INVITATION

The Slovenian capital its hosting the 12th Ljubljana International Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care (LIPNIC) Symposium with a focus on this paediatric subspecialty as a part of the great spectrum of child health strategies, with an emphasis on future development in paediatric and neonatal intensive care research and clinical practice.

Enteral and parenteral feeding is a topic which is frequently discussed at medical conferences. We will be asking the world experts in this field to highlight the burning questions in this area and to make suggestions how they can be solved with cost-benefit considerations in mind. Some solutions can be very simple.

Crystalloids, colloids, blood products and substitutes are another topic for discussion to establish how much consensus has been achieved so far and explore the options to use new fluids and blood substitutes in paediatric and neonatal emergencies. Are there any areas where evidence-based medicine and good clinical practice do not agree?

Patient safety involves a huge range of logistic and interpersonal problems which affect how safety measures are implemented in daily clinical routine and what are the best measures for quality control. Social communication varies very much from country to country, and establishing the »no blame, no shame« policy in real life is a demanding task with great challenges for heads of departments. This must be seen against the backdrop that intensive care is the first branch in medicine which has to consider patient safety as an integral part of professional treatment. We are looking forward very much to the discussions between international experts in this sensitive area.

The Paediatric Association of the Balkan, a new liaison of paediatric activities in the region, is organising a satellite symposium on therapeutic hypothermia in neonates. This topic involves a wide range of urgent issues related to the logistic problems of neonatal transport and cerebral monitoring, amongst others.
We are very proud to have two special guest lecturers: one will be speaking on palliative care in paediatrics, and the other on strategic foresight from the point of view of multidisciplinary future studies.

As usual, we have arranged a parallel scientific programme for nurses. It is covering the same topics and there will be a special event on nursing strategies in the implementation of protocols. The most prominent nurses in the field of paediatric and neonatal intensive care are participating as lecturers.

The 12th LIPNIC Symposium is also hosting oral and free poster presentations and sponsored satellite symposia which are always well attended.
Slovenian paediatric intensivists organised their first great international symposium/congress on paediatric intensive care in Ljubljana in 1981 which attracted about 500 participants. It came to be recognised as the first congress of the European Society for Paediatric and Neonatal Intensive Care (ESPNIC). Following this great tradition, I am delighted to be able to invite physicians and nurses to Ljubljana again in March 2012, just as the spring sunshine is gaining in strength and renewing our vigour for the challenges ahead.

Ivan Vidmar
Symposium President