Summary of the 44th annual Pancreas Club meeting proceedings.

Introduction: The 44th meeting of the Pancreas Club was held on May 1 and 2, 2010 in New Orleans.

Discussion: The program consisted of 42 oral presentations (Table 1) and 61 abstracts chosen for poster presentation. Ten posters each day were chosen for presentation as part of the professor rounds portion of the formal poster viewing program.

Summary of the 42nd annual meeting of the Pancreas Club.

The annual meeting of the Pancreas Club, traditionally held during the same week as the meetings of the Society for the Surgery of the Alimentary Tract and Digestive Disease Week was held at the University of California San Diego on May 18, 2008 and consisted of both oral presentations and selected poster sessions. Submissions for the program numbered 143 abstracts of which 29 were chosen for oral presentation. There were 19 10-min presentations and ten were 3 min in length.

Family as a member of the trauma rounds: a strategy for maximized communication.

Introductions: In many hospital settings, the process of providing information to families of critically ill and injured patients can be frustrating for all concerned. Communication failure is the root of much dysfunction in health care and improvement would be well received. The Trauma Team chose to include family members in daily work rounds, allowing total access to team deliberations.

Two major hospitals can share level I status in a rural community setting.

Background: Even though development of Level I trauma centers is thought to improve outcome of injury treatment, the political barriers in communities where two capable hospitals compete for designation can be formidable. This report documents the initial experience of a Level I trauma center developed in a two-hospital setting whereby each hospital hosted the trauma center on an alternating annual basis.

Methods: Preliminary efforts began with a community-based report on trauma care to which both hospitals and their associated school of medicine contributed.