It's been a while since the last post, but there's been no dawdling. I've moved house (Still waiting for the phone company to get the WiFi sorted out so I'm writing this at the local library), been through the WRC Rally Australia event (photos and learning points will be the next post) and been to Singapore for the inaugural FIA Asia-Pacific Serious Accident Study Group (Again, post coming soon).

And it's not over yet. So this post is a quick summary of four upcoming events that I think are worth highlighting.


Next month I'll be heading to Doha (Qatar) for the biannual FIA Medicine in Motorsport Summit. It is embedded into the week long FIA Annual General Assembly, during which regulations, specifications and administrative issues are ironed out for the following season. The summit in Istanbul two years ago was surprisingly useful. There were some insights into the work that goes on behind the scene and, frankly, it's a pity that this stuff is not more visible. Unfortunately a corporate mentality means that material that would be helpful for trackside medics is not as easily accessible as it should be. But that appears to be improving, slowly. While an official summit program is yet to be released, it will include a chief medical officer seminar that will explore issues arising out of FIA-sanctioned motorsport competitions, a series of workshops and a tour of the Aspetar Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital. I'll let you know how that goes.

However, this is not the high point. 2015 holds great promise with three quality conferences; two focussed on critical care and one on motorsport rescue.


Back to back in January will see the 2015 Critical Care Reviews Meeting on the 23rd of January in the glorious Galgorm Resort, in Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is put together by the amazing Dr Rob MacSweeney (@CritCareReviews) who is a powerhouse of critical care literature reviewing. He runs the Critical Care Reviews website and newsletter and the sheer quantity of literature that he covers makes me feel quite inadequate. He was a speaker at last year's SMACC Gold conference, where he gave a great evidence based update for ARDS. The program and registration for the CCR Meeting can be found here and it includes Niklas Nielsen and Karen Amrein amongst the list of speakers. If you can't make it, and you should, I believe Rob will be recording it for later release, as he did with last year's meeting.


The day after, I'll drive south to Kildare where Motorsport Rescue Services have organised a two-day conference on motorsport trauma and extrication at Ireland's only international motorsport circuit, Mondello Park. Mondello Park is where I first started getting properly into motorsport medicine, working with a group of paramedics who had specific training in motorsport extrication and scene control, so I have a bit of a soft spot for this venue. One of the speakers is Dr John Hinds, who gave the highly rated "Cases from the Races" talk and hilarious con side of the Cricolol debate at last year's SMACC Gold conference and who has featured on the Resuscitationists Awesome Guide to Everything (R.A.G.E.) podcast and Rollcage Medic Podcast 7. The program and registration page for TEM2015 are here.


Finally, in June, the game-changing, mind-bending, horizon-expanding SMACC conference will be held for the third year. This time it is going global and moving outside Australia to Chicago in the U.S. Chicago is one of my favourite cities in the world and I'm really looking forward to getting back there. Attending SMACC, which I've been involved with since its inception, will be a great blend of a fantastic conference with an amazing city. Here is the SMACC Chicago conference brochure, with everything you need to know, from content and speakers to location and registration.

If you haven't been to SMACC, sit down, clear your calendar between the 23rd and 26th of June and get there. You will thank yourself. Just in case you need some convincing, check out the videos and podcasts from the original SMACC conference and last year's smaccGOLD. Then get together with some of your buddies at work and submit an EVO video for a chance to win free registration. After that, get online and join in the conversation at #smaccUS.


Registration for SMACC Chicago opens in the next 48 hours, with discounted prices for the first 500 registrants. The workshops sold out fast last year, so get in quick. And if you are worried about spending more time away from family, don't worry, you can bring them with you as there will be a SMACC Creche to help out.

So, there is a lot to look forward to in the coming months and that's just the first half of next year.