The 2^nd Annual Meeting of the Society (SPCCC-2023) was organised at Department of Pediatrics, Advanced Pediatric Centre, PGIMER, Chandigarh. The conference was dedicated to the need of critically ill children with congenital heart disease. The program featured a comprehensive agenda of lectures, skill stations, work stations, demonstrations and case-based discussions to cover a full spectrum of pediatric cardiac critical care issues— management of babies with congenital heart disease at birth, in neonatal and pediatric emergency room, pre-operative stabilization in intensive care unit and their post-operative care. It was organised in association with Association of Pediatricians City Beautiful and Punjab Medical Council, and was partially funded by Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB) of GoI Department of Science & Technology, and Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR).

Faculty was a combination of experienced, and young enthusiastic practitioners of pediatric cardiac critical care, and those involved in care of children with congenital heart disease (n=52) from across the country and abroad. Keynote lectures were delivered by Prof. AK Bisoi (Department of Cardiac Surgery, AIIMS, Delhi), Prof. R Krishna Kumar (Department of Pediatric Cardiology, AIMS, Kochi), Prof. Shankar Prinja (Department of Community Medicine, PGIMER, Chandigarh) and Dr. Vijay Tadia (Department of Hospital Administration, PGIMER, Chandigarh). The session of keynote lectures was chaired by Prof. Yash Paul Sharma (Department of Cardiology, PGIMER, Chandigarh), Prof. Arun K Singh, (Head, Department of Neonatology, AIIMS, Jodhpur) and Prof. JS Thakur (Department of Community Medicine, PGIMER, Chandigarh). Faculty included Prof. VK Arya (Winnipeg, Canada), Dr. John Murala (Dallas, USA), Dr. Seby Sebastian (Birmingham UK), Dr. Arjun Chavan (Townsville, Australia), Dr. Parag Barwad (Department of Cardiology, PGIMER, Chandigarh), Dr. Ramesh Menon and Dr. Arindam Choudhary (AIIMS, Delhi), Dr. Krishna Gulla (AIIMS, Bhubaneswar), Dr. Riyan Shetty and Dr. Navpreet Kaur (Narayan Hrudayalay, Bengaluru), Dr. Ronak Sheth (Fortis Hospital, Mumbai), Dr. Kishore Jayanthi, Dr. Parag Dakate and Dr. Sudeep Verma (Hyderabad), Dr. Soumen Meur and Dr. Kaustabh Chowdhary (Kolkata), Dr. Mugdha Khapre (Mumbai), Dr. Anil Kumar (SGRH, Delhi), Dr. Priyavarthini (Apollo Hospital, Chennai), Dr. Balswaroop Sahu (Raipur), Dr. Garima Garg (Fortis Hospital, Mohali), Dr. Rakesh Sharma (Ahmedabad), Prof. Sourabh Dutta, Prof. Kanya Mukhopadhyay and Prof. Venkataseshan (Department of Pediatrics, PGIMER-Chandigarh). Conference was attended by pediatric intensivists, pediatric cardiologists, pediatric practitioners and trainees (n=87) from Institutes of National Importance (INIs) and Medical Colleges of Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Lectures covered topics related to basic sciences pertaining to congenital heart disease, and critical care issues. It included applied embryology and morphology of cardiovascular structures, fetal and neonatal circulation, cardiopulmonary interactions, heart failure, pulmonary hypertensive crisis, single ventricle physiology, vasoactive drugs used in cardiac intensive care, approach to suspected congenital heart disease in a neonate, transport of the critically ill child with congenital heart disease, pre-operative stabilization, critical left-to-right shunts, invasive hemodynamic monitoring, balancing Qp/Qs ratio, cardiopulmonary bypass, care of children after cardiopulmonary bypass, post-operative arrhythmias, airway and pulmonary issues in children with congenital heart disease. Demonstrations and skill stations were main attractions of the course, and included cadaveric demonstration of cardiovascular structures, functional echocardiography, epicardial pacing, inhaled nitric oxide delivery system and ECMO machine. Problem-oriented case-based discussions on common issues in a Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Unit were well appreciated, especially case-based diagnostic approach towards congenital heart disease with help of chest radiograph and ECG. The program was concluded with a quiz on pediatric cardiac critical care. Presentation of scientific papers (n=17) were of special academic interest.

Pre-Conference Workshop on Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Nursing (Aug 25, 2023)

Dr. Jesal Sheth (Workshop Director) and Prof. Arun Baranwal (Workshop Convener) led a unique, first-of-its-kind, 1-day hands-on interactive workshop on Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Nursing. Faculty was a combination of experienced, and young energetic medical and nursing practitioners and teachers from across the country. Faculty included Prof. Arun Baranwal (Chandigarh), Dr. Jesal Sheth Sadavarte (Mumbai),  Dr. Akanksha Jain (Kochi), Dr. Manju Kedarnath (Dehradun), Dr. Muthiah Perikkruppan (Chennai), Ms. Nandini Anandhan (Bengaluru), Ms. Muthulakshmi (Bangaluru), Ms. Nisha Singla (Chandigarh), Mr. Sugesh Alote (Chandigarh), Mr. Hemant Kumar (Chandigarh) and Ms. Navjot Kaur (Chandigarh). Practicing nurses, postgraduate nursing students and nursing interns (total 102 delegates) from various Institutes of National Importance (INIs), tertiary care teaching and non-teaching hospitals of Chandigarh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Maharashtra participated in the workshop.

Importance of optimal crisis resource management (CRM) in a Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit was covered through games. Topics like golden hour management of post-operative cardiac infant received from operation theatre, nursing care plan of monitoring of post-operative cardiac infant, critical cardiac arrhythmias in Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Units, nursing care plan for infants with epicardial pacing, assessment and stabilization of hemodynamically unstable post-operative cardiac infant were discussed in small groups through simulation-based work-stations. Identification and team-based nursing management of unstable SVT was discussed through simulation-based scenario. Group activity based teaching-learning exercises were used for execution of ‘bundle care’ concepts, and nursing handover (ISBAR: Identify, Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation). At last, a quiz with detail discussion of answers was used for interactive teaching-learning. The workshop concluded with a formal assessment and feedback from participants. Participants rated it as an extremely useful and productive workshop where they learnt day-to-day practical aspects of Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Nursing in an environment full of fun and positivity.

Overall, the 2^nd Annual Meeting of the Society (SPCCC-2023) provided an environment of continuous learning and professional growth, nurturing the next generation of pediatricians and nurses into a subspecialty of ‘Pediatrics of Amrit Kaal’ in India.