This year’s winner of the Delaney Medal Competition was Dr Dylan Finnerty for his project entitled  “a Prospective, Randomised, Double-Blind Clinical Trial comparing Erector Spinae Plane Block with Serratus Anterior Plane Block for Quality of Recovery and Morbidity after Minimally Invasive Thoracic Surgery” [ppt]. One of the panel of judges Professor Adam Sapirstein of Johns Hopkins Medical Centre, US described Dr Finerty’s work as “A tour de force project and presentation. A clinical trial that can change practice is a profound undertaking. The presenter demonstrated how and why this was done. The results were indisputable and the project will have lasting impact”.

The 2020 competition will be memorable not just for its being run during the Covid 19 pandemic, but for the quality of the work presented. Dr Colm Keane was ranked second for his work on the Therapeutic Potential of Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells in Preclinical Models of Systemic Sepsis [ppt] and Dr Stephen Duff ranked third for a project entitled “The predictive ability of urinary biomarkers for progression of Acute Kidney Injury in critical illness”.

The other shortlisted applicants who presented their work were:

Dr Ann Marie Crowe. “ Resuscitation orders in the perioperative setting: a survey of knowledge, attitudes and practices among consultant and trainee anaesthesiologists” [pdf]

Dr Andrew O’Donoghue. “ Assessing Patient Safety Culture in the Obstetric Environment” [ppt]

And Dr Jonathon Roddy. “ A retrospective audit of compliance and validity of informed consent in a tertiary teaching hospital” [ppt]

The International Judging Panel, comprised Professors Adam Sapirstein (John Hopkins, US) [Bio] , Doris Østergaard (Copenhagen) [ Bio], and Andrew Smith (Lancaster UK) [Bio] considered that the quality of work overall and of the presentations of the six shortlisted applicants was excellent.

The Delaney Medal competition,  sponsored again this year by Fannin, showcases the best of research carried out by trainees in anaesthesiology, critical care and pain medicine in Ireland. This year’s competition made clear that the range and quality of the research is impressive. The 2020 competition reflects well not just on the applicants but also on their supervisors and on the CAI itself for continuing to support academic endeavour of genuine quality. President of the College, Dr Brian Kinirons said that “My only regret is that more of our community did not get the opportunity to experience this impressive event live”. Ms Lucia Zelenska, Events Co-ordinator at the CAI responded to the pandemic-posed challenges by delivering the Delaney Medal event virtually on 16.6.2020. The session, chaired by Professor John Laffey of NUI Galway retained an atmosphere of scientific rigor and friendly competition. Dr Edmund Delaney for whom the competition is named would have been proud.

                                                                                                                                               Supported by Fannin