CE Credit: 1 CM
The field of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine has evolved rapidly, allowing management of conditions that just a few years ago often were untreatable. Bronchoscopy, once almost exclusively only a diagnostic procedure, now increasingly allows palliation or cure of conditions that previously required major operations to address. Invasive hemodynamic monitoring in the intensive care unit can now often be avoided using new techniques such as ultrasonography and pulse waveform analysis. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is increasingly finding a role in the management of acute respiratory failure in adults. Even the diseases change: H1N1 influenza, for example, has proven to have unique characteristics, often leading to severe respiratory failure requiring heroic ventilatory modalities. Other infections, such as community acquired MRSA and Closdridium difficile can produce severe and rapidly fatal illness, and the increasing resistance of bacteria to many antibiotics leads to other challenges. One of the most severe manifestations of infection, septic shock, although still associated with high mortality rates, now has improved survival rates in modern ICUs using an aggressive approach to treatment. Aimed at HIM professionals, this presentation will give attendees a better understanding of the recent advances in this exciting field.
Speaker Bio
Jordon Weingarten, MD, attended Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and then did his internship, residency, and pulmonary fellowship at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. He began practicing pulmonary and critical care medicine in Austin in 1987, and in 1993 was a founding partner of Pulmonary & Critical Care Consultants of Austin, currently the largest group of critical care and pulmonary physicians in Central Texas. He has been chief of staff at Brackenridge Hospital and presently is the medical director for the Seton Medical Center Austin Adult Critical Care Unit.