Delta, CO (May 21, 2023) – Delta Health hosted the 14th Annual Western Slope Trauma Conference on May 1 and May 2 to provide vital knowledge and skills for emergency service providers in Colorado. This conference was one of the largest yet, with over 80 people in attendance.
Community and regional providers were given educational opportunities that were trauma-related. Day one focused on Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers and day two focused on inpatient providers such as doctors, nurses, techs, and surgeons.
“This conference allows our region to stay up to date on how to provide the best care for trauma patients,” said Kayleigh Wright, RN, BSN, TCRN, Trauma Nurse Coordinator for Delta Health. “It provides in-person education on topics that are rising trends or issues being seen within the trauma community. Being a rural region, it is important to be able to offer these types of conferences to our local providers.”
Each year the conference gives EMS providers a live-event scenario to exercise how they would care for patients in difficult situations. This year, Delta Health had an “airway rodeo” as their live event. This consisted of six difficult airway scenarios. Some examples of the scenarios were a building collapsing with patients trapped inside, which limited visualization and the ability to get to them. They also worked scenarios in which a patient required intubation upside down airway management while entrapped in a vehicle, and a pediatric intubation scenario.
“This live training allowed both our pre-hospital providers as well as in-hospital providers to gain practice on difficult scenarios,” said Wright. “Hands-on training is huge because it allows for the education to turn into muscle memory for our providers before they even occur,” said Wright.
It is important that the Delta Health Trauma Program can host this locally to give providers within the region an opportunity to attend an in-person conference that is relatively close to many facilities.
This year’s conference had eight different speakers. On day one, Care Flight spoke on obstetrical trauma and resuscitation, and a physician from New Mexico spoke on the management of orthopedic injuries in wilderness environments. In addition, there were geriatric trauma lectures and pediatric respiratory lectures.
“On day two we covered penetrating chest trauma, compassion fatigue and resilience and trauma case reviews from San Joaquin General Hospital, California.,” said Wright. “We also covered upper extremity traumas provided by a provider from the University of Colorado Hospital Division of Plastic Surgery.”
The topics were highly informative for participants.
“I would like to thank all of those who came and supported our conference as well as those who gave recommendations on topics they would like to hear in the future,” said Wright. “I am extremely happy with the turnout and appreciate everyone who helped put it together. I look forward to hosting more amazing trauma conferences in the years to come.”
To learn more about the Emergency and Trauma services available at Delta Health, visit deltahealthco.org/emergency-services/ or call 970.874.2425.
