Supervising Committee

Joint Specialist Advisory Committee in Intensive Care (JSAC).

Definition of Specialty

Intensive care medicine encompasses the assessment, resuscitation, and ongoing acute management of critically ill and injured patients with life threatening single and multiple organ system failure.

General Principles

1. Advanced training in intensive care medicine is supervised as part of a joint training program by the JSAC of the RACP and the Faculty of Intensive Care of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (FIC, ANZCA).
   
2. At the completion of training, an intensive care specialist will have experience and expertise in:
   
   • evaluation and resuscitation of critically ill patients;
     
   • evaluation and management of patients with vital organ and system failures;
     
   • the use of relevant, organ support and replacement systems;
     
   • physiological monitoring and clinical measurement.
     
3. Trainees are expected to gain experience and expertise in the indications for and performance of a variety of investigational, therapeutic and monitoring modalities including:
   
   • Cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
     
   • Airway management including translaryngeal intubation.
     
   • Tracheostomy.
     
   • Invasive haemodynamic monitoring including central venous, arterial and pulmonary artery cannulation and the interpretation and clinical use of derived variables.
     
   • Fibreoptic bronchoscopy.
     
   • Continuous renal replacement therapy.
     
   • Mechanical ventilation including a comprehensive range of ventilatory modes and strategies;
     
   • tube thoracostomy.
     
4. It is desirable that trainees also acquire expertise and experience in the indications for and performance of other modalities including:
   
   • Intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation.
     
   • Echocardiography.
     
   • Intracranial pressure monitoring.
     
   • Gastrointestinal endoscopy.
     
   • Biopsy of various organs and tissues.
     
   • Extracorporeal support techniques including cardiopulmonary bypass, ECMO, ECCO₂R and ventricular assist devices.

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