When ‘Flow’ is important (Sponsored by Fisher & Paykel)

Date: Thursday 29 July 2021
Time: 7.30am  - 8.30am (AEST)
Location: Cairns Convention Centre 
Cost: Complimentary (Maximum 50 participants)

High-flow nasal cannulae (HFNC) delivery of humidified oxygen has been available for many years. However, the development of specific delivery mechanisms over the last 15-20 years has seen a dramatic increase in its use and its usability in emergency departments and medical, recovery and surgical wards. This has resulted in a more widespread application which had not been matched in the development of clinical guidelines. To that end, an international group has recently created clinical practice guidelines  -to assist clinicians in where the evidence backed the use of this technique. 

Professor Fraser will discuss the physiology surrounding HFNC in both adults and paediatrics  and then focus specifically on the use of  HFNC in acute hypoxemic respiratory failure compared to conventional oxygen therapy, along with focussing on the peri-intubation period with particular reference to the Emergency Department setting. He will also discuss the recent COAST study using hi flow in resource poor settings, just published in Intensive Care Medicine.

Professor John Fraser - Prof John Fraser (MB ChB, PhD, FRCP(Glas), FFARCSI, FRCA, FCICM) is the Director of the Critical Care Research Group at The Prince Charles Hospital and University of Queensland, and Director of the Intensive Care Unit at St Andrew’s War Memorial Hospital.

John started the Critical Care Research Group at The Prince Charles Hospital in 2004. The award of the first international Centre for Research Excellence in mechanical support further cemented the CCRG’s global leadership position. John is also President of APELSO and co-Chair of the Queensland Cardiovascular Research Network.

John’s extensive global network has helped facilitate the birth of the COVID Consortium, the largest Critical Care community using Artificial Intelligence with colleagues from 54 countries around the world during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Working with over 370 world leading hospitals across the globe John has brought in leaders in AI, Amazon and IBM to accelerate data ingestion. The COVID-19 consortium tool kit developed with Amazon allows data ingestion using visual and audio input. The dashboard, developed by the University of Queensland and augmented by IBM, updates in real time to allow decision support at the bedside.

John has been interested in the use of Nasal High Flow for some time and was engaged in design and conduct of the recently published COAST study, assessing the use of high flow using air in Kenya and Uganda (conducted by Prof Kath Maitland). His love of football resulted in a game of 5 a side in down town Kilifi (Kenya) , where he showed his African colleagues exactly how poorly jet lagged Scots can play. He claims he scored multiple times, but the general feeling is that the outstanding African Drs and scientists felt sorry for him and his obvious inability.