Conference
CONNECTions 
The Official Journal of The 
XXX ANNUAL SEEIUC CONFERENCE
As chairwoman of the Spanish Critical Care and Coronary Units Nursing Association (SEEIUC), I am pleased to report the positive results of our National Congress held in Tarragona from 6-9 June 2004. The event was attended by 530 critical care nurses, which was a similar number to previous years. The comfort and organisation of the rooms set aside for the different meetings undoubtedly helped to create a good atmosphere. There were 36 papers presented and 25 poster displays and overall there was a feeling of empathy between speakers and audience during the event.
This year, the SEMICYUC and SEEIUC Congress shared its venue and the participants’ knowledge with the 6th Iberian Meeting of Intensive Medicine. We met Patricia Correia Days Machado (Hospital of S. João, Oporto), who spoke about ‘How to provide care and control the critically ill patient’s pain’. She emphasised that measures for easing and improving communication between patients and nurses can be as important as pharmacological treatments.
As in previous years, SEEIUC shared sessions with SEMICYUC and I have summarised the main topics. The first was ‘Prevention and security in attending to the critical patient’. The speakers were Almudena Santano (Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid), Gemma Gimeno (Hospital de Barcelona, SCIAS), Dr Derek Angus (University of Pittsburg, USA) and Dr Jeanine Wiener-Kronisch (Cardiovascular Research Institute, USA). They remarked that many undesirable effects stem from our own professional activity and from technological advances. There is always a need to communicate mistakes when they happen or when they’re detected. We have to avoid the repetition of mistakes and offer a safe environment with minimal risks.
The second session was ‘Emergent critical pathologies’ and the speakers were Dr Fernando Barcenilla (Hospital Arnau de Vilanova, Lerida) and Amelia Urbaneja (Hospital de Basurto, Bilbao). Both covered the topic of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Dr Barcenilla emphasised that SARS is, at present, a controlled disease, but because it has not been eradicated, it is necessary to maintain measures of epidemiological control. Mrs Urbaneja spoke about the measures of prevention, control and treatment at her hospital where the only probable case of SARS in our country was cared for.
The other topic covered in this session was heat stroke. The speakers were Dr Guillermo Vázquez (Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona) and Angustias Navarro (Ciudad Sanitaria Virgen de las Nieves, Granada). Mrs Navarro spoke about the importance of preventative measures, especially for people at risk, while Dr Vázquez highlighted the need for having a preventative action plan and for considering welfare issues.
During the SEEIUC Roundtable ‘To humanise the care at critical units’, Pedro Lacasaña (Hospital Can Mises, Ibiza) spoke about the relationship between critical care nurses and the critical patient. He focused his presentation on the dehumanisation within the intensive care unit (ICU) and stated that this is due to the seriousness of the illnesses, the structure of ICUs, the technology and the lack of a suitable critical care nursing education career. Lourdes Rubio reminded us of the importance of the concept of ‘working as a team’. Every day, different professionals meet in the same context of work in such a way that mutual respect, communication and a clear definition of roles and responsibilities are necessary to achieve humanisation of care. Consuelo Zazpe (Clinica Universitaria de Navarra, Pamplona) spoke about the process of ‘How family may be involved in caring critical patients’.
Mechanical ventilation is always a topic of interest for intensive care nurses. This year, the motto was ‘Integral approach of the patient submitted for mechanical ventilation’. Luis Arantón (Hospital Arquitecto Marcide, El Ferrol) offered us a global vision about the needs of ventilated patients and he explained a plan to cope with these needs. Mª Jesus Tomey (Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid), spoke about new technologies in the treatment of distress, describing protective ventilation, nitric oxide, liquid ventilation and the benefits of the prone position. Dolors Ruiz (Hospital Universitario de Bellvitge, Barcelona) remarked on the need to create a calming atmosphere at a patient’s bedside to obtain the patient’s collaboration. This collaboration is needed to achieve good results during the process of mechanical non-invasive ventilation.
Currently, Spanish critical care nurses are expecting a decision about our professional future from the Health Ministry. Consequently, during the Roundtable ‘Professional development’, Miriam Del Barrio (Clinica Universitaria de Navarra, Pamplona) presented the NIPE Project (NIPE = Interventions for the Nursing Practice Classification. The aim is to revise and adapt the Nursing Intervention Classification (NIC) to our Spanish way of working). She emphasised that normalising nursing practice will allow us to identify our contribution and show the scope of nursing in the ICU. Blanca Marín (Clinica Universitaria de Navarra, Pamplona) spoke of the importance of ‘Nursing certification in critical care’ as the best way to guarantee nursing competence in caring for critical patients, with updated formation and clinical practice based on this competence. Rose Ricoma (Universidad Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona) presented ‘The Integration of nursing studies in the European space’ and highlighted the introduction of the European credits system and the European degree.
The Joint Session ‘Spinal Cord Trauma’ closed the Congress, with Dr Emilio Alted (Hospital 12 de Octubre, Madrid) and Mª Ángeles Alba Vara (Hospital Nacional de Parapléjicos, Toledo). Dr Alted reminded us of the great importance of the initial management of patients with spinal injury, and that controlling mis-management and using adapted transport will avoid secondary injuries. Mª Angeles presented a complete plan of care to relieve patients’ needs and prevent risk. In this Joint Session we were invited to speak about our experiences of patients, and also relatives, directly affected by spinal injury. They gave us their opinion of how to improve our care in ICU, and control who, where and when we offer information. They also reminded us of the need for great economic and psychological support for the affected families.
In addition to the informative sessions, I’m sure that everyone enjoyed their stay in the Roman City of Tarragona.
Amparo Bernat Adell
SEEIUC President
Spanish EfCCNa Representative
