A debate about the use of physical restraints in the care of Alzheimer’s patients will be held at ETSU’s James H. Quillen College of Medicine on Thursday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m.
Designed primarily for health care professionals, the debate is planned in the main auditorium on the lower level of Stanton-Gerber Hall (Building 178), situated at the corner of Maple Avenue and Fifth Street on the Quillen Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) campus.
Dr. Ronald C. Hamdy, holder of the Cecile Cox Quillen Chair of Medicine in Geriatrics and Gerontology and director of the ETSU Osteoporosis Center, will moderate the program. Presenters include a panel of physicians, nurses and medical students.
The debate encompasses the question whether a patient who has Alzheimer’s disease and tends to wander and interfere with other patients should be restrained.
The program is scheduled on the evening prior to the one-day health care conference, “Geriatric Medicine: Advances and Controversies.”
That conference will be held on Friday, Feb. 28, at the ETSU Center for Physical Activity from 8 a.m.-3 p.m.
Topics to be addressed at the conference include acute confusional states, postprandial hyperglycemia, diabetes mellitus, pneumonia, and urinary tract infections.
In addition to Hamdy, presenters from ETSU and the VAMC include Dr. Alan Peiris, professor of internal medicine and director of the ETSU Center for Intensive Insulin Therapy; Dr. Prescott Lee, assistant professor of internal medicine; and Dr. Jim Myers, associate professor of internal medicine. Patricia Mills and Kaye Garland, R.N., who both work in quality management and improvement at the VA, will be presenting as well.
Primary care and specialty physicians, fellows, residents, medical students, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, psychologists, pharmacists, social workers, nursing home administrators and other health care professionals involved in providing care to older patients are encouraged to attend.
This two-day event is the first in a series of seminars intended to provide clinicians a state-of-the-art review of topical issues in geriatric medicine.
ETSU’s Quillen College of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council on Continuing Medical Education to sponsor continuing medical education for physicians.
CME credit will be available, and eligible participants may also seek credit from the American Academy of Family Physicians and the Tennessee Nurses Association.
ETSU’s Office of Continuing Medical Education and the VAMC are hosting the seminar.
For registration, more information, or special assistance for those with disabilities, call 439-8081.

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