On September 11, 2021, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery of the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi 'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) was approved as one of the first batch of ECMO Training Bases in China at the Sixth CHELSA Annual Conference, becoming the only approved affiliation in Shaanxi province.

This project was initiated by ECMO Branch of Chinese Society of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesiology. After multiple rounds of screening, Fuwai Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, the First Affiliated Hospital of XJTU and another 8 hospitals were selected from hundreds of medical institutions as the first-batch ECMO Training Bases in China. The plaque-presenting ceremony was also held. Attending Physician Liu Miaomiao from Department of Cardiovascular Surgery of our hospital received the third prize in the Youth Physician Dissertation Competition at the Sixth CHELSA Annual Conference.

List of the first-batch ECMO Training Bases in China

As an emerging technology, ECMO plays a pivotal role in the treatment of critically ill patients in recent years. Up to now, ECMO Center of our hospital has treated nearly 500 critically ill patients, 60% of them were decannulated from ECMO and over 50% of these patients survived. However, due to the large gap and significant disparities in ECMO technologies ranging from equipment, staff qualification and operation procedures among different hospitals across China, it is highly challenging to standardize the ECMO technologies, which significantly affects the application of ECMO in clinical settings. In addition, considering the lack of a unified national ECMO quality control and standardization system, the treatment principles and operation procedures of ECMO are not completely consistent among different hospitals. Consequently, clinical quality of ECMO can not be completely guaranteed, which affects the clinical efficacy of ECMO to varying degrees.

The approval of ECMO Training Bases signifies the leading position of ECMO technology of Department of Cardiovascular Surgery of our hospital in China. In the future, our center will give full play to the leading role of disciplines, shoulder heavy responsibility of standardized training of ECMO technology under the promotion and guidance ofChinese Society of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesiology, follow the corresponding accessible standards in terms of equipment and facilities, staff qualification, implementation process and technical management, assess the training effect of trainees participating in the training, improve the quality of ECMO practitioners, enable them to grasp corresponding theoretical knowledge and professional skills of ECMO technology management, establish a standardized teaching and demonstration center and actively promote the application and popularization of ECMO technology, aiming to catch up with the rapid development of this industry and satisfy the health requirement of our patients !