SCCM Pediatric Section Internet Working Group (SCCMPIWG)

Meeting Minutes February 1998

• Call to order, welcome.
  • The meeting, co-chaired by Barry Markovitz and Carl Weigle, was called to order at 7:15 a.m.
  • The 10 people present introduced themselves.
  • Attendees were reminded that
    1. SCCMPIWG welcomes any interested parties, and
    2. this group constitutes, in effect, the editorial board and advisory committee of the PedsCCM website.
• Minutes of the previous meeting
  • Previous meeting minutes have been available on the WWW, and any comments/corrections received have been incorporated prior to this meeting. The minutes are therefore considered approved by the membership.
• PICU List
  • Subscribership is now nearly 1900. Most of the growth in recent months appears to have been from outside the USA, a gratifying trend towards making it a more international resource.
  • UCIP-L, a Spanish-language "sister list" has been recently set up. It is hoped that some messages will be translated and cross-posted, although continuing to post responses in the thread on two lists at once could be daunting.
  • Messages continue to be posted at a rate of 10-15 per day.
  • The WWW-based archives have been revived, and are accessible through PedsCCM
  • Judy Verger and Barry have continued a discussion which began last year concerning a study of cases posted on the list. The hypothesis is that message originators will frequently alter their diagnostic or therapeutic approach based on responses they receive.
  • Adrienne Randolph and Barry have been talking about evaluating of the effect of the evidence-based medicine resource on PedsCCM in elevating the quality of discussions on the PICU list. While this was agreed upon as a good goal, the measurement of a significant effect would be difficult and time consuming for the investigators. There is a general need to assess the value of both the the PICU list and the PedsCCM resources.
• PedsCCM Web site
  • Overview: Barry distributed copies of an overview of the site, which was also available at a poster presented by Barry at this SCCM symposium.
  • Widely varying resources are needed to meet the needs of various users.
    • Some examples:
      • Faculty and Fellows in Peds CCM training sites may find the Evidence-Based Medicine Journal Club of interest
      • Residents in pediatric training programs rotating through the PICU may enjoy the lecture series posted by the University of Minnesota Peds CCM Fellowship program.
      • Caregivers in developing countries with no prior exposure to Peds CCM may find the ALL-NET Pediatric Critical Care Textbook particularly helpful.
    • The message is that anybody is welcome to contribute material, and it can be useful to a wide variety of visitors to the site.
      • Judy Zier suggested that direct requests for submissions might be most helpful, since a general public request might leave many folks feeling that "somebody else" could do a better job. This then led to a discussion of the The PedsCCM Evidence-Based Journal Club (see below).
  • The Evidence-Based Medicine Journal Club
    • Barry noted that we have the approval of the Fellowship Directors (obtained at the PCC Colloquium in Little Rock) to directly solicit participation in a nation-wide EBM journal club.
    • This will be re-addressed at the Fellowship Directors Meeting at this SCCM Symposium with the aim of establishing a separate e-mail list to facilitate this.
    • Adrienne noted that the print-and-online offerings of BioMedNet is also planned to include an EBM journal club feature in its electronic component.
  • Resources for Parents
    • Martha Curley inquired about the perceived need for resource development for parents of PICU patients.
    • Barry reminded us that there is a Parent Resources area on PedsCCM
    • Katherine Biagas noted that a physician in New Haven has been developing an on-line support group for NICU parents. She will follow up on this as a potential resource to tap into.
  • The ALL-NET Pediatric Critical Care Textbook
    • Barry reminded the group that Joe DiCarlo is steadily building the multi-language PCC Textbook, and invites further submissions, as outlined in the ALL-NET instructions for authors
  • The PedsCCM File Cabinet
    • This resource can use varied forms of submissions, as outlined in its introductory page (URL above).
  • An Index for PedsCCM?
    • Adrienne raised the question of developing an all-encompassing index for information on PedsCCM, recognizing that this would be a fairly difficult undertaking for both setup and maintenance.
    • Barry reminded all that the search tool for PedsCCM may be underused by visitors to the site, and may be an acceptable substitute for an index for some purposes.
  • Academic Credit
    • Barry encourages anyone who submits work to PedsCCM to place it on his/her CV as a peer reviewed publication. Submissions are reviewed, and publications follow the general guidelines for responsible electronic publication, including date of publication and responsible author.
  • Electronic Journal of PCCM
    • This attempt to make PedsCCM (or a part of it) fit into the print journal paradigm has faltered due to a general lack of interest at this stage.
    • Barry proposed that the paradigm may shift away from commercial publishers towards academic/collegial ownership and self-publication in the electronic medium.
    • Randall Wetzel suggested that commercial enterprises will survive in electronic publishing and will continue to produce trusted output by virtue of the editorial boards they will organize/support/maintain.
  • Rare Case Registry
    • Katherine Biagas noted the continued lack of submissions.
    • There was a brief discussion of using the WWW to collect rare case descriptions. General feeling was that there would be a selection bias that would be difficult if not impossible to account for.
    • Katherine and Barry suggested that they will institute a practice of using the PICU list discussions as a basis for the Rare Case Registry. They will
      • contact the originator of the thread, and the major respondents
      • format the discussions consistently
      • get more followup from the originator
      • invite expert discussion
      • post the case
• Adjournment
  • The meeting was adjourned at 8:05

Posted 2/9/98 by Carl Weigle

In attendance:

• Barry Markovitz
• Carl Weigle
• Harold Amer
• Katherine Biagas
• Judy Verger
• Martha Curley
• Adrienne Randolph
• Judy Zier
• Paula Chorazy
• Randall Wetzel
• Rafique Alam

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