WVU Medicine Represented at American College of Emergency Physicians Conference

An emergency medicine provider from WVU’s Division of Geriatrics, Palliative Medicine, and Hospice recently attended the American College of Emergency Physicians conference in Las Vegas.

Held from Sept. 29-Oct. 2, the event brought together emergency physicians and leaders in emergency medicine from around the world. Attendees participated in networking opportunities, education, research presentations, and discussions about the future of emergency medicine.

While at the conference, Allison Tadros, MD, FACEP, a professor in WVU’s Department of Emergency Medicine, attended the palliative medicine section meeting and met other emergency physicians interested in palliative care.

Since completing a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine after working as an emergency physician with WVU for more than 20 years, Dr. Tadros has been working to bring the two specialties together by providing palliative medicine consultation services specifically for Emergency Department patients.

Although this concept may seem unusual to some, Dr. Tadros feels the Emergency Department is a perfect venue for palliative medicine. More than 50 percent of geriatric and 80 percent of metastatic cancer patients visit the ED within their last month of life. Therefore, the ED can serve as a gatekeeper to both inpatient and outpatient palliative care services and is a logical location for advanced care planning. During the ED phase of care, patients are earlier in the treatment trajectory, which allows for timely goals of care conversations, development of care plans that align with patients’ needs and priorities, and a better match of services to needs. Initial studies have suggested this can lead to decreased patient length of stay, decreased hospital costs, and better patient care.

WVU is one of only a few institutions in the country that has a palliative care provider dedicated to the Emergency Department.

Because of the work she is doing with embedded palliative care consults in the Emergency Department at WVU Medicine J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital, Dr. Tadros was named secretary of the palliative medicine section of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Congratulations!