In 2005 we held three meetings in a return to our normal program of two Sydney meetings and a weekend meeting in Leura. In addition to a theme for each meeting we included a workshop dedicated specifically to refreshing core skills and knowledge. We also took on board the results of a survey on the CME needs of ANZCA fellows provided by Dr Adam Tucker.

The first meeting for 2005 was held at the Sofitel Wentworth Sydney Hotel on Saturday 30th April and was titled ‘What’s big in anaesthesia?’ focusing on the anaesthesia-related issues of obesity. This meeting was well attended and covered a broad range of areas including the epidemiology and pathophysiology of obesity, the anaesthetic and surgical aspects of bariatric surgery, as well as the practical challenges to providing anaesthesia for obese patients for both general and obstetric surgery. The opening session also included an entertaining personal account of the fight against obesity by Dr Norman Swan. The workshops covered a range of obesity related topics, but perhaps the most interest was in the emerging field of ultrasound use for vascular access. This area is undergoing significant change in both the technology and applications and our meetings are sure to revisit it in the near future. The refresher workshops at this meeting covered the area of advanced CPR.

The second meeting for the year was held at Peppers Fairmont Resort at Leura in NSW on 20th-21st August and was titled ‘Perioperative Medicine’. This covered a range of valuable topics including the new information on consent in NSW as well as a perspective from South Australia. Topics as wide-ranging as new drugs, perioperative care in private practice, the future of perioperative services and the concept of the hospitalist were covered on the Saturday, while the Sunday included what drugs to cease preoperatively and the important perioperative topics of cardiology and smoking. The workshops were equally wide-ranging, with the refresher workshops for this meeting covering cardiac dysrhythmias.

The final meeting of the year was held at the Sheraton-on-the-Park Hotel in Sydney. It was titled ‘Remote Anaesthesia…are we there yet?’ and covered the important and increasing area of anaesthesia in remote locations. We were able to cover the rapidly changing areas of neuroradiology, vascular surgery and cardiac defibrillators and pacing, but also included in the definition of ‘remote’ the anaesthetic involvement in the Tsunami response in Banda Aceh, and looked at relevant aspects of a hypothetical 9/11 disaster scenario. The refresher workshops at this meeting covered anaphylaxis.

2005 saw some major changes to the membership of the NSWACE committee. We lost the valuable experience and hard-working contributions of Matthew Crawford (the outgoing chairman), Ed Loughman and Peter Isert. All three have been long standing members of NSWACE and have made major contributions to the development of continuing education in this state. In their place we have expanded the size of the committee and have been joined by Michael Bennett, Tsung Chai, Richard Connolly, Catherine Downs, David Elliott, Stephen Gibson, David Kinchington andTony Padley. These new members join Chris Jones, Mark Priestley (the new chairman) and Leonie Watterson in forming the new committee. The new members come from a range of backgrounds – metropolitan and rural, private and public practice as well as having a variety of subspecialty interests, and with this broad background we hope to represent the CME interests of the ANZCA and ASA members of NSW. We have a good range of meetings planned for 2006, commencing with ‘Blood, Sweat and Tears – Minimising Blood Transfusion in the Modern Era’ on 20th May at the Menzies Hotel in Sydney.

It is important that CME in NSW continues to reflect the needs and goals of anaesthetists in this state. This can only be accomplished with good communication between the NSWACE committee and the broader anaesthetic community. To borrow a phrase from the ABC television network: ‘It’s your CME’ - if you have ideas about topics you would like covered, or formats for teaching and learning you would like used, or have opinions about any other aspects of anaesthetic CME in NSW we would love to hear from you at nsw@anzca.edu.au or by mail to the ANZCA office at 117 Alexander Street, Crows Nest NSW 2065.