“Each minute has only 60 seconds. Do not waste any of them.”
- McSwain Rules for Patient Care
“Each minute has only 60 seconds. Do not waste any of them.”
Dr. McSwain’s life’s work was improving the treatment and outcomes of the trauma victim and ensuring that all medical professionals who provide the care received quality continuing education. He was dedicated to this throughout his life .
“One of my long-time missions is to provide continuing education to pre-hospital providers. I want to develop a new and ‘forever’ system for such education for our EMTs. Each year excellent educators and speakers host emergency medical technician (EMT) [continuing education] courses throughout the United States and the world. Each of these courses cost the EMT attendees around $1,500 or more for the course fees, transportation, accommodations, and other travel expenses. Unfortunately, many EMTs do not attend these continuing education courses because they cannot afford the expenses.”
With these words, the McSwain Trauma Education Project was born.
“Local attendees can drive from their homes, listen to world-renowned speakers, have the ability to drive home after the [sponsored] symposium, and they will only be charged a small registration fee. Each day-long event will utilize [project] funds to support two, three or even four world-class Trauma/ EMS speakers to provide educational conference along with local speakers focusing on pre-hospital education.”
The McSwain Trauma Education Project (MTEP) is a non-profit (501)(c)(3) established to provide quality continuing education that meets the high standard Dr. McSwain expected. As communities identify continuing educational needs in their area, MTEP is here to fully fund a one-day local conference. “For the cost of a tank of gas…half to get to the conference and half to get home”, front-line EMTs and trauma care providers will receive comprehensive continuing education from national speakers who are experts in their field focusing on basic, cutting edge guidelines and technology for the evaluation, diagnosis and treatment of the trauma patient with the ultimate goal of improving outcomes.
Not only does MTEP fund these conferences but, provides resources and coordination to ensure success. Our local conferences are tailored to the individual educational needs of each community with speakers able to address each level of the trauma patient care from basic EMT to trauma surgeon.
We broaden the scope of Dr. McSwain’s mission with 3rd Thursday Trauma Talks. Through our website we host one-hour presentations by experts in the field of trauma. Attendees can request a Verification of Attendance Certificate to submit to their local agency for approval.
As this project builds MTEP looks for other opportunities to provide quality continuing education seeking to sponsor Norman E. McSwain, Jr, MD lectureships at state and national levels.
MTEP also asks communities and leaders to identify other means of bringing education to their areas, local, state, nationally and internationally and to partner with other organizations aligned with our mission.
Help Advance Trauma Care Worldwide
Please consider a donation of any size to further Dr. McSwain’s mission and legacy.