Occupational therapy clinicians, educators, researchers and students plan to gather Sept. 7-8 in San Antonio to attend the American Occupational Therapy Association’s specialty conference, "Advanced Practice in Traumatic Injuries & PTSD: Lessons for Military, VA and Civilian Practitioners."

Col. Paul F. Pasquina, MD, chief of the department of orthopedics and rehabilitation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., and consultant to the Office of the Surgeon General for Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, is scheduled to present the keynote address.

Registration, available at AOTA.org, costs $325 for AOTA members and $490 for nonmembers by Aug. 20, and $370 for members and $550 for nonmembers by the Sept. 4 deadline to register.

Conference sessions will cover traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, upper-extremity orthopedic injuries, pain, burns, vision loss, returning to work after injury and assistive technology, among many other topics, according to a news release.

Occupational therapy plays a larger role in military issues than ever before, according to the release. "Some soldiers return with physical injuries, while others can return without even a scratch, but even they may suffer mental abrasions that can go undetected," AOTA Board of Directors member Sudip Bose, MD, FACEP, FAAEM, an emergency physician, Iraq War veteran and founder of TheBattleContinues.org, said in the news release.

"Occupational therapy practitioners use a holistic approach to treat physical injuries, but they are also paramount in helping veterans adjust when they return home from the military battlefield to face future battles, including the recovery process, a new deployment or returning to civilian life," Bose said. •