Genesis of the College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand

Abstract

In 2009 the College of Intensive Care Medicine (CICM) of Australia and New Zealand was inaugurated in Melbourne, Australia. This College now regulates the education, training and accreditation for specialist intensivists for Australia and New Zealand. CICM origins started in 1975 with the formation of the Section of Intensive Care of the Faculty of Anaesthetists, Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS), which moved through intermediary stages as the Faculty of Intensive Care, Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) when that College was formed from the former Faculty of Anaesthetists RACS, and then the Joint Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine (ANZCA and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians [RACP]), until becoming completely independent as CICM in 2010. There was a period of about 40–50 years evolution from the first formations of intensive care units in Australia and New Zealand, and discussions by the personnel staffing those units amongst themselves and with Members of the Board of the Faculty of Anaesthetists RACS, to the formation of the Section of Intensive Care, then through two intermediary Faculties of Intensive Care Medicine, to the final independent formation of the College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand in 2010.