In the Midwest, 40 to 50 percent of patients with epilepsy are treated by primary care physicians whereas 90 percent of such patients on the coasts are treated by neurologists.
Helping Midwestern primary care health profesionals access the most current information on the disease will be one of the main goals of an upcoming University of Nebraska Medical Center sponsored-conference in Omaha.
The conference, titled “Recent Advances in the Management of Epilepsy: Adult and Pediatric,” will be held Friday, Sept. 14 at the Qwest Center. It is sponsored by the Heartland Epilepsy Foundation — a muli-university consortium of which UNMC is a part.
“The reality is that the majority of epilepsy care in this region is handled at a primary care level,” said Sanjay Singh, M.D., director of The Nebraska Epilepsy Center at UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center. “That being the case, it’s important that we help these health professionals access the best and most recent information about epilepsy.”
The other universities involved in the meeting, which will be held annually, are:
- The University of Kansas School of Medicine;
- The University of Kentucky-Louisville;
- The University of Wisconsin-Madison;
- The Medical College of Wisconsin; and
- The University of Iowa.
All six institutions are home to level 4 epilepsy centers – the highest designation such centers can achieve.
The alliance is the first of its kind in the United States, said Dr. Singh, who also will serve as the conference’s director.
Aside from helping educate the region’s primary care health professionals about the latest developments in epilepsy, the alliance also will allow the institutions involved to with research and development of new treatment and care methods, Dr. Singh said.
“Most of the advances in epilepsy treatment have occurred in the past 10 years,” Dr. Singh said. “By combing efforts with other high-level epilepsy centers, we stand to significantly improve care and help the region’s physicians keep up with the changes in this fast-moving field.”
The registration deadline for the conference is Sept. 7. Click here to see more about the conference or contact Diane Frost at 559-5145 for more information including registration details.
UNMC is the only public health science center in the state. Its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through their commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC and its hospital partner, The Nebraska Medical Center, have established themselves as one of the country’s leading centers in cancer, transplantation biology, bioterrorism preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, genetics, biomedical technology and ophthalmology. UNMC’s research funding from external sources now exceeds $80 million annually and has resulted in the creation of more than 2,400 highly skilled jobs in the state. UNMC’s physician practice group, UNMC Physicians, includes 513 physicians in 50 specialties and subspecialties who practice primarily in The Nebraska Medical Center. For more information, go to UNMC’s Web site at www.unmc.edu.