Geriatric care, burn management and more featured at trauma conference

Geriatric care, burn management and more featured at trauma conference

By: Administrator Date: September 20th, 2018
From left, Saman Arbabi, M.D. MPH, Lisa Taitsman, M.D., Joe Huang, M.D., Kathleen O’Connell, M.D., MPH, and Itay Bentov, M.D., Ph.D. discuss a geriatric trauma case with the audience.

HIPRC members highlighted the multidisciplinary nature of effective trauma care at the 2018 UW Medicine EMS & Trauma Conference Sept. 17-18.

From a break out track on geriatric care to a panel on burn management and talks on opioid use, Stop the Bleed programs, and more, faculty highlighted how every member of the medical team works together to provide excellent trauma care based on the latest research.

As the number of geriatric patients in trauma continues to climb, teams of specialist are a necessary part of serving this unique population, HIPRC faculty said in the break out track on geriatric trauma care.

Led by moderator and Injury Care section lead Saman Arbabi, M.D., MPH, the panels also featured presentations on palliative care by associate member Kathleen O’Connell, M.D., MPH, geriatric pain management with associate member Itay Bentov, M.D., Ph.D., orthopedic surgeries and considerations for the elderly with associate member Lisa Taitsman, M.D., MPH, and the identification and impact of delirium and frailty among elderly patients with Joe Huang, M.D., who is part of the Senior Care Clinic at Harborview Medical Center.

“This work truly has to be a multidisciplinary approach. That’s the only way to do it,” Taitsman said.

Delirium was an important focus in both Bentov and Huang’s presentations. Huang said that delirium symptoms in older patients should be considered a medical emergency and can have strong detrimental effects on health outcomes. Bentov, an anesthesiologist, noted that certain pain management medications can increase the risk of delirium among older patients. However, the undertreatment of pain can also increase risk of delirium, and both panelists noted the need for careful, balanced approaches.

Bentov noted there is still much to learn and improve regarding about treating elderly trauma patients.

“We know the rules, but we still are not doing as well as we could,” he said. “We have a chance to make a huge impact.”

O’Connell also discussed the positive impact of palliative care. While the specialty is most commonly associated with end-of-life care, the real purpose, she said, is to reduce suffering among patients and families at all stages of care. She also noted that long-term studies on outcomes after geriatric trauma are”desperately” needed to fill gaps in medical knowledge for treating this patient group.

An HIPRC-led panel on burn management also invited audience members and panelists to collaborate in discussing burn cases. The panel, also moderated by Arbabi and including HIPRC associate member Tam Pham, M.D., as well as Tara Lerew, RN, and Kimberly Fowler, RN, highlighted the pathway burn consultations and patients interact with Harborview Medical Center, which is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in the region. Pham, who also leads the UW Medicine Regional Burn Center, noted that a major goal for the center is to increase comfort with treating minor burns among regional healthcare providers.

The annual conference is led by HIPRC core member and HMC Chief of Trauma, Eileen Bulger, M.D., and a number of faculty and staff also serve as planning committee and advisory members for the conference.

Other presenting members included HIPRC Safe and Active Transport section lead Beth Ebel, M.D., MPH, and associate members Adeyinka Adedipe, M.D., RDMS; Samuel Mandell, M.D., MPH; Bryce Robinson, M.D., M.S.; and Mark Wainwright, M.D., Ph.D.