A smartphone app that curates 911 dispatch data reported serious injury incidents more than 30 minutes before trauma team activation (TTA), according to researchers at a Level I trauma center in New York City. The additional advanced notice provided by the app could give trauma teams more time to prepare for some critically injured patients.…
Author: Robert Fojut
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) Committee on Trauma will soon release the first major revision of Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient in nearly seven years. But while the new standards are the biggest news for trauma centers, the ACS is set to roll out several other changes in coming months. These…
Many trauma program managers have a hard time evaluating the productivity of individual trauma registrars. A registrar who abstracts eight complex charts in a week might be just as productive as one who works through 15 uncomplicated cases during the same period. How can you tell which registrars are working efficiently and which are falling…
Injured patients who tested positive for COVID-19 had an odds of death six times higher than uninfected trauma patients, researchers found. COVID-positive trauma patients also had twice the odds of any complication. The study was based on data collected by trauma centers designated by the Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation (PTSF). It examined more than 15,000…
Trauma research in the U.S. is underfunded compared to other diseases. While efforts are underway to lobby for additional support, these efforts do not address the underlying problem that hampers trauma research funding. According to Martin Schreiber, MD, FACS, chair of the Trauma Center Association of America (TCAA), a major problem is a lack of…
Pandemic lockdowns and stay-at-home orders led to a 13% drop in miles driven in the U.S. last year. But according to the National Safety Council (NSC), the number of people who died in motor vehicle crashes jumped 8%. “It is tragic that in the U.S., we took cars off the roads and didn’t reap any…
The recent suspension of in-person site visits for trauma center verification is a temporary pause, not a permanent discontinuation, according to the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Leaders of ACS Trauma Quality Programs also clarified that once the COVID-19 pandemic eases, both in-person visits and virtual remote visits will likely play a role in the…
A new study coordinated by the Coalition for National Trauma Research (CNTR) will implement a venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention bundle at 10 trauma centers in the U.S. The proven intervention consists of a web-based nurse education module and a patient-centered education package. Leaders of the study hope it will demonstrate the feasibility of rolling the…
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) has announced that it has developed a process for conducting trauma center verification site visits in a virtual format. ACS leaders also reported that they will soon finalize major revisions to the college’s trauma center standards. The upcoming changes were previewed during the 2020 TQIP Annual Scientific Meeting and…
Cryopreserved packed red blood cells (RBCs) may be as safe and effective as liquid packed RBCs for initial resuscitation of moderately injured patients in the civilian setting, according to a study in The Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery. Adding frozen RBCs to the trauma armamentarium could improve the availability of blood during disasters…