A Wednesday morning session will explore the inhalational exposures and respiratory outcomes of military deployment to the Middle East.

Viral infections and bacterial co-infections are widely under-recognized, under-reported and under-treated. That’s the basic message from 14 posters to be presented today.

On Sunday, during the ATS Awards Session, Donald Wright, MD, MPH, the deputy assistant secretary for healthcare quality at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, presented awards to 10 hospitals that have achieved wide-scale reductions of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

When healthcare professionals aren’t on the same page, quality of care suffers. This year, the Society’s Public Advisory Roundtable (ATS PAR) will bring them together at its annual symposium on the important but often underestimated topic of communication.

Individual physician responsibility will be the focus of the 2011 President’s Lecture. Steven Weinberger, MD, FACP, executive vice president and chief executive officer of the American College of Physicians (ACP), will deliver the President’s Lecture, “Challenges for the Subspecialist in the Era of Healthcare Reform,” from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday in the Wells Fargo Theatre Section 2 on the street level of the Colorado Convention Center.

Solving health problems involves more than science. Often, the solutions start with leaders who drive change, a process that was covered by four speakers on Monday during the ATS President’s Symposium.

When a patient transfers from the hospital to home, maintaining seamless care is paramount. One Monday morning poster discussion session looked at how clinicians can integrate best practices.