Trauma Patients At Risk Across The Country, Surgeons On-Call To Discuss Emergency-Care Crisis

Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Bio-terrorism / Terrorism;  Aid / Disasters;  Primary Care / General Practice
Article Date: 13 Dec 2006 - 2:00 PDT

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WHAT:

* The Institute of Medicine (IOM) hosted its fourth and final workshop to discuss its comprehensive report - Hospital-Based Emergency Care: At the Breaking Point.

* Dr. Thomas Russell, Executive Director of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), and Dr. Wayne Meredith, Chairman and Director of the Division of Sciences at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Medical Director of Trauma Programs of the ACS. They can discuss how:

- The trauma system is plagued by glaring inconsistencies in staffing availability, staff qualifications, response times, transport and treatment outcomes;

- Patients are being put further at risk by a growing surgeon shortage caused by disincentives to work in the trauma system; and

- Solutions to system problems and surgeon shortages exist but health care leaders and policymakers need to act now.

WHEN:

* Monday, December 11th

WHERE:

* National Academy of Sciences Building, Auditorium, 2100 C Street, NW, Washington, DC.

WHO:

* The foremost experts on emergency care in the country including leadership from the following organizations: American College of Surgeons, Institute of Medicine, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security, Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WHY DOES IT MATTER:

* If you or someone you know is seriously injured, your chances of receiving access to high-quality trauma system care is geographically arbitrary and inequitable across the United States.

* Only half of the states in the country are equipped with trauma systems, and according to the CDC, only those in eight states are optimally equipped.

* The ACS has a proven workable model for regionalized coordination of emergency care, when in place, shows a 25-percent greater likelihood of survival of serious injury.

* A 2005 survey of emergency department administrators showed that 42-percent said the lack of specialty coverage in their emergency departments poses a significant risk to patients.

* How our nation's emergency care system responds to a future terrorist attack or natural disaster is in jeopardy, in part because there is no lead federal agency to oversee disaster planning and operations.

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Contact: Shireen Gandhi
Weber Shandwick Worldwide

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