Trauma Surgeons experts to discuss Homeland Security and lack of hospital preparedness across the country. Press Conference March 23rd Caesars Palace Las Vegas at 10.00am

 Since trauma centers are most often the safety net hospitals America needs its trauma centers now more than ever. With the war, and the continuing threat of biological, chemical or radiological terrorism in our homeland. Hospitals are not yet prepared, lack of training and supplies.  September 11th demonstrated trauma center efficacy, and the need to ensure that trauma care is available for treating the victims of terrorist attacks.  Despite attempted tort reform in Nevada - University Medical Center still struggles with malpractice insurance issues. 16 other states report multiple threats.

SOCIETY OF TRAUMA NURSES ANNOUNCES ITS 6TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE

There will be a press conference on the TRAUMA CURRENT STATE OF AFFAIRS
scheduled at 10:00am in the Tower Conference Lobby at Caesars Palace on March 23rd 2003.

John Fildes MD, FACS, FCCM Trauma Medical Director
University Medical Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.

David Hoyt MD, FACS, Chief, Division of Trauma
Director, Surgical Intensive Care Unit
University of California-San Diego.

Robert Lingua Coscia MD, FACS, Trauma and General Surgery
St. Alphonsus Medical Center, Boise, Idaho.

Kenneth Mattox MD, FACS, Professor and Vice Chair of Surgery Department
Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.

Heidi Hotz RN, President of Society of Trauma Nurses, Trauma Program Manager with the Department of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles.

Mary Kate FitzPatrick, RN, MSN, President-elect of Society of Trauma Nurses,
Trauma Clinical Programs Administrator at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia.

 Since trauma centers are most often the safety net hospitals America needs its trauma centers now more than ever. With the war, and the continuing threat of biological, chemical or radiological terrorism in our homeland.
 September 11th demonstrated trauma center efficacy, and the need to ensure that trauma care is available for treating the victims of terrorist attacks.
 Despite attempted tort reform in Nevada - University Medical Center still struggles with malpractice insurance issues. 16 other states report multiple threats.

The Society of Trauma Nurses is the only international, professional nursing organization that spans the continuum of trauma care. This visionary and innovative organization is the recognized leader in support of trauma nursing through cooperation and collaboration with other trauma-related organizations. STNs membership represents nurses involved in trauma care in clinical, administrative and educational roles. STN provides multiple forums for trauma nursing education, sponsors Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses, publishes the Journal of Trauma Nursing, offers networking
opportunities for members, supports the activities of the pediatrics, legislative, and research/publication interest groups and promotes trauma and injury prevention campaigns. STN is represented on numerous national, state, and local trauma system development project groups.

David Hoyt MD FACS

The Monroe E. Trout Professor of Surgery
Chief, Division of Trauma
Director, Surgical Intensive Care Unit
University of California-San Diego, USA

Dr. Hoyt is the President of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, Secretary of the Shock Society. Chair of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma.

Dr. Hoyt received a BA degree with honors from Amherst College, followed by an MD degree from Case Western Reserve University in 1976. From 1976-1984 Dr. Hoyt was a Surgical Resident and Research Fellow at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and Scripps Immunology Institute.

He joined the faculty at UCSD and immediately became involved in their Trauma Service as a Director of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit. In 1995 he was appointed Professor Surgery and was awarded The Monroe E. Trout Professorship in Surgery at UCSD (1996). He currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Department and Chief of the Division of Trauma, Burn, Surgical Critical Care. He also serves as Chairman of the UCSD Medical Group Board of Governors.

Robert Lingua Coscia MD FACS
999 N. Curtis Rd.
Suite 515
Boise, ID 83706

Trauma and General Surgery at the Regional Trauma Center at St. Alphonsus Medical Center, Boise, Idaho.
Dr. Coscia is board certified in general surgery with trauma specialization. He is a member of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma. Dr. Coscia also teaches advanced trauma courses and helps evaluate trauma centers across the nation.

Kenneth Mattox MD FACS
Department of Surgery
One Baylor Plaza
Houston, TX 77030

Past Positions
Dr. Mattox has previously served as Deputy Surgeon-In-Chief, Director of Emergency Surgical Services, and Chief of Thoracic Surgery Service at Ben Taub General Hospital. He has been named among the Best Doctors in America five times. He has served as President of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, Houston Surgical Society, and Texas Surgical Society and serves on the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons.

Education
Dr. Mattox earned his undergraduate degree from Wayland College in Plainview, Texas, and his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. He served his internship in straight surgery at Ben Taub General Hospital, and residencies in general surgery and thoracic surgery at Baylor College of Medicine Affiliated Hospitals.

Memberships
Dr. Mattox is an active member of numerous prestigious medical, professional, and academic organizations, including American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, American Association for Thoracic Surgery, American College of Chest Physicians, American College of Surgeons, American Medical Association, American Surgical Association, American Trauma Society, Association for Academic Surgery, International Cardiovascular Society, International Society of Surgery, International College of Surgeons, Michael E. DeBakey International Surgical Society, Pan American Trauma Society, Pan Pacific Surgical Association, Society of Thoracic Surgery, Society of University Surgeons, Society of Vascular Surgery, Southern Surgical Association, and Southern Thoracic Surgical Association, Texas Surgical Society and Houston Surgical Society.

Of particular interest at this time, Ben Taub General Hospital was tapped to house the United States military's Joint Trauma Training Center as a cooperative civilian/military effort to provide military medical personnel with the experience needed for forward combat medical operations. With Ben Taub's high trauma volume, more than 100,000 emergency cases in 1999, of which more than 27,000 were surgery cases, the hospital proved to be the country's most desirable site to train military trauma teams. The one-year pilot program began in July of 1999.

During the program's first year, nine U.S. military trauma teams from around the world have trained at Ben Taub Hospital. Teams have come from as near as Fort Hood and as far away as Ramstein, Germany. At the conclusion of their training in Houston, some of the first teams were deployed to Kosovo and South Korea.

Over the course of the program's first year, the military's teams diagnosed and treated 4,000 trauma patients and participated in more than 180 emergency surgeries.

"This program is mutually beneficial for all parties involved, including the Department of Defense, the civilian trauma center, the patients who might need care, and the local taxpayer," said Dr. Kenneth Mattox, chief of staff at Ben Taub General Hospital. "It is a win-win situation for everyone."

The program is the first of its kind, but its origin goes back to 1949 at the end of the World War II. Medical experience in trauma was, for the most part, confined to a wartime, military trauma experience. Dr. Michael DeBakey, legendary Houston surgeon, produced a series of books that were distributed through the office of the Surgeon General called Surgery in W.W.II. These volumes became the blueprint of medical military preparedness.

When Dr. DeBakey left the Army, he received a grant from the office of the Surgeon General to fund a U.S. Army/Baylor College of Medicine Research Center, which became a regional referral base and regional trauma activity center at Jefferson Davis Hospital here in Houston. This was the first time in history that the phrase "trauma center" was used. Later, centers were established in Cook County in 1960 and in Maryland in 1962.

Through these trauma centers, civilian hospitals began to benefit from the military research and experience in burns, shock, gun shot wounds and many other injuries. In 1960, a program, the Medical Education for National Defense (MEND) was established in the Department of Defense. This program was developed through the 1950s at the Baylor U.S. Army Research Unit in Houston. In preparing the nation for possible atomic bombing, it taught school children across the country duck-and-cover techniques and educated medical students in radiation injury treatments. "During the Vietnam War, units across the country closed because all personnel were needed in combat," Dr. Mattox said. "After Vietnam, the vision continued, but a shortage of funds didn't allow for the program to continue." As time has passed, individuals who served in Vietnam as physicians and surgeons have retired, and only a small handful continue to practice today.
Studies after Desert Storm showed that experience in the military to treat wartime trauma was primarily supplied by the reserve component - by those who worked in civilian trauma centers.

John Fildes, M.D., FACS, FCCM

Medical Director, Trauma Center
University Medical Center
Las Vegas, Nevada

Vice Chair & Professor
Department of Surgery
University of Nevada School of Medicine
Las Vegas, Nevada

Chair, National Trauma Data Bank subcommittee of the
American College of Surgeons, Committee on Trauma

Actively involved in the practice of trauma for fourteen years. During that time, one of my primary areas of interest has been epidemiologic research. I have participated in studies on trauma and maternal mortality and more recently, I have been a Principle Investigator in grants involving data linking and data integration. These projects have analyzed crash outcome data, domestic violence, suicide patterns, as well as state injury patterns. I have been an active member of the National Trauma Data Bank Committee for more than five years.

Heidi A. Hotz, RN
President, Society of Trauma Nurses

Heidi Hotz has been a member of the STN Board of Directors for over 5 years in the position of Director at Large, Treasurer, and President Elect.

Currently, she is the Trauma Program Manager with the Department of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She has over 13 years of trauma program management experience inclusive of trauma data, performance improvement, trauma program and systems policy development and implementation, injury prevention, systems development, consultant for trauma centers and systems, and all trauma related issues across the continuum of care.

She has extensive experience in trauma education participating in many educational conferences and events. She was the Chair of the Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses (ATCN) Committee in Arizona for 6 years. She was the first appointed Chair of the ATCN National-International Committee, and remains actively involved in this premier educational program as International Faculty and a Committee Member.

Heidi Hotz has provided testimony at formal hearings in support of trauma systems funding, and participated in press conferences and media events drawing attention to the need for trauma systems and trauma systems development. She is a member of the Los Angeles County Association of Trauma Program Managers. She is also an active member of the Health Resources Services Administration (HRS) EMS Trauma Steering Committee.

Kate FitzPatrick RN MSN
Trauma Clinical Programs Administrator

Kate has over 16 years of trauma nursing experience involving expertise in the areas of trauma system development, trauma center development/accreditation and trauma performance improvement. Kate's clinical background includes prehospital, emergency/trauma and surgical nursing. She has held positions as the State Trauma System Coordinator for the Division of Public Health in Delaware which included responsibility for chairing the statewide trauma system development initiative. In this role Kate oversaw the passage of enabling trauma system legislation including standards for trauma center accreditation in the state of Delaware. Kate has also held posts as the Trauma Performance Improvement Coordinator, Trauma Program Manager and currently the Trauma Clinical Programs Administrator at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center in Philadelphia.

Kate FitzPatrick is the current President-Elect of the Society of Trauma Nurses. She also serves on the editorial review board for the Journal of Trauma Nursing and is the section editor for the journal's "Newsletters" section.

Kate is national faculty for Advanced Trauma Care for Nurse and does extensive national and international consultation and lecturing on a variety of trauma care related issues/topics.

Kate has a Bachelors Degree of Science from the University of Delaware and a Masters Degree in Trauma/Emergency Nursing from Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania. Kate holds a certificate in Leadership and Development from the University of Delaware School of Business Continuing Education program.