PACT PROGRAMME

What is PACT?

PACT (Patient-Centred Acute Care Training) is the ESICM's online, modular programme for Intensive Care medicine. It has been designed as an educative tool with a view to improving and harmonising the quality of Critical Care delivery and training.

The first edition, completed in 2008, covers the critical care medical curriculum in 44 modules. It is now undergoing peer-reviewed updating via the PACT Editorial Board and Management Team at a rate of three modules per quarter and is on schedule and a limited number of further modules will be added.

The new version has improved features which include access to:

Pubmed abstracts and on-line resources
Full text of quoted references in the Society’s journal, Intensive Care Medicine
Targeted extracts from Hinds CJ, Watson JD. Intensive Care: A Concise Textbook. 3rd edition. Saunders Ltd; 2008. ISBN: 978-0-7020259-6-9
Selected ESICM ‘flash conference’ lectures
EDIC-style self-assessment

What is PACT for?

PACT is an ESICM membership benefit but is available to all and there are attractive introductory offers:

Free access to the four most recently updated modules
Free three-month trial of PACT programme for institutions/libraries

Content and design

The programme is currently divided into four categories: clinical problems, organ specific problems, skills and techniques and professionalism. The new website will also allow flexible categorization by an EDIC style/organ system approach and by Case Scenarios.

To view the 44 modules, please visit the PACT website.

Each module reflects real life critical care practice and incorporates structured information (Tasks) and Patient Challenges (PATCHs). The PATCHs incorporate clinical scenarios in which users are invited to interpret the nature of clinical problems and make management decisions. The text (Tasks) provides the relevant background information and links to relevant resources.

Interactivity is incorporated through Questions and Answers, Activities, THINKs and EDIC-style self-assessment multiple choice questions. The interactive elements are designed to assist users to build up their knowledge in an active, practical and reflective way.

How PACT can be used?

The programme is suitable for Critical Care medicine doctors and to all who work in critical care / acute medicine. Postgraduate medical trainees preparing for the European Diploma examination and/or national equivalent exams, those preparing for re-certification and for trainers and course organisers will find PACT comprehensive and useful.

Individuals can use the course and its targeted links for in-depth study or for continuing education. The newly introduced PACT search tool facilitates its everyday use as a rapid-access, clinical decision-support tool.

PACT Simulation-based products

A PACT Simulation Learning Module has been developed by Medical Education Technologies, Inc.® (METI) in conjunction with the ESICM. The learning module comprises 20 Simulated Clinical Experiences (SCEs™), from traumatic brain injury to respiratory failure. Linking this learning module with high-fidelity patient simulators adds a new dimension to training in intensive care.

PACT Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chief	Dermot Phelan
Deputy Editor-in-Chief	Francesca Rubulotta
Acute respiratory failure	Anders Larsson
Cardiovascular dynamics	Jan Poelaert/Marco Maggiorini
Neuro-intensive care and Emergency medicine	Mauro Oddo
HSRO/TAHI	Carl Waldmann
Environmental hazards	Janice Zimmerman
Systemic inflammation and Sepsis/Infection	Johan Groeneveld
Metabolism, endocrinology, nephrology, nutrition	Charles Hinds
Perioperative ICM and surgery	Torsten Schroeder
ETC/Ethics	Gavin Lavery
Education and assessment	Lia Fluit
Consultant to the PACT Board	Graham Ramsay

PACT Management Team

Editor-in-Chief	Dermot Phelan, Intensive Care Dept, Mater Hospital/University College Dublin, Ireland
Deputy Editor-in-Chief	Francesca Rubulotta, Imperial College, Charing Cross Hospital, London, UK
Medical Copy-editor	Charles Hinds, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, UK
Self-assessment MCQ author	Hans Flaatten, Bergen, Norway
Editorial Manager	Kathleen Brown, Triwords Limited, Tayport, UK
Business Manager	Estelle Flament, ESICM, Brussels, Belgium
Chair of Education and Training Committee	Marco Maggiorini, Zurich, Switzerland

The PACT Editorial Board reports to the ESICM via the Education and Training Committee of the Division of Professional Development.

How to Subscribe

For ESICM members

ESICM members use their Membership login/password to access PACT.
If a member has not yet paid the annual membership fee (which runs from January to December), it may be paid online via 'Check my data->Invoices' on the home page .

Non-ESICM members

Consider joining ESICM or take out an individual subscription.

If applying for membership, complete the online application and make payment online by credit card. An automatic login/password will be provided once confirmation of the payment has been received. You will then be able to access PACT and other membership benefits.

If you do not wish to become an ESICM member, you can access the PACT programme by completing the PACT individual subscription form. The purchase price is 395 EUR for the first year of access, followed by an annual renewal of 95 EUR.

Licences for instistutions and librairies

This is a favoured mechanism for accessing PACT. An institutional licence in a hospital/university allows access, not just to Intensive Care medicine practitioners and trainees, but also to all involved in acute medicine in that institution who may wish to access selected sections of PACT.

The institutional/library subscription rate is seen as contextually very favourable (see below) and a free three-month trial access is available for product assessment. To obtain access for your hospital or library, please complete the Institution/Library licence subscription form.

Current rates are 800 EUR for the first year with an annual renewal of 400 EUR.