History of Colors of Sepsis - 10th year

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

Anniversaries are always a reason to pause and look back. So, on behalf of the organizers of the 10th Sepsis and MODS Postgraduate Course, allow me to take on this role.
I am very glad, Jubilees are always a reason to pause and look back. So, on behalf of the organizers of the 10th Sepsis and MODS Postgraduate Course, allow me to take on this role.
Unfortunately, I will not tell you when exactly the idea of ​​holding our course was born. However, I know quite precisely why and under what circumstances. Ten years younger, we were a group of enthusiasts willing to take risks, use and apply the most up-to-date original ideas of intensive medicine and, last but not least, also critically evaluate the results of such actions. No, in no case were these experiments on patients, although procedures such as the use of albumin with furosemide for ARDS, the application of muscle relaxants for intra-abdominal hypertension, or the manipulation of fluid balance could really seem like that to someone at that time. But it broadened our horizons, the effects of such procedures were surprising, and we felt a compelling desire and desire to share our experiences with someone. This is how the Ostrava Sepsis and MODS course was created, and today we can look back on its first program with a certain satisfaction. However, every beginning is difficult, and to this day we like to remind each other of the fact that the first year was also characterized by the fact that, of its 27 participants, there were more lecturers than registered. We hope that this historical fact remains unchanged. Those beginnings were all the more informal, and it is only understandable that backroom debates in such a situation took place late into the night in facilities where no one suffers from thirst. Fortunately, this tradition has been preserved to this day.
In this small review, we cannot fail to mention the key events or literally milestones of the course, which significantly influenced its gradual development and direction. There are quite a few of them, and I just hope that I don't forget any of them in the following overview.
Undoubtedly, the first was a happy coincidence with the stormy development of the availability of the Internet and, therefore, of information to the wider public. After all, the entire organizational structure of the course was built on this basis, and among other things, we can also be warmed by the huge number of uncut trees... Another important moment was the start of cooperation with our Slovak colleagues, both on the preparation of the professional program and the composition of the auditorium. Doc. became the first Slovak lecturer. MD Roman Záhorec, CSc. Of course, the key was getting the support of pharmaceutical companies, to whom we would like to thank in this way.
The Intensive Care in Pediatrics mini-symposium, first organized as part of the course in 2003, opened another of the many doors into the corners of the issue to which our event is dedicated.
I must mark the support of the ČSARIM committee and the participation of its members in our event as clearly groundbreaking. Practically at the same time, the leading representatives of European and global intensive care medicine are participating in the course for the first time, when Konrad Reinhart, Joachim Boldt, Uri Martinowicz and Andrzej Kubler were the first to honor us with a visit. This started the tradition of regular participation of top foreign experts, and year after year we are visited by intensivists such as Luciano Gattinoni, John J. Marini, Graham Ramsay and Claudia C. dos Santos.
A logical milestone in the history of our meeting was the establishment of the Czech-Slovak Forum for Sepsis as a response to the Barcelona Declaration. The Spanish wind pleasantly warmed us in the bitter Ostrava winter. The charter was signed by almost a hundred doctors present. We wrote its text together with Roman Záhorec, and the goals of the Forum were subsequently formulated at a working group meeting during the International Congress of Slovak Anesthesiologists in Piešťany. We considered it most important to promote everything that in any way touches the issue of sepsis.
The following call of the Czech-Slovak Forum for Sepsis addressed to the Czech Medical Society JEP and the Slovak Medical Society for support and cooperation in the prevention and treatment of patients with severe sepsis was only a logical culmination of our efforts related to the construction of the Ostrava course. This seemingly formal event achieved significant practical fulfillment, and the proof is the widespread support of the course by a number of professional companies and institutions, including their participation in the preparation of the course's professional program.
Who to thank? Undoubtedly, to all those who in any way participate in the preparation and provision of the entire event and to all those who participate in it. Without their extraordinary support and favor, the organization of such a large-scale event would not be conceivable. Allow me to specifically thank the companies Sanopharm CZ, EventService and the technical team led by MUDr. Christian Kufa for the excellent technical provision of the course. It is impossible not to mention my closest colleagues and thank them for their valuable advice and the preparation of professional reports. Of course, sincere thanks also go to all those who, in the past and present, and I modestly hope in the future, have not refused to prepare the expert reports that I have asked them for.
Finally, but not least, let me thank my wife for the enormous daily support and family background she creates for me in organizing this event.
And what to wish for? I believe that for doctors interested in their work and profession, the opportunity to meet and discuss common problems is one of the most important and at the same time the most pleasant things that accompany their professional - and often personal - life. It is my sincerest wish that this event fulfills this simply stated ambition as much as possible.
One of our many Slovak friends and colleagues once expressed it simply, but for us all the more beautifully: "I hope that in a year in Ostrava again..."