The ATS International Conference will continue through Wednesday in New Orleans, a city that offers a wealth of historic attractions, including St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square.
The American Thoracic Society’s 2010 International Conference officially launched on Saturday afternoon at the Society’s first-ever Opening Ceremony, where ATS President J. Randall Curtis, M.D., M.P.H., introduced keynote speaker Bennett deBoisblanc, M.D., who was medical director of the ICU at Charity Hospital in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. Dr. deBoisblanc, who led a team of healthcare professionals to care for 50 ICU patients for five days in the wake of the hurricane before he and the team were airlifted out of the hospital, talked about the triumph of humanism in circumstances of tremendous tragedy.
Bennett deBoisblanc, M.D.
The Opening Ceremony was followed by the 2010 Exchange for Fellows & Junior Professionals. This annual event not only provided attendees with a brief orientation to the ATS International Conference, but also allowed for networking with former colleagues and new contacts.
According to Marc Moss, M.D., chair of the ATS International Conference Committee, this year’s meeting is comprehensive, with more than 400 sessions, 800 speakers and 6,000 abstracts. 2010, he says, will be a year of many “firsts.”
Marc Moss, M.D.
“This is the first year that the ATS has accepted abstracts of unique clinical cases, as well as scientific abstracts,” said Dr. Moss, who is professor of medicine at the University of Colorado. “The result has been remarkably successful. The Society will present approximately 500 clinical cases as abstracts at this year’s meeting. Submissions have been received not only from individuals in the U.S. and Canada, but also from clinicians and scientists who practice in Asia, Africa and Europe.”
The 2010 program will also include late-breaking scientific abstracts on research that were not completed or submitted by the November 4 deadline. In total, 217 abstracts were categorized as late-breaking submissions for the 2010 meeting.
“A lot of the science that will be presented at this year’s conference is extremely novel and will provide the scientific framework behind the most recent clinical discoveries in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine,” Dr. Moss said. “Attendees also will learn clinically relevant information that can change their practices and that they can immediately apply in caring for their patients.”
Diagnosing & Treating Pediatric Lung Disorders
Clement L. Ren, M.D.
Clinicians caring for pre-term infants and children, as well as researchers conducting basic, clinical and epidemiological studies of pre-term birth and its respiratory implications, will get an update on recent studies during session A7 “Respiratory Outcomes of Prematurity: Recent Advances and Future Developments.”
The session will also focus on the Prematurity and Respiratory Outcomes Program or PROP, which is an National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute initiative designed to support the study of molecular mechanisms of pre-term lung disease. Its aims include developing better methods to phenotype the respiratory status of pre-term infants and identifying novel biomarkers that can be easily applied to the clinical setting, said the session chair Clement L. Ren, M.D.
“This is the ideal opportunity for ATS 2010 attendees to gain a better understanding of why we need this program and what the program is intended to do,” Dr. Ren said.
It is also an opportunity to drive home just how prevalent pre-term birth is in the United States and around the world.
“One out of eight births are premature, and those numbers are rising every year,” he continued, “and it is important to pulmonologists because they see it every day in their practices.”
NINR Celebrations
Kathleen Lindell, Ph.D., R.N.
The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year. To salute this milestone, a number of events at ATS 2010 will focus on the Institute’s accomplishments over the last quarter-century.
The events are a welcome acknowledgement of the role of nurses in the Society, said Kathleen Lindell, Ph.D., R.N., chair of the ATS Assembly on Nursing. Originally, housed with the Nursing Assembly, the Assembly on Pulmonary Rehabilitation was formed in 2008, underscoring the importance of interdisciplinary teams in caring for patients.
“To say that approaching patient care as an integrated team is becoming the ‘norm’ within the healthcare community is music to my ears,” Dr. Lindell said. “Working together with individuals with different areas of expertise really is the best way to provide optimal care for patients. We want to spread this message to healthcare providers in all settings.”
Dr. Moss echoed this sentiment.
“The interaction between the ATS and the NINR is extremely important to the multi-disciplinary relationship that has developed between pulmonary, critical care and sleep clinicians, and practicing nurses, in addition to the collaborative research efforts that continue to grow between physician- and nurse-scientists,” he said.
The celebration begins today from 8:15 to 10:45 a.m. with session A11, “Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the National Institute of Nursing Research.”
Dr. Lindell said the session will highlight the diversity of projects that the NINR has funded to advance both nursing science and practice.
Karen Huss, Ph.D., R.N., the NINR’s program director for acute and long-term care and end-of-life training, will talk about the institute’s funding priorities in these areas and will answer any questions from attendees at a session from noon to 1 p.m.
During the afternoon’s Nursing Year in Review session, top-notch experts across a spectrum of disciplines will discuss topics related to the fields of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine. Speakers will review major advances and papers that have been published in the last year and how they have changed care or the understanding of a clinical problem or scientific issue relevant to nurses working in respiratory and critical care.