In the past issue of AmSECT Today, we began the process of explaining AmSECT’s commitment to the future of the profession by examining the strategic initiatives of the Society. This demonstrates that the Society has recognized the changing face of perfusion and its commitment to address future needs. One of the most important issues was the identification of a major shortcoming in the conduct of cardiopulmonary bypass: namely, the absence of clear and defined guidelines for how perfusion should be conducted.

Throughout all of the medical sciences there has been an ongoing drive to identify what practices have been shown to improve patient care and, when applied, result in the best outcomes achievable. The term evidence-based medicine (EBM) has been the rallying cry of these endeavors, serving as the touchstone for standards in practice. In perfusion, terms like ‘optimization’ and ‘best practices’ have been loosely linked with EBM. Rarely have they been applied correctly, because of the absence of sound statistical and evaluative measures.

The first Strategic Initiative (at the end of this article) is termed Best Practices Perfusion and is multifaceted in scope.  AmSECT is addressing this initiative in a number of ways. The first has been the establishment of a yearly meeting termed Best Practices. The first meeting, held in Bellevue, Washington in October 2006, was attended by more than 100 people. The response was overwhelmingly positive and, because of this, the second Best Practices Meeting will be held in Montréal, Quebec this fall. A second component of this initiative was to support the establishment of the International Consortium for Evidence-Based Perfusion (ICEBP). The ICEBP is comprised of perfusion organizations from throughout the world, all working toward a common goal of improving outcomes of patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass through the application of the best techniques of perfusion care. AmSECT is proud to be a sponsor of this exciting and progressive group. The third aspect of the Best Practice Initiative is the publication of the standards and guidelines for the conduct of perfusion. AmSECT will support this important component by utilizing the Journal of ExtraCorporeal Technology, AmSECT Today and via the Internet.

BEST PRACTICES PERFUSION
1. INITIATIVE: To establish a systematic approach for reviewing current practice techniques in extracorporeal circulation in order to publish standards and guidelines for the practice of perfusion.