TopMedTalk

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TopMedTalk Classic: Should direct laryngoscopy be consigned to the history books? Aug 03, 2026

Show notes

This classic TopMedTalk piece was originally cast in April 2020.

The debate 'Direct laryngoscopes should be consigned to history', was hosted by The Royal College Of Anaesthetists and carried out by our two guests on this piece, where the debate is outlined in advance.

We get into the advantages and challenges behind the two techniques; video laryngoscopy and direct laryngoscopy. The conversation explores the fact that these skills are a key part of the job of practitioners, are we "de-skilling" the profession in an overly enthusiastic race toward new technology or are some resisting it simply because it's not what they are used to?

Presented by Joff Lacey and Monty Mythen with their two guests; Professor Tim Cook, Consultant in Anaesthesia and ICM, Royal United Hospitals, Bath and Dr William Harrop-Griffiths, St Mary's Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust.

Euroanaesthesia 2026: Hot Topics in General Anaesthesiology with Laszlo Vutskits and Hugh Hemmings Jul 30, 2026

Show notes

Live from Euroanaesthesia 2026 in Rotterdam, Kate Leslie and Andy Cumpstey speak with Laszlo Vutskits and Hugh Hemmings ahead of the "Hot Topics in General Anaesthesiology" lecture.

Vutskits discusses reports of devastating neurologic outcomes after minor procedures in previously healthy patients, linked in a Spanish series to a shared mitochondrial DNA haplotype traced to Venezuela, including a rare ND4 complex I mutation; cybrid and fibroblast experiments showed clinically relevant sevoflurane rapidly suppresses oxidative phosphorylation but reversibly on washout, while propofol (tested without lipid) did not.

Hemmings highlights the DAS 2026 airway management guidance advocating video laryngoscopy as first-line for routine and difficult intubation and emphasizes continuous oxygen delivery during intubation, prompting debate about skill retention and global feasibility.

We reference this classic episode of TopMedTalk: https://topmedtalk.libsyn.com/-sunday-special-should-direct-laryngoscopy-be-consigned-to-the-history-books

The 2026 International Practicum on Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing will be held at the Balmer Lawn Hotel in Brockenhurst, UK, from September 16th to 18th this year. It is organised by iPOETTS , the international perioperative testing and training society.

Come and join us at this premier educational event designed for clinicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals interested in sport, exercise, and perioperative medicine.

This is an International Perioperative Testing and Training Society accredited event so when you attend you can get your iPOETTS accreditation, showing that you are a practitioner who has reached a high, standardized level of competence in performing and interpreting Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) for patients preparing for major surgery.

Go now to http://www.ebpom.org

Perioperative Profile: Alan Merry Jul 27, 2026

Show notes

Recorded live at the ANZCA Annual Scientific Meeting in Auckland, Kate Leslie interviews Professor Alan Merry for a perioperative profile, covering his retirement from clinical practice, ongoing research supervision, and work on environmental sustainability.

Merry recounts being raised by a single mother in Zimbabwe, studying medicine at the Godfrey Huggins School of Medicine in Harare, and moving to New Zealand amid the Rhodesian Bush War. He describes entering anaesthesia after initially planning psychiatry, then becoming involved in New Zealand medical manslaughter law reform following prosecutions of clinicians, helping achieve the Crimes Amendment Act 1997's higher "major departure" threshold.

He also discusses co-authoring "Error, Medicine and the Law" with Alexander McCall Smith, establishing New Zealand's Health Quality & Safety Commission, and international quality work through WFSA, the Global Oximetry Project, and the WHO surgical safety initiative that produced the surgical safety checklist, including its Auckland implementation.

Come and join us at this premier educational event designed for clinicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals interested in sport, exercise, and perioperative medicine.

Go now to http://www.ebpom.org

The Lancet Surgery and Anaesthesiology: A New Journal for Perioperative Medicine Jul 23, 2026

Show notes

At the EBPOM World Congress in London; TopMedTalk's Andy Cumpsty sits down for an exclusive interview with Amy Slogrove, editor-in-chief of the new journal, The Lancet Surgery and Anaesthesiology, ahead of its public launch on 20 July and a planned first issue in early 2027.

Dr Slogrove, a South Africa–based pediatrician and epidemiologist, explains the journal's aim - to bring surgery and anaesthesiology together across the perioperative space, emphasizing research integrity, rigor, and ethics, supported by clinical peer review.

She outlines the editorial team, submission route via thelancet.com/surgery, expected decision timelines, and peer-review approach. The journal will be a monthly, small-format, hybrid subscription model, with priorities including equity, patient-centered care, sustainability, resilience of perioperative systems, and global inclusivity.

Come and join us at this premier educational event designed for clinicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals interested in sport, exercise, and perioperative medicine.

Go now to http://www.ebpom.org

TopMedTalk AI: Identifying How AI Can Help in Intensive Care Jul 20, 2026

Show notes

Recorded live at the EBPOM World Congress in London, this episode of TopMedTalk AI features host James Bowness and co-host Amy Gomes speaking with Joe Harris, anaesthesia resident and Innovation Fellow in Anaesthesia at University College London Hospitals (UCLH) NHS Foundation Trust and Sanjay Wijayatilake, Consultant in Anaesthesia and Neuro Intensive Care MedicineBarking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust about "AI demand signaling" in intensive care.

Harris explains the demand-signaling method—surveying clinicians on key problems, translating these into candidate AI use cases, prioritizing them via a Delphi panel, then exploring them in multidisciplinary workshops—to ensure AI development starts from frontline clinical needs rather than industry assumptions.

Following completion of the anesthesia project, the intensive care survey is open to UK ICM clinicians across professions until July 31, with Delphi work planned for August–September and workshops in November–December. Follow this link for more: https://demandsignal.uk/

The discussion highlights governance, regulation, liability, and "black box" concerns, alongside potential ICU applications such as reducing alarm fatigue, documentation and transcription support, ventilator and workflow assistance, medication interaction checks, and evidence synthesis to support diagnosis and treatment, emphasizing AI as a partner with a human in the loop.

Come and join us at this premier educational event designed for clinicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals interested in sport, exercise, and perioperative medicine.

Go now to http://www.ebpom.org

IARS 2026: WFSA Programs and Paediatric Anaesthesia Training in Africa Jul 16, 2026

Show notes

At the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS) and Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists (SOCCA) meeting in Montreal, TopMedTalk hosts Mike Grocott and Desiree Chappell speak with Dr Faye Evans, Senior Associate in Perioperative Anesthesia at Boston Children's Hospital and Associate Professor of Anaesthesia at Harvard Medical School and Director of Partnerships on the Board of Directors for the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA).

The conversation covers efforts to improve access to safe surgery and anesthesia for children globally. Evans explains the WFSA as a society of over 150 member societies focused on advocacy, safety, quality, publications, short courses (including SAFE), and a fellowship program that has trained over 400 fellows from 62 countries.

She highlights growing emphasis on leadership, teaching, and evaluation within fellowships and describes Pediatric Anesthesia Training in Africa (PATA), formed to expand fellowship training, which has developed a shared curriculum and launched four programs with support from ELMA Philanthropies and Smile Train. Evans outlines ways to get involved through teaching, virtual support, and donations via the WFSA website.

If you would like to support the WFSA Scholars Program we mention this link in the show: https://wfsahq.org/get-involved/donate/

Come and join us at this premier educational event designed for clinicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals interested in sport, exercise, and perioperative medicine.

Go now to http://www.ebpom.org

ANZCA ASM: Opioid sparing strategies for ambulatory anesthesia Jul 13, 2026

Show notes

At the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) and Faculty of Pain Medicine (FPM) held in Auckland, New Zealand, Kate Leslie and Andy Cumpstey interview Neel Desai about non-opioid multi-modal analgesia, especially the use of paracetamol/NSAID combinations for minor surgery.

Dr Neel Desai is a Consultant Anaesthetist at Guys and St Thomas's Hospital, London, UK. He is supported by AFT Pharmaceuticals.

Come and join us at this premier educational event designed for clinicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals interested in sport, exercise, and perioperative medicine.

Go now to http://www.ebpom.org

EBPOM 2026: Research oral abstract finalists Jul 09, 2026

Show notes

Joff Lacey and Imogen Fecher-Jones interview six oral abstract finalists at this years' EBPOM.

Nora Cruz Rodriguez; Association Between Participation in Remote Prehabilitation and High-Dependency Unit Length of Stay After Oesophagectomy and Radical Cystectomy: A Retrospective Cohort.

Alexios Dosis; Remote wearable monitoring as a preoperative risk assessment tool.

Ned Douglas; The Fluids, Atomoxetine or Midodrine (FAME) pilot trial.

Tom Scodellaro; The new normal: CPET findings in patients aged 80 years and older.

Gerry O'Callaghan; Preventing and Reducing Re-Presentations and Admissions following surgery, new thinking required.

Sandy (Alexander) Jackson; Cost of Radial Arterial Line Placement in UK Operating Theatres.

Come and join us at this premier educational event designed for clinicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals interested in sport, exercise, and perioperative medicine.

Go now to http://www.ebpom.org

TopMedTalk Classic: Dan Martin and the Ebola Epidemic of 2018 Jul 06, 2026

Show notes

This month's TopMedTalk Classic is particularly topical: first broadcast back in 2018 but relevant once again after the recent news of an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Originally recorded at the Intensive Care Society State of the Art Meeting in London, Desiree Chappell and Monty Mythen speak with Dan Martin, OBE, now Professor at the University of Plymouth and Consultant in Intensive Care Medicine at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, about the critical care management of Ebola and other viral haemorrhagic fevers.

Dan Martin describes the Royal Free Hospital's role as the UK designated centre, using a Trexler isolator system to protect staff (rather than full PPE) and rehearsed RAF-supported repatriation and hospital drills, including simulations for intubation, lines and CPR.

He explains that Ebola is not inevitably fatal and that outcomes improve with safe, good basic intensive care—fluids, electrolytes and preventing secondary infection—while evidence for expensive experimental therapies is limited. The discussion also covers screening based on travel history, UK planning for "high consequence infectious diseases," and international training visits.

Come and join us at this premier educational event designed for clinicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals interested in sport, exercise, and perioperative medicine.

Go now to http://www.ebpom.org

NEJM and BMJ Editors: Joys and Challenges of Medical Publishing Jul 02, 2026

Show notes

This piece is essential listening for anyone interested in modern academic publishing.

Recorded at the Collaborative Clinical Trials Meeting in Prato, Italy, TopMedTalk hosts Kate Leslie and Mike Grocott speak with Eric Rubin (Editor-in-Chief, New England Journal of Medicine) and Jocalyn Clark (International Editor, BMJ) about medical publishing.

The conversation covers, engaging with clinical researchers and seeing impactful work. How AI can help authors—especially non-native English speakers—while raising concerns about confidentiality, inaccurate or fabricated content, reviewer misuse, governance policies that struggle to keep pace, and AI-generated correspondence overwhelming journals.

They explore how AI affects originality and idea generation, note an NEJM AI experiment using AI reviews, and consider how journals should communicate beyond clinicians to address misinformation and declining attention, while maintaining trust and collaborating more across publishing and science.

Come and join us at this premier educational event designed for clinicians, scientists, and healthcare professionals interested in sport, exercise, and perioperative medicine.

Go now to http://www.ebpom.org

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