I had the very great pleasure to attend the Irish Anaesthetic and Recovery Nurses Association (IARNA) conference this October. I flew into Dublin and took a 3-hour coach ride to Galway. This was my first trip to Ireland and the scenery was just beautiful. Galway was a stunning location for a conference.

The conference had a wide variety of excellent speakers and topics. I had the opportunity to meet and listen to Dr Eammon McCoy, the gentleman who designed the McCoy intubation blade. He was a dynamic speaker covering difficult intubation and some of the techniques that can be employed to ‘get you out of trouble’. Dr McCoy and a number of other speakers and exhibitors facilitated the difficult intubation workshops, four workshops focussing on supraglottic airway devices, surgical airway, fibreoptic airway devices and video laryngoscopy.

Dr Mannion followed on from Dr McCoy with paediatric difficult airways, a very informative session looking at all the differential diagnosis for paediatric difficult airways. He discussed some of the congenital and non-congenital reasons for airway issues. He also looked at the types of equipment used in paediatrics and how this differs from the equipment used in adult anaesthesia.

The highlights of the mid-morning sessions included Dr Neligan discussing local anaesthesia toxicity. He started with a little history about local anaesthesia and then moved on to some scenarios regarding toxicity and how its presentation could be attributed to other anaesthetic complications. He also discussed at length how to manage local anaesthetic toxicity.

Terri Clifford (immediate past president of American Society of PeriAnaesthesia Nurses (ASPAN)) presented a session on horizontal violence. It was interesting to listen to and to look at my own practice and experience as a nurse and to see how I have been a witness to the subtleties of horizontal violence and how on occasion I might even have been guilty of it. I have rolled my eyes when a colleague has made comments (yes this is a type of horizontal violence!). I am sure we are nearly all guilty of some kind of unintentional horizontal violence.

This was followed by Dr Lehane from the Malignant Hyperthermia (MH) Investigation Unit at Cork University Hospital. Dr Lehane gave a presentation on MH, its prevalence and mortality rate as well as genetics and its implications for MH. She also discussed the management of the known and unknown MH patient. The emergency treatment for this condition and the testing that can be undertaken to identify patients who will experience MH with the appropriate anaesthetic triggers of volatile gases and suxamethonium.

This was followed by lunch and the opportunity to view the poster competition and to meet the exhibitors.

The final 3 sessions of the day started with paediatric emergencies in recovery, looking at the types of paediatric emergencies, how to manage them and how in some instances they can be prevented.

This was followed by Latex Allergies presented by Lois Schick (ASPAN past president). Lois took the story of a nurse and her experiences and ultimately her death to demonstrate the consequences of Latex Allergy. We as professionals are far more aware of Latex and its complications, with many hospitals striving to be latex free.

The final session of the day was presented by professor John Laffey and was in relation to obstetric emergencies. He highlighted the potential risks and complications of pregnancy and how the physiological changes experienced by the pregnant woman make her vulnerable to complications. He acknowledged that while complications are not experienced by every woman, they can have a catastrophic result.

The conference in Galway was an excellent educational offering, well attended and supported. If any of the sessions have sparked your interest, the majority of the session notes are available to download at http://www.iarna.ie/iarna-conference-2010-galway/

I would like to thank the Galway conference committee and IARNA for inviting British Anaesthetic and Recovery Nurses Association to attend this excellent day and giving us the opportunity to ensure that the collaboration between our two organisations continues to develop and grow.