Our 2025 Trauma & Burn Conference was a big success, with around 250 critical care professionals joining us for certification classes and symposium-style presentations.
As the region’s level-one trauma center and verified burn center, Regional One Health is proud to share expertise and training with providers from all over the Mid-South.
We look forward to continuing to expand on the conference as a way of furthering our mission of improving care for critically injured patients.
Regional One Health’s second annual Trauma & Burn Conference expanded on the health care system’s mission of improving critical care resources throughout the Mid-South.
Lane Oxner, Trauma and Burn Outreach Educator, said part of Regional One Health’s role as the Mid-South’s level one trauma center and full-service verified burn center is to provide education to other critical care professionals in its service territory.
“Our focus behind the Trauma & Burn Conference is to provide extensive education on trauma and burn care, targeting professionals at smaller facilities and emergency medical services groups who don’t always have access to that training we get at a larger hospital,” Oxner said.
This year’s conference drew over 250 attendees from Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama. Physician assistants, nurse practitioners, surgeons, doctors, and emergency medical personnel were among the providers who attended, along with colleagues from trauma registry, performance improvement, and hospital violence intervention.
Demarcus Nash, Burn and Trauma Services Client Relations Manager, said outreach to rural parts of the service area is especially important.
“It’s extremely important to get the word out to them because a lot of time they don’t have access to training,” Nash said. “We’ll continue to go to these communities and provide training and presentations so they’re equipped to care for patients with serious injuries.”
Our 2025 Trauma & Burn Conference drew around 250 critical care professionals from all over the Mid-South.
With that in mind, this year’s conference included two parts: two days of pre-conference courses and one day of symposium-style presentations.
Oxner said the courses included a Trauma Nursing Core Course and International Trauma Life Support course, both of which provide certifications that can be difficult to obtain outside larger cities. Thanks to a sponsorship, the certification classes were free.
During the symposium, attendees heard presentations on topics such as pre-hospital burn care, pediatric trauma and burn care, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, etc. The keynote speaker, Jaime Coleman, MD, talked about the importance of medical professionals taking care of themselves so they can care for others.
“Instead of having two or three speakers and longer presentations, we provided more topics with shorter presentations,” Oxner said. “We were able to have 13 different presentations throughout the day, and people said they got more information and a wider variety of information.”
Exposure to that type of expert insight helps providers all over the region improve patient care.
By design, regional facilities like the Elvis Presley Trauma Center and Firefighters Burn Center have more critical care resources than smaller community hospitals. The idea is for EMS professionals and providers at community hospitals to stabilize patients and provide initial care, then transfer the patient to a larger facility if they need additional care.
Josh Dugal, Executive Director of Trauma and Burn Services, said the conference helps EMS professionals and providers at smaller facilities improve the care they deliver while also making them aware of the resources available at Regional One Health.
Participants in the conference had the chance to attend certification classes and hear presentations by experts in trauma and burn care.
“We want to make sure we’re sharing information on the power of Regional One Health and its variety of programs,” Dugal said. “We know we can offer things that may not be easily accessible in other parts of the region, and this event gives us a chance to highlight those things and at the same time educate our partners about what we offer here.”
“We can get the message out about the best way to take care of a patient while they’re at your facility and educate people about the resources available,” Oxner added. “Whether you’re at a level four trauma center or a level one trauma center, it gives us all a better understanding of how we can work together to meet our goal of providing the best care for the patient.”
Now, the team looks forward to continuing to expand the conference in 2026.
Dugal said they may expand outside trauma and burn care to include emergency general surgery, and Nash is reaching out to attendees to see what type of presentations they want to see.
“This year’s conference was a success, and we’re glad we were able to bring everyone together with the goal of educating ourselves so we can provide the best care for patients,” Oxner said. “We obviously want the event to keep getting bigger and better. As a team, we want to expand the educational opportunities we can provide what people most need access to.”
The Elvis Presley Trauma Center is the only Level-1 Trauma Center in a 150-mile radius of Memphis. A multispecialty team of experts is available 24/7 to treat the most critically injured patients from Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and parts of Missouri.
The Firefighters Burn Center is the only full-service burn center in 400 miles of Memphis that is verified by the American Burn Association. It provides comprehensive care including emergency and critical care, intensive care, specialized burn rehabilitation, and laser and plastic surgery.