Winfocus Delhi 2011 - Greeting Message - WINFOCUS ... One Dream One World

WINFOCUS WORLD 2011

PRESIDENTS' GREETING MESSAGE

Dear Colleagues & Friends,

on behalf of WINFOCUS, the ‘World Interactive Network Focused On Critical Ultrasound’, we are honored to invite you to attend the ‘7th World Congress on Ultrasound in Emergency & Critical Care - From FAST to FAST-ABCDE: toward a new multifocused ultrasound paradigm for trauma care’, to be held in New Delhi (India) on November 22-27, 2011, hosted by the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

WINFOCUS (www.winfocus.org) is the world leading organization committed to improve Primary, Emergency and Critical Care Medicine by incorporating “Point-of-care” Ultrasound into Clinical Practice, for all out-of-hospital and in-hospital “critical” patients, by developing and fostering, on a global and multi-disciplinary basis, Ultrasound Education, Technological Development, Evidence-based Research and International Teamwork.

The novel concept of ‘critical’ ultrasound has recently evolved with the availability of high quality point-of-care ultrasound devices, in combination with an increasing number of clinicians (critical care, surgery, emergency medicine, anesthesiology, general internal medicine, pediatrics and others), who have developed ultrasound skills to take care of patients in ‘critical’ situations.
Clinical scenarios turn into ‘critical’ ones when there is a performance gap between the patient needs and the resources available for decision making and problem solving (Crisis Resource Management). This typically occurs in the acutely ill patient (see emergency, intensive, and critical care ultrasound concepts), and/or where human or technical resources are limited (see screening, triage, remote, rural, and primary ultrasound concepts).

On early 90’s the FAST protocol (Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma) emphasized the concept that focused point-of-care image acquisition, integrated with trauma management, could make life-saving decisions easier and faster, only detecting free fluid collection in body cavities. To follow, many other focused findings (free air, abnormal movements, irregular profiles, sharp artifacts) showed to be feasible, accurate and effective, associated with steep learning curves even among non imaging specialists. That brought to other protocols, as EFAST (extended FAST) and FASTER (FAST + extremities & respiratory), with a progressive multi-focused enhancement of the approach, up to a full integrated management of the overall ABCDE decision making pathway: the FAST ABCDE protocol.

The WINFOCUS ‘Ultrasound Life Support’ concept, qualifying such a new approach to resuscitation, represents a new integrated clinical strategy which follows the ‘ABCDE’ or ‘Head-to-Toes’ evaluation methodology and allows to rapid and effective problem-solving, by enhancing triage, diagnosis, therapy, monitoring, and patient follow up.

As clinical practice and research grow in the field, there is also an emerging need for ‘consensus’ on its interpretation and performance. For this reason, following the successful start up of the International Consensus Conferences on clinical (Pleural & Lung Ultrasound) and procedural applications (US-guided Vascular Access), Winfocus announced a new series of EBM and consensus-based meetings that over 2011-2013 will cover the overall ‘ABCDE’ and ‘Head-to-Toes’ management of the critical patient. First targeting major focused applications (Focused Echocardiography, Focused Airway Ultrasound, FAST, etc ...), then reviewing and standardizing multi-focused approaches as the ‘FAST ABCDE’ in resuscitation or the combined ‘Lung/Heart/Vein Ultrasound’ in dyspnea or shock states.

For this purpose, our meeting will host exciting point-of-care ultrasound courses and workshops, run by a worldwide cutting-edge Faculty, covering the hottest topics in emergency and critical care, with a specific focus on trauma care
enhancement.

Join the conference to share with the world such an exciting adventure!

Congress President