Trauma is a leading cause of death in the United States, accounting annually for tens of millions of emergency department visits and hospitalizations. Injuries cut across race, age, gender, and economic lines, touching all walks of life. Injury is different than many other diseases in that it can be very time-sensitive; those with severe injuries need advanced care quickly in order to have the best chance to survive and avoid permanent disability. Based on the time-sensitive nature of injury, as well as military medical experience, trauma systems have been developed across the nation in order to ensure that injured patients are rapidly transported to a trauma center, which can provide them with specialized care. Trauma systems have been recognized as a model of care by the Institute of Medicine, and trauma centers and medical helicopters have been demonstrated to significantly increase survival. However, despite the many advances in trauma care over the last several decades,! the system remains in need of improvement -- the US Department of Health Human Services has made increasing access to trauma care one of its Healthy People 2020 objectives. The website www.traumamaps.org has been developed to help planners improve trauma systems and medical care for injured Americans.
0 comments: