64 - Roger Harris & Oliver Flower - The innovative educationalists behind SMACC and CODA

Two inspiring and innovative educationalists, Dr Roger Harris and Dr Oliver Flower, are featured in this episode.

Both of these Sydney intensivists are the force behind the recently created educational initiative named Coda, having previously been two members of the successful triumvirate who set up SMACC (Social Media and Critical Care).

To my mind Oliver (or Oli) and Roger have led an educational revolution by utilising speakers with high level presentation skills and encouraging community engagement, through a blend of real life events, internet technology and social media, to bring us the type of innovative and entertaining educational platform we haven't previously seen in intensive or critical care.

Dr Roger Harris is a senior staff specialist in the ICU at the Royal North Shore hospital and the Sydney Adventist hospital. He is dual qualified in Emergency Medicine and Intensive Care. He is passionate about education, his five children and especially his wife Georgie. He's on Twitter @RogerRdharris where his bio states he is "privileged to care for the critically ill."

Dr Oli Flower is also an intensivist at the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney. He's steered the creative side of SMACC & Coda, from the graphic design elements to the style, marketing, website and social platform strategies. He has an interest in neurocritical care and is on Twitter @oliflower where his bio states he is a "believer in the power of the big medical community".

We recorded this in February 2020; just before the COVID-19 pandemic scuppered Oli and Roger's plans to release nearly 4000 tickets to the inaugural large-scale Coda event. Coda is aimed to be more like a festival than a conference and is not only for critical care practitioners but for a wider healthcare audience. The overall goal of Coda is to cover vital broader healthcare subject themes and to assist the assembled community to take meaningful actions as a result of what is discussed, the climate emergency being one of the first of these.

When Coda was one of the earlier healthcare conferences to be postponed in the pandemic, I also held this podcast back until there could be firmer plans about any live Coda events.

A meeting named Coda Zero Live has now been announced for 16-18 February 2021. This is an event in Sydney with both a live and a virtual audience. It now seemed appropriate to release this episode to help you know about Coda and to encourage you to attend or tune in to Coda Zero Live.

This interview is well worth listening to as, despite no mention of COVID-19, you'll hear:

• The career backgrounds of Oli and Roger
• Roger's humility in training in a second speciality in the same hospital
• Both of their views on the mature culture and flattened hierarchy in their ICU at Royal North Shore Hospital
• Perspectives on gender equity as well as diversity and inclusion in an Intensive Care department
• The story behind the educational initiatives of SMACC and Coda
• The marginalisation of non-technical topics they noticed in most scientific meetings
• The growing appetite they were observing for these same topics
• The value of delegate feedback in directing educational initiatives
• How SMACC developed such an engaged community
• The vision for Coda including its initial themes of education, ethics, earth and cure
• The plans for tackling the climate emergency as a healthcare practitioner community
• Discussion about how a plant-rich diet is beneficial for both environmental and personal health
• What Oli and Roger have learnt from all these educational pursuits to help them at the bedside
• How they both stay balanced
• Some tips for less experienced clinicians

Please enjoy listening to Roger Harris & Oli Flower.

Andrew Davies

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About the Mastering Intensive Care podcast: The podcast aims to inspire and empower you, through conversations about the human side of Intensive Care, to bring your best self to the Intensive Care bedside, with a focus on compassion, collaboration and personal wellbeing.

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Links related to Roger Harris and Oli Flower

Roger Harris

Roger Harris on Twitter @RogerRdharris

Oli Flower

Oli Flower on Twitter @OliFlower

Intensive Care Unit at Royal North Shore Hospital

Coda

Coda on Twitter

Coda Zero Live Event - 16-18 February 2021

Intensive Care Network

Intensive Care Network podcasts

Links to other resources (in order of mentioning)

Chris Nickson

SMACC

Coda

Coda Zero Live

Queen Square

Sydney HEMS

Staff at Royal North Shore Hospital ICU

Australasian Trauma Society

Australasian College of Emergency Medicine

College of Intensive Care Medicine

SMACC Berlin Final Day Program

Martin Bromiley

Life In The Fast Lane Blog

Intensive Care Network

Simon Carley

St Emlyn's

Scott Weingart

EMCrit

Haney Mallemat

Ken Milne

SMACC Conference History

ANZICS

SCCM

Rob MacSweeney

Critical Care Reviews Conference

Jesse Spurr

Mary Freer

New England Journal of Medicine

John Hinds

Coda Zero Episode 1: Cure - Pandemic Sepsis

Coda Zero Episode 2: Ethics - Gender Video

Coda Zero Episode 3: Educate - Communicating in the era of big data, AI and the "infodemic"

Coda Zero Episode 4: Earth - A safe and healthy pandemic recovery

Coda Zero Live Event - 16-18 February 2021

Safe Airway Society

Links related to Mastering Intensive Care podcast

Mastering Intensive Care podcast

Mastering Intensive Care podcast - Episode 21 with Martin Bromiley

Mastering Intensive Care podcast - Episode 28 with Simon Finfer

Mastering Intensive Care podcast - Episode 45 with Scott Weingart

Mastering Intensive Care page on Facebook

Mastering Intensive Care at Life In The Fast Lane

Andrew Davies on Twitter: @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on Instagram: @andrewdavies66

Andrew Davies on LinkedIn

Email Andrew Davies

Audio Producer Chris Burke

Burke Sound & Media