“Traveling to Slovakia was definitely a highlight of our trip to Europe and we were very impressed by all that you have accomplished there in Bratislava. You are an amazing force for change, and it was great to see how valued you are by your colleagues,” highlights Dr. Joseph J. Zorc, a pediatric emergency specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), in a letter to Dr. Lubica Kovacikova, Director of the local Pediatric Cardiac Center’s ICU. Together with his colleague, Dr. Kevin C. Osterhoudt, he led an OMI satellite symposium in Bratislava from November 15 to 16, 2024, prior to the seminar week in Salzburg.
There were 60 physicians in attendance, 21 of whom stemmed from the Czech Republic and 39 from Slovakia. Participants included specialists and trainees in pediatric emergency medicine, anesthesia, and critical care, providing a dynamic platform for knowledge sharing and networking. The main topics that were discussed during the two days were respiratory emergencies, altered mental status, intoxication, quality improvement, and procedural sedation. The schedule also contained a round table and a case presentation session, during which treatment methods and cases were discussed.
In the past decades, OMI alumna Dr. Kovacikova put an enormous effort into creating a brighter future for children with heart conditions in Slovakia. Ongoing support through the OMI and CHOP has enabled her and her team to make a powerful impact on progressing their life-saving work.
Dr. Kovacikova shares her thoughts on the event: “With the satellite symposium, we succeeded in broadening bilateral relations of four countries: Austria, USA, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. This is why the symbol of our congress was a flower with the four countries’ flags and the title of the congress was CONNECTIONS.”
Special thanks go to our local hosts, Dr. Lubica Kovacikova and Dr. Zuzana Hrubsova, for their support and dedication in making this event such a success!
Background Information:
Established in 1992, the Pediatric Cardiac Center offers care for children with congenital and acquired heart conditions. It counts 800 admissions, 300 surgeries, and 8,500 outpatient visits annually. Since its inception 30 years ago, more than 9,200 surgeries and 9,300 catheterization procedures have been performed, saving thousands of children’s lives in Slovakia.
The development of the center was initially supported by a five-year Project HOPE initiative funded by the US Agency for International Development. Medical expertise came from the Boston Children’s Hospital. Later, Dr. Gil Wernovsky, a Project HOPE team member, joined the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the American-Slovak cooperation continued through the CHOP Cardiac Center.
Observerships for Slovak physicians and nurses at CHOP helped them implement changes in the pediatric cardiac programs, including cardiac computer tomography, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, exercise training, simulation training, and neuro-cardiac care. Slovak attendance at the annual CHOP update conferences provided a continuous source of information on the latest innovations in the field. In addition, CHOP experts regularly traveled to Bratislava to offer clinical teaching and supervision. Simultaneously, doctors from the center met and exchanged with CHOP faculty at numerous OMI seminars in Salzburg and various local OMI satellite symposia. In 2012, during an OMI satellite symposium, CHOP faculty Dr. R. Lee Vogel initiated a video conferencing project. The US Embassy in Bratislava offered its video conference room and later donated the device to the center. Ever since, every two months, Slovak doctors present complex patient cases to CHOP experts. To date, more than 140 cases have been discussed during more than 50 video conferences. Over 40 CHOP faculty members participated actively in these transatlantic medical consultations. One-third of the cases recommended significant divergence from current diagnostic and therapeutic plans. The recommendations were fully or partially adopted in more than 90% of the cases.
