I’d like to share with you my experiences at a couple of conferences I recently attended. The first is the Eastern association for the Surgery of Trauma annual scientific assembly held at Walt Disney World in January. The second is the First Pan-American Prehospital care Congress in Salinas, Ecuador.
Let’s Start in Disney World
I delivered the Scott Frame Memorial Lecture at the conference this year. This was an honor for me on several levels. First, Scott was a dear friend and I was humbled to be asked to deliver a lecture in his name. It was also an honor for me to speak at a surgical society meeting. I’ve been a member of Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) for years. One of the things I’ve always liked about EAST is that although it’s an association for trauma surgeons, it’s always allowed associate non-physician members.
The conference was packed with science and skillfully delivered presentations. I also had a chance to participate as a discussant reviewing one of the scientific studies presented at the conference.
As for my lecture, I talked about relationships between physicians and prehospital care providers. My lecture will be posted on the EAST Web site soon. My point was that prehospital care benefits from collaborative and imaginative medical direction and the participation of the trauma community. I stressed the need for information on patient outcomes to make it back to the street to reinforce the relevance of our practice on the lives we serve.
EAST has gone out of its way in its involvement in EMS to promote optimal trauma care. It has actively pursued EMS membership and made prehospital care a big part of its conferences and research. I encourage any of you who read this to take a look at EAST.
While at Disney World, I also got to tour one of their firehouses and got a look at the behind-the-scenes stuff emergency responders do at the park. Definitely worth seeing if you get a chance.
Now Let’s go to Ecuador
My friend Greg Chapman and I were asked to speak in December at the First Pan-American Prehospital Congress conference in Salinas, Ecuador.
The faculty and participants of the meeting came from all over Latin America. Physician and prehospital professionals from Ecuador, Columbia, Venezuela, Peru, Mexico and the U.S. presented on a variety of topics, including medical presentations, disaster operations, tactical training and extrication. The conference also featured workshops on such skills as CPR, AEDs and airway management.
The enthusiasm of the faculty and participants was infectious. They take what they do very seriously. Greg and I were asked to participate as judges in a rodeo-type EMS competition. Teams of doctors, nurses and prehospital specialists, some mixed and some not, went through their paces in scenarios that were mentally and physically challenging. The station that Greg and I worked was nearly impossible for optimal outcomes, but each team eagerly and diligently got down in the dust and the dirt and did their best.
Prehospital care in Latin America is becoming increasingly sophisticated. A new breed of young doctors, nurses and prehospital care technicians are working to build systems and protocols that will hold up against ones from other areas. If they continue at this rate, they will reach their goal in no time. It’s always refreshing to look at what’s happening in places that often look to the U.S. for guidance, so we can see what they’re doing with different resources and environments. In many cases, our EMS brothers and sisters overseas have much to teach us, and we should pay attention to what they’re doing all over the world. Our own research shows us that we have it wrong from time to time, and observing our friends as they work may show us the correct way in some of these cases.
