Friday, September 12, 2014

Estoy investigando.

Went to the AAST annual meeting* in Philadelphia this week.  It started on the 10th, but for quite a few different factors I ended up just working on Wednesday and then heading to Philly early Thursday morning. Had called to our friends in Philly for a couch to crash on Thursday night, but once again for quite a few different reasons, plans changed and I ended up taking out my phone and 2 minutes later had a hotel room for the night. I put my phone away after that completely amazed at the resources and abilities our generation has literally at our fingertips.

That holds true for the hours and hours of research I heard being presented over the past two days. Patients have been cared for since, well...since the begining of time. We could just keep doing that. Taking care of patients, just how we were taught. 

But is that enough?  I would say that is not enough.

There are two questions that must be asked in conjunction with that.  This is how we were taught. But, how can we treat better? How can we provide better care?

I'll be honest with you.  I actually don't really like doing research.  But I sit at a meeting such as that of the AAST, and can not deny why research is needed.  It pushes. It advances. It improves.
Granted, usually it happens at a snail's pace, which is very hard for any surgeon to swallow. But it is so necessary.

Our research:  Correlation of Cerebral Oxygen Dynamics and Metabolic Crisis in Patients with Severe Traumatic Brain Injury (sTBI)



Dr. Stiefel takes the podium.

 From the back of the room. 
(That's no longer Dr. Stiefel up there, we were finished at this point)

 This place was fun to walk through.  Every kind of food being sold, just take your pick.

 
 The meeting was at the Marriott Downtown Philadelphia.  Down the street from City Hall.
 
 I played the tourist today during the lunch breakout sessions.  Set out to find Independence Hall.


Found it!  Ate some lunch on a bench then headed back. :)

Much Love.

* 73rd Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma and Clinical Congress of Acute Care Surgery

















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