Royal Papworth Hospital provides a highly acclaimed, three-day, interactive course for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) training.
The course uses a combination of presentation, practical and simulation sessions taught by the expert multidisciplinary ECMO team at Royal Papworth.
Offering one of the most established courses in the United Kingdom, our team has trained more than 500 delegates from across the world including Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Finland, India, Ireland, Mauritius, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, UK and the USA.
It is the only ECMO course in the UK to be endorsed by Cambridge University Health Partners and has also been accredited by the Royal College of Anaesthetists for 18 CPD points.
The course takes places at the Heart and Lung Research Institute next to our hospital
As one of the country's largest specialist providers of ECMO, Royal Papworth Hospital is well placed to provide expert ECMO training.
Training
During the course delegates will gain a good understanding of ECMO in the following areas:
- Cardiac and respiratory support
- Basic physiology
- Pathophysiology
- Ethical considerations
- Newest circuits and technologies
Who should attend?
All members of the multidisciplinary team involved in the care of the patient on ECMO.
Accreditation / Endorsement
The ECMO course has been accredited by the Royal College of Anaesthetists for 18 CPD points and is endorsed by Cambridge University Health Partners. The course includes dedicated practical sessions in small groups.
The course is held over three days and includes a mixture of learning opportunities including:
Multidisciplinary lectures and learning from our expert faculty
To provide a complete multidisciplinary understanding of ECMO, Royal Papworth draws on its expert ECMO team to offer lectures by:
- consultant anaesthetists and intensivists
- consultant surgeons
- ECMO specialist nurses
- consultant haematologists
- consultant radiologists
- consultant microbiologists
- perfusionists
Hands-on ECMO equipment training
Delegates will have the opportunity to have hands-on training in small break-out groups with ECMO circuits. Delegates will practice circuit surveillance, troubleshooting and circuit maintenance.
Simulation Sessions
Using specialist simulation software, delegates will discuss the specialist management of a variety of patient cases.
Tour of Royal Papworth Hospital's Critical Care Unit
Delegates will be given a tour of Royal Papworth's critical care unit and have the chance to observe patients on ECMO (case dependant).
Day 1: Fundamentals, initiation and patient selection
- History and types of ECMO
- Indications
- ECMO circuit and practical cannulation session
Day 2: The ECMO service and the patient journey
- Practical circuit troubleshooting session
- Imaging including use of ultrasound
- Microbiology
- Tour of the critical care unit
Day 3: Cannulation, complications, weaning and emergencies
- Simulation – cannulation and emergencies
- ECMO complications
- ECMO weaning
Course Directors
Dr Rachel D’Oliveiro, Consultant Intensivist
Dr Robert Gatherer, Consultant Intensivist and Anaesthetist
Scott Hopkins-Brown, Education Charge Nurse
Faculty
Jose Fernandes, Senior Clinical Perfusionist
Dr Jagan Murugachandran, Consultant Intensivist
Dr Ruth Kappeler, Consultant Microbiologist
Dr Martin Besser, Consultant Haematologist
Dr Antonio Rubino, Consultant Anaesthetist and Intensivist
Dr Bobby Agrawal, Consultant Radiologist
Mr David Jenkins, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon
The dinner will take place on the first night of the course. It will be held in central Cambridge at the Eagle pub, famous for being the site where the announcement was made for the discovery of the DNA double helix in 1953.
Royal Papworth Hospital is commissioned by the National Specialised Commissioning Team to provide ECMO to patients with potentially reversible severe acute respiratory failure. Royal Papworth is one of only seven centres in the country to offer this service, alongside partners in Manchester, Leicester, Bristol, and three centres in London.
We support the East of England, regularly retrieving patients from hospitals across this region 24 hours-a-day. Our specialist retrieval team is available to go and rapidly stabilise and retrieve patients referred to the service, as well as offering advice and support.
This is part of a co-ordinated national response service to ensure all patients have year-round access to ECMO in England.
What is ECMO?
ECMO is a technique that oxygenates blood outside the body. It can be used in potentially reversible severe respiratory failure when conventional ventilation is unable to oxygenate the blood adequately.
The aim of ECMO in respiratory failure is to allow the injured lung to recover whilst avoiding certain recognised complications associated with conventional ventilation. It is high risk and is therefore only used as a matter of last resort in difficult cases.
The machine removes blood from the patient, taking out carbon dioxide from the blood and adding oxygen and then returning it to the body, therefore doing the job of the lungs to allow them time to recover. For this reason it is sometimes referred to as an 'artificial lung'.
ECMO is a highly specialised technique which requires the input of intensive care specialists, ECMO-trained nurses and perfusion scientists.
The ECMO service at Royal Papworth Hospital
As a specialist heart and lung centre, Royal Papworth Hospital is renowned for its experience using ECMO for either cardiac or respiratory support over many years. The hospital is registered with the international ExtraCorporeal Life Support Organisation (ELSO).
The hospital provides the ECMO service to patients in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Essex.
In addition to providing ECMO on site, Royal Papworth Hospital has developed a national retrieval service to quickly and safely assess and transfer patients between referring hospitals and the ECMO centres.
The course
The course is run over a three-day period. A detailed programme will be issued upon registration.
Times to be confirmed
Course location
Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Heart & Lung Research Institute (HLRI)
Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Papworth Road
Cambridge
CB2 0BB
Course accommodation
Accommodation is not provided, however we will provide details of nearby accommodation on registration for the course.
Travel
It is recommended that attendees fly into London Stansted, London Gatwick or London Heathrow.
If arriving by rail, the closest railway station is Cambridge South which is a four-minute walk from the HLRI.
Our recommended taxi service based in Cambridge is Panther Taxis, contactable on +44 (0)1223 715715.
Facilities at the hospital
Royal Papworth Hospital is the UK's largest specialist cardiothoracic hospital and the country's main heart and lung transplant centre. The course includes a tour of our ICU department.
If there are other areas of the hospital that you would like further information on or would like to view, please let us know and this can be arranged after the course has finished on Wednesday.
Dietary requirements
Please inform us of any dietary requirements at your earliest convenience.
Attire
Casual attire is appropriate throughout the course. There is no formal dress code for the course dinner.
Contact
Royal Papworth Professional Development
Phone: +44 (0)1223 639821
Email: papworth.pdevents@nhs.net
