstrate to the reviewers that the PBLD contains areas for discussion, such as different ways of managing clinical issues, among others.

It is crucial that submissions are carefully proofed for grammatical errors and typos, as carelessly written PBLDs are often automatically rejected. It is also recommended that authors disguise the identity of any real patients by changing demographic details and circumstances of the clinical scenario to avoid potential HIPAA violations.

For more information on how to create a great PBLD:
How to Design and Lead an Effective PBLD – SPA One-Pager
https://www.mededportal.org/publication/9371

The final deadline for receipt of submissions will be 3:00pm Eastern Time on Friday, July 15, 2022. No late submissions will be entertained. If accepted, you will be notified by email in late August.

SPA has developed an online submission form for PBLDs. Please have your PBLD materials ready to submit. The new online form will not allow you to save your work to submit at a later date.

PBLD SUBMISSION SITE: https://www2.pedsanesthesia.org/meetings/2023winter/pbldsubmit.iphtml

We look forward to receiving your submissions! Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions by emailing Kim Battle at [email protected].

Thank you.

Titilopemi Aina, MD, FAAP, FASA
Program Chair

Justin B. Long, MD, MHI, FAAP
Program Co-Chair – Workshops

Jina Sinskey, MD
Program Co-Chair – PBLDs & Round Tables

Statement on Gun Violence

As a society whose primary focus is on the safety of children, we stand beside you in shock, in anger, and in grief for the innocent victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and the community of Uvalde, Texas – their lives will be forever changed by this horrific act of violence.

It is unimaginable to us that, despite Columbine High School, Sandy Hook Elementary, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and many other school shootings, very little has been done to decrease gun violence in our country. How many more children’s lives will be lost before we as a country take action?

Several years ago, SPA Past President, Randy Flick MD, MPH, FAAP, authored an open letter deploring gun violence. Today, we again call upon you as physicians who have dedicated your lives to the care of children to raise your voices in support of actions that will advance our understanding and knowledge of the impact of gun violence on children and families and the steps necessary to prevent the atrocious loss of other children in our country.

We stand steadfast in our commitment as a society to both the perioperative care of children and the advancement of science that improves the lives of the children and families about whom we care so deeply. In as much, the Society for Pediatric Anesthesia will be donating $5,000 to Everytown Support Fund. We will also be considering mechanisms for our society to contribute more meaningfully as advocates for the safety of children.

Society for Pediatric Anesthesia Board of Directors

Statement on Transgender Care

Leaders of the Texas state government recently issued a letter to its state health agencies announcing that providing gender-affirming medical treatments to transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) youths “constitutes child abuse” under state law. Governor Greg Abbott then stipulated that teachers and health care providers are now legally required to report parents who aid their child in receiving age-appropriate and medically necessary gender-affirming care to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS).

In response, the ACLU, the ACLU of Texas, and Lambda Legal have sued to prevent implementation of these predatory actions. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also issued a statement which indicates that denying TGD youth medically necessary health care is discriminatory and illegal under federal law. However, health care systems within Texas have “paused” hormone-related therapies for gender-affirming services to protect the families and healthcare professionals who could face the legal ramifications of this order. Innumerable youth now face the possibility of abrupt cessation of their treatment, and their supportive families and healthcare providers must fear criminal investigation for providing the current standard of care.

These actions are a direct attack on TGD youth, their supportive families, and the entire TGD community that disregard well-established medical research and put the mental health and well-being of these children at stake. This proposed legislation is not an isolated event. So far in 2022, more than a dozen states have introduced legislation seeking to restrict access to and criminalize gender-affirming healthcare. In total, more than 30 states have introduced over 100 pieces of anti-trans legislation already this year, attacking not only healthcare equality, but also TGD youth’s rights to safe and appropriate restrooms and equitable participation in sports. If these discriminatory laws are passed, they will have catastrophic consequences for a vulnerable population that already suffers from higher rates of anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide.

The Society for Pediatric Anesthesia (SPA) joins with many other major U.S. medical organizations (e.g. American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American Psychological Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American College of Physicians, American Academy of Family Physicians) in recognizing that gender-affirming care is life-saving and medically necessary. The SPA will continue to support the rights of TGD youth and help ensure that they receive the gender-affirming care that they seek.

As perioperative medical professionals and patient safety advocates, we have a duty to protect and care for all vulnerable pediatric populations. TGD youth are under attack across our country and deserve our protection. Now is the time to stand up, make our voices heard, and uphold our ethical standards in the face of injustice.

Specifically, we call on our members to:

increase their understanding of gender-affirming care for TGD youth
remain vigilant of the current anti-trans legislative trends, especially legislation specific to their state
support the efforts of pediatricians and mental health practitioners who provide age-appropriate, gender-affirming care to TGD youth
ensure equitable access to gender-affirming care, noting that the inability to access such care can result in morbidity and mortality.

SPA has made a $5,000 donation to the National Center for Transgender Equality. You may also wish to consider a donation to one of the following organizations:

National:
National Center for Transgender Equality
Human Rights Campaign
Lambda Legal

Texas:
Equality Texas
Transgender Education Network of Texas
Texas Freedom Network

Support for Ukraine

As we all watch the horrors that are happening in the Ukraine, we cannot help but see the suffering of families, children, and our medical colleagues there. There have been so many stories of the heroic efforts of the Ukrainian people as they face an unprovoked war. Yesterday, we heard of the loss of a Ukrainian Pediatric Anesthesiologist, Dr. Marina Kalabina, who was killed taking a wounded nephew to the hospital. Thousands of Ukrainian children are also being displaced.

The Society for Pediatric Anesthesia stands with the people of Ukraine and our Ukrainian colleagues as they fight and care for the children there. We have made a $10,000 donation to UNICEF. If you would like to donate on your own as well, the following organizations assist in areas of conflict globally, including in the Ukraine.

UNICEF: https://www.unicef.org/emergencies/conflict-ukraine-pose-immediate-threat-children

Save the Children: https://www.savethechildren.org/

International Rescue Committee: https://www.rescue.org/

Global Giving: https://www.globalgiving.org/

World Kitchen: https://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraine

Okhmatdyt Specialist Pediatric Hospital in Kyiv: https://ohmatdyt.com.ua/

International Red Cross: https://www.icrc.org/en/humanitarian-crisis-ukraine