01 Mar Groundbreaking Course Makes Strides in Advancing Autonomic Medicine
Clearwater, Florida: In its inaugural launch January 25-28, 2023, The Residents Course (TRC) brought together thirty-six residents working in diverse disciplines across the country for specialized training from a faculty of the world’s leading specialists in autonomic medicine. It is the first minifellowship of its kind, aiming to exponentially increase the number of doctors able to diagnose and treat autonomic disorders.
The Residents Course is the latest collaboration between The Dysautonomia Project (TDP) and The American Autonomic Society (AAS), to advance autonomic medicine through education. An estimated 14 million Americans – 70 million worldwide – suffer from dysautonomia, which is an umbrella term for any disorder of the autonomic nervous system. It is said to be one of the most misdiagnosed conditions of all time, yet more prevalent than Parkinson’s or MS. Dysautonomia patients typically spend years searching for a diagnosis due to a lack of autonomic training for healthcare providers.
“The Residents Course gives the tools needed to diagnose and initiate treatment which is significant since we know autonomic disorders are underrecognized and undiagnosed leading to delays in treatment,” said Dr. Glen Cook, TRC Course Director and AAS Education Committee Chair.
TDP’s mission to educate healthcare professionals, patients and communities about dysautonomia helped lessen the previous six-year time to diagnosis in Tampa Bay, Florida to just a few months. The Residents Course aims to follow suit across America as it will uniquely spread life-saving education through the required reciprocal training each resident must conduct in their respective school communities throughout the country.
“The Residents Course is a game changer as the number one treatment of autonomic disorders is education,” said TDP Founder, Kelly Freeman.
Past collaborations between TDP and AAS include the production of more than sixty-five educational videos for healthcare providers and patients featuring top autonomic specialists from AAS. This living library is housed in TDP’s Education Center on their website.
The American Autonomic Society brings together individuals from diverse disciplines, internationally, who share an interest in the structure and function of the autonomic nervous system and in the pathology, treatment and prevention of its disorders.
For more information about dysautonomia and TDP, please visit DysProject.org DysProject.org. For more information about the AAS, please visit americansutonomicsociety.org.
