During the WFSA Executive Committee meeting held in Cape Town on March 7th,
2008, it was decided to set up an “ad hoc” “Scientific Affairs Committee” to promote a
WFSA strategy in the field of scientific communication and research. This committee
cooperates with all the other WFSA committees, but more specifically with the Education,
Publication, Safety and Quality Practice committees. The purpose was not to develop
scientific and research programmes specific to the WFSA, but to facilitate the cooperation
between centres from advanced and low income countries, in collaboration with the national
societies. The WFSA has neither the financial abilities nor the vocation to directly lead such
programmes, usually built in the frame of universities, governmental research organisations
and national societies. Nevertheless, an organisation such as the WFSA, acting worldwide,
cannot be absent from the scientific scene of the specialty. Nowadays, research is only
accessible to the richest and most advanced nations and unreachable to low income countries,
when research and scientific progress are the most powerful motors of
development. Low income countries need teachers to produce specialists but, for a future PhD
in the specialty, it appears extremely difficult to be involved in a research programme and to
be able to publish in international journals. Without access to research and scientific
communication, these young teachers, who will have to train numerous specialists for regions
where they are dramatically missing, will never reach the required level of knowledge and
teaching abilities. The scientific committee is able to bring its expertise and relationships to
advice about the possibilities and to provide useful contacts to these young colleagues.
The objectives of the WFSA scientific committee are to help, upon request, the
scientific committees of regional, international and world congresses of anaesthesia and
intensive care to build a programme and to select lecturers. On another hand, the committee
will have to assess the scientific quality of programmes for which promoters wish to obtain
WFSA recognition and the use of the logo. Many congress organisers wish to be endorsed by
the WFSA but the Federation must be careful to support only meetings giving all the
guarantees of quality and ethics. The number of applications is currently limited but this label
of quality could be sought more and more in the future. To endorse a meeting and to award its
logo, the WFSA scientific committee needs sufficient data on the themes, the topics and the
selected speakers. As previously indicated, the committee would try to make easier the
cooperation between research teams from various countries, working on the same subjects, by
exchange of methods, techniques and researchers. This could be of particular importance
between more wealthy and lower income countries and with objectives determined by international
groups such as the World Health Organisation. In this perspective the committee will act as a
bridge between different countries to provide clinical and scientific expertise on matters
including health care economics, anaesthesia organisation and evaluation of professional
practice.
The scientific committee is constituted of a Chair, Philippe Scherpereel, France, and a
co-chair, Rob Mc Dougall, Australia, appointed by the Executive Committee. Eight members
are selected by the chairs, taking into account geographical representation and individual
expertise. For the period 2008-2012, the Scientific Affairs Committee members are: Carlos
Bonofiglio, Argentina, Chair of the WCA 2012 scientific committee, François Clergue,
Switzerland, Gastao Duval Neto, Brazil, Fauzia Khan, Pakistan, Yehia Khater, Egypt,
Konstantin Lebedinski, Russia, Steven Shafer, USA and Ximin Wu, China.
The committee will meet during each WCA, and hopefully during an intermediate
meeting, when opportunity exists. The inability to meet face to face during long periods is one
of the arguments to have more frequent congresses allowing committee meetings.
Communication is usually via e-mail. Skype communication, teleconference or video
conference could be organised if necessary. A link with the regional sections and the national
societies is also very important. It is currently ensured by the committee member from the
geographical area but, if in the future as the committee is developing its activities, a
correspondent designated by the society and the section would be useful to constitute a
permanent network. The correspondent could help to identify good lecturers in the various
fields of the specialty, especially in view of the world congress, to collect data on the research
teams and young researchers and to liaise between individuals, societies and the scientific
committee.
Like all the other committees, the scientific committee must refer to the management
group and to the executive committee for all important decision and has to report regularly on
its activities. Starting as an “ad hoc” committee, the scientific committee has potential to
become a permanent committee, being called to play a more and more important role within
the WFSA, especially if new developments are to occur with the WCA.
Since its creation, the scientific committee has tried to reach its objectives despite
limited means. Among the activities well developed, the organisation of WFSA Symposia
during the regional congresses is very successful. Such symposia have taken place at the
SAARC Congress on February 7th, 2009, in Karachi, Pakistan, the All Africa Congress 2009,
in Nairobi, Kenya, the CLASA Congress in Managua on November 2009. In June 2010, the
WFSA Symposium during the Euroanaesthesia Congress in Helsinki on “Prevention of
postoperative pain” with the participation of Henrik Kehlet, Martin Tramer, Francis Bonnet,
chaired by Angela Enright and Philippe Scherpereel, was very successful with more than 400
participants. On September 2010, another WFSA Symposium was held in Moscow on Safety
in Anaesthesia during the Congress of the Russian Federation. Two symposia are in
preparation for 2011: one during the Pan Arab meeting in Damascus and the second in
Amsterdam during the Euroanaesthesia 2011 on Anaesthesiologist Wellbeing with the
participation of Gastao Duval Neto, from Brazil, Roger Moore, ASA Past-President and Pirjo
Lindfors, from Finland. These Symposia strengthen the links between the WFSA and its
regional sections. The first attempts demonstrate that this aim may be reached.
The Scientific Committee has set up guidelines for the attribution of WFSA support to
meetings and congresses. Even if the WFSA is unable to financially support these
organisations, the Scientific Committee is able to endorse those applying for a WFSA
sponsorship. Endorsement of the meeting, allowing the use of the WFSA logo on the
announcements and the programme, can be attributed only if the list of the topics and
speakers is sent to the committee sufficiently in advance and if the programme fulfils
scientific and ethical criteria. Applications may be sent to the WFSA secretariat which will
forward them for evaluation to the Scientific Committee.
The assistance to scientific committees has been limited until now to the cooperation
with the Local Scientific Committee of the WCA 2012. The WFSA Scientific Committee acts
as an advisory committee providing suggestions on the programme and lists of potential
speakers coming from worldwide.
The Scientific Committee has produced a tool-kit on Quality Assurance, Risk
Management and Evaluation of Professional Practice for the teachers and the heads of
anaesthetic departments and services. This tool-kit available on the WFSA website will be
also distributed as a CDROM produced by the WFSA and dispatched to the national society
members and at the WFSA booth during the main meetings. The tool-kit is mainly constituted
of slides aimed to be used for teaching and training simply and practically.
Attaining the objectives of the WFSA Scientific Committee has been limited until now
by a scarcity of funds but, thanks to a grant offered by the President in memory of her
husband, the goal of producing the CDROM has been achieved. Other donations would allow
the committee to give grants to young researchers from developing countries to permit them
to take part in research programmes in advanced services and laboratories with a view to
publishing original papers in outstanding international journals. The first grant from the
committee brought a Russian colleague from Saint Petersburg to prepare the opening a centre
for the diagnosis of malignant hyperthermia in Russia.
Despite its recent creation, the WFSA Scientific Committee has demonstrated the need
for the Federation to have a scientific policy which could be strongly developed in the future.
This depends upon the future activities of the WFSA. One important decision would be to
move towards an annual or biennial congress whose programme would be the responsibility
of the Scientific Committee, enlarged with the help of the existing specialist committees
(obstetric, paediatric etc). The WFSA has a major role to play in this field, in cooperation
with regional sections and national society members, not to compete but to bring a wider
offering of scientific communication open to all the countries of the world, especially those in
need of a helping hand.