Representing Registry Partners, I, Nicole Maddox, RN, CSTR, had the opportunity to attend the Society of Trauma Nurses – 2019 TraumaCon conference that was held in Lexington, Kentucky from March 27 to 29.
Aside from being held in such a gorgeous location, the TraumaCon was both intriguing and informative with phenomenal speakers. The Conference kicked off on Wednesday with some Pre-Conferences followed by the opening of the exhibition hall.
On Thursday, the STN’s President Elect, Sarah Mattocks, gave the President’s Address and heart-felt presentation of why she became a trauma nurse. With such a large number of trauma nurses, there are many unique reasons why each became a trauma nurse, however, they are all united in the end goal of providing the best care to their patients. Sessions continued throughout the day and included many amazing simultaneous breakout sessions with the only draw-back being the struggle in deciding which session to attend.
Friday sessions continued, and the session that stuck with me the most was the presentation given by Dr. Todd Maxson “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way from the OR”. Dr Maxson related his own personal experience as a trauma patient survivor and gave his perspective from the known standards in trauma care and the contrast with the potential problems that some of those standards could pose. His shared experience had attendee’s questioning the entire spectrum of trauma care, from the initial incident and EMS treatment through the discharge and recovery phase highlighting the massive amount of work still to be done to improve upon trauma patient care.
While manning the vendor booth, we had the opportunity to speak with many of the conference attendees and provide information on our company and services. We also raffled an Away – Carry On luggage case; the lucky winner was Gina Dennis of Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St Louis, MO. Congratulations Gina!
L to R: Gina Dennis, Nicole Maddox (RP)
With TraumaCon 2019 completed, trauma nurses are already looking forward to TraumaCon 2020.