Author: Robert Fojut

In April a broad coalition of trauma stakeholders met in Bethesda, Md., to begin implementing the recommendations of the landmark Zero Preventable Deaths report. The report, which was developed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM), proposes the creation of a joint civilian-military trauma system in the U.S. The goals are to…

Performance improvement is a key part of every trauma program. But according to David Kashmer, MD, MBA, many trauma teams fail to make effective use of their most important PI resource — data. “Using data incorrectly in performance improvement can actually decrease quality,” said Dr. Kashmer, a trauma and acute care surgeon and healthcare quality…

Trauma centers need to maintain a concurrent trauma registry. For ACS-verified centers, that means at least 80% of trauma cases must be entered in the registry within 60 days of patient discharge. In many hospitals, however, the trauma registry is months behind on chart abstraction. Hiring more staff is usually not an option, so how…

Many trauma centers are struggling to maintain a full team of trauma registrars. According to a recent survey, more than a quarter of trauma programs have trouble recruiting registrars, and over one-third have problems with retention. New criteria from the American College of Surgeons could make building a registry team even more challenging. According to…