Evaluation of Head and Spinal Cord Injury Care in Ecuador using the IATSIC/WHO Essential Guidelines for Trauma Care

Road traffic injuries and injuries from other causes have become significant public health problems throughout the world, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (1). Each year, about 20 million people are killed or injured on the roads (2). This increasing burden of death, disability and pain can be averted through appropriate preventive measures, if taken together with acces-sible and affordable care of the injured.Reviews of trauma care capacity in several low- and middle-income coun-tries have shown that, even in hospitals handling large volumes of trauma cases, many doctors and nurses providing care have had little training in this field. Many hospitals do not have essential low-cost supplies for trauma care, such as chest tubes and airway equipment; the lack of such supplies is often not attribut-able to their cost and could be overcome by better planning. Few facilities caring for injured patients have protocols for trauma care, and in many hospitals there are prolonged delays before emergency surgery. Low utilization of several funda-mental resources has been documented, even when the resources are physically present (3–6).These difficulties lead to worsened outcomes. Evidence indicates that people with life-threatening but potentially treatable injuries are six times more likely to die in a low-income country than in a high-income country (7). On the treatment side, therefore, much can be done to lower this overwhelming toll, and inexpensive improvements in trauma care are a promising and sustainable solu-tion. Efforts are needed to develop and standardize injury surveillance systems and to promote improvements in trauma care so as to ensure a minimum level of care for those in need.Many of the injury-related dis-abilities and deaths in low- and middle-income countries would be readily amenable to low-cost measures such as simple changes in training, better orga-nization and planning of services, and the availability of the right skills and the right equipment at the right places. As local needs differ, situation assess-ments are necessary. Defining what is needed to ensure care is the first step: requirements include human resources, physical resources and logistic capacity.It is with these goals in view that WHO and the International Association for the Surgery of Trauma and Surgical Intensive Care established a joint Essential Trauma Care Project. A collabo-rative Working Group for Essential Trauma Care, composed of members of both these organizations and stake-holders from several countries, includes trauma care clinicians from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Various national bodies are involved, such as the Academy of Traumatology (India), the Mexican Association for the Medicine and Sur-gery of Trauma, and the Ghana Medical Association.Over the past three years, the Working Group has defined 14 core trauma care service guidelines, such as “obstructed airways are opened and maintained before hypoxia leads to death or permanent disability”. To deliver trauma these care services worldwide, 260 items of human and physical resources have been designated as either “essential” or “desirable” at different levels, ranging from rural clinics to tertiary care facilities. Desirable items are useful resources but are not as cost-effective as those desig-nated as essential. Guidelines for essential trauma care (8) have been compiled, which detail these resources and contain recommendations on training, quality assurance, hospital inspections and interactions among stakeholders, together with practical suggestions for implementation.It is hoped that these guidelines and the Essential Trauma Care Project will become integral components of efforts to strengthen the activities of health systems. The guidelines may be used to define the human and physical resources needed at various levels of the health-care system and to identify low-cost ways to promote and ensure the availability of such resources. Progress in improving capabilities for trauma care will be likely to assist in and benefit from related efforts being made to strengthen health systems in general.Some progress has already been made in using the guidelines for trauma care needs assessments in Ghana, Mexico and Viet Nam. In India, the WHO office in Gujarat, local government and other stakeholders have adapted the guidelines to local needs and have devel-oped preliminary implementation plans. Through their use in the provision, administration and planning of trauma care services, the guidelines can be instrumental in lowering the unaccept-ably high burden of death and disability resulting from injury. O

The Essential Trauma Care (EsTC) Project represents an effort to set reasonable, affordable, minimum standards for trauma services worldwide and to define the resources necessary to actually provide these services to every injured person, even in the lowest-income countries. An emphasis is improved organization and planning, at minimal cost. The EsTC Project is a collaborative effort of the World Health Organization and the International Association for Trauma Surgery and Intensive Care, an integrated society within the International Society of Surgery-Société Internationale de Chirurgie. A milestone of the project has been the release of Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care. This establishes 11 core Essential Trauma Care services that can be considered "The Rights of the Injured." To assure these services, Guidelines delineates 260 items of human and physical resources that should be in place at the spectrum of health facilities globally. These are delineated in a series of flexible resource tables, to be adjusted based on an individual country's circumstances. Guidelines is intended to serve as both a planning guide and an advocacy statement. It has been used to catalyze improvements in trauma care in several countries. It has stimulated five national-level consultation meetings on trauma care, which constituted the highest governmental attention yet devoted to trauma care in those countries. At these meetings, the EsTC resource templates were adjusted to local circumstances and implementation strategies developed. Future efforts need to emphasize more on-the-ground implementation in individual countries, greater linkages with prehospital care, and wider political endorsement, such as by passage of a World Health Assembly resolution.

Trauma represents a significant and increasing challenge to health care systems all over the world. This study aimed to evaluate the trauma care capabilities of Botswana, a middle-income African country, by applying the World Health Organization's Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care. All 27 government (16 primary, 9 district, 2 referral) hospitals were surveyed. A questionnaire and checklist, based on "Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care" and locally adapted, were developed as situation analysis tools. The questionnaire assessed local trauma organization, capacity, and the presence of quality improvement activity. The checklist assessed physical availability of equipment and timely availability of trauma-related skills. Information was collected by interviews with hospital administrators, key personnel within trauma care, and through on-site physical inspection. Hospitals in Botswana are reasonably well supplied with human and physical resources for trauma care, although deficiencies were noted. At the primary and district levels, both capacity and equipment for airway/breathing management and vascular access was limited. Trauma administrative functions were largely absent at all levels. No hospital in Botswana had any plans for trauma education, separate from or incorporated into other improvement activities. Team organization was nonexistent, and training activities in the emergency room were limited. This study draws a picture of trauma care capabilities of an entire African country. Despite good organizational structures, Botswana has room for substantial improvement. Administrative functions, training, and human and physical resources could be improved. By applying the guidelines, this study creates an objective foundation for improved trauma care in Botswana.

We sought to identify affordable and sustainable methods to strengthen trauma care capabilities globally, especially in developing countries, using the Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care. These guidelines were created by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Society of Surgery and provide recommendations on elements of trauma care that should be in place at the range of health facilities globally. The guidelines were used as a basis for needs assessments in 4 countries selected to represent the world's range of geographic and economic conditions: Mexico (middle income; Latin America); Vietnam (low income; east Asia); India (low income; south Asia); and Ghana (low income; Africa). One hundred sites were assessed, including rural clinics (n=51), small hospitals (n=34), and large hospitals (n=15). Site visits utilized direct inspection and interviews with administrative and clinical staff. Resources were partly adequate or adequate at most large hospitals, but there were gaps that could be improved, especially in low-income settings, such as shortages of airway equipment, chest tubes, and trauma-related medications; and prolonged periods where critical equipment (e.g., X-ray, laboratory) were unavailable while awaiting repairs. Rural clinics everywhere had difficulties with basic supplies for resuscitation even though some received significant trauma volumes. In all settings, there was a dearth of administrative functions to assure quality trauma care, including trauma registries, trauma-related quality improvement programs, and regular in-service training. This study identified several low-cost ways in which to strengthen trauma care globally. It also has demonstrated the usefulness of the Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care in providing an internationally applicable, standardized template by which to assess trauma care capabilities.

ObjectiveTo understand the degree to which the trauma care guidelines released by the World Health Organization (WHO) between 2004 and 2009 have been used, and to identify priorities for the future implementation and dissemination of such guidelines.MethodsWe conducted a systematic review, across 19 databases, in which the titles of the three sets of guidelines – Guidelines for essential trauma care, Prehospital trauma care systems and Guidelines for trauma quality improvement programmes – were used as the search terms. Results were validated via citation analysis and expert consultation. Two authors independently reviewed each record of the guidelines’ implementation.FindingsWe identified 578 records that provided evidence of dissemination of WHO trauma care guidelines and 101 information sources that together described 140 implementation events. Implementation evidence could be found for 51 countries – 14 (40%) of the 35 low-income countries, 15 (32%) of the 47 lower-middle income, 15 (28%) of the 53 upper-middle-income and 7 (12%) of the 59 high-income. Of the 140 implementations, 63 (45%) could be categorized as needs assessments, 38 (27%) as endorsements by stakeholders, 20 (14%) as incorporations into policy and 19 (14%) as educational interventions.ConclusionAlthough WHO’s trauma care guidelines have been widely implemented, no evidence was identified of their implementation in 143 countries. More serial needs assessments for the ongoing monitoring of capacity for trauma care in health systems and more incorporation of the guidelines into both the formal education of health-care providers and health policy are needed.

Many patients originally transported to non-trauma centers (NTC) require transfer to a trauma center (TC) for treatment. The aim was to analyze injury characteristics and outcomes of transfer patients and investigate the secondary overtriage (SOT). Study included 2,056 transfers to an urban level 1 TC between 01/2016 and 06/2020. Analyzed variables included: demographics, Injury Severity Score (ISS), Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), transfer reason and timing, computed tomography (CT) scans, surgery rate, intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, hospital lengths of stay (HLOS), mortality and SOT. SOT was defined as discharge within 48h without surgery or ICU admission. Transfers constituted 32.1% of TC admissions. Mean age was 66.7 and 60.7% were geriatric (≥ 65 years). Mean ISS was 11.6 and GCS was 14.3. The average time between NTC and TC admission was 4.2h. Main reason for transfer was a head injury (57.9%), followed by a spine injury (19.2%). CT scans were repeated at the TC in 76.1% of patients. Surgical interventions were necessary in 18.5% of patients, with lowest rate in head (13.8%) and spine (15.4%) injuries. 45.9% of patients required ICU admissions. Overall mortality was 7.2%. SOT was 30.5%, being the highest in patients with spine (43.0%) and head (29.4%) injuries. Short HLOS affected SOT rates the most. Transfers constituted a third of all TC admissions. The main reasons for transfer were head and spine injuries. SOT accounted for one third of transfers and occurred primarily in patients with spine and head injuries.

The planning and development of trauma care systems in India has yet to gain attention and priority from the government, even though trauma is a major public health problem. Several efforts are under way to improve the delivery of trauma care for the injured. Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care has proved to be an ideal tool with which to begin the process of development for building a national system for the care of the injured in one of the most populous countries in the world, and one with a high burden of trauma deaths and disability. This article focuses on the impact of the Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care in efforts for improvement of the system in India.

We have read "The challenge of spinal cord injury care in the developing world" 1 by Burns and O'Connell with interest.They have presented an excellent review of the Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) care in the developing world.Based on our experiences in the largest rehabilitation institute of Pakistan, we offer additional comments and perspectives, which we believe also hold true for the South Asian region in general.

Injuries are a major cause of death and disability worldwide. Low-income countries, particularly in Africa, are disproportionately affected. The burden of injuries can be alleviated by preventive measures and appropriate management of injury cases. African countries generally lack trauma care systems based on reliable and affordable guidelines. The aim of this study was to assess the compliance of some district hospitals in Cameroon with World Health Organization/International Association for Trauma and Intensive Care (WHO/IATSIC) guidelines for care of the injured. This cross-sectional descriptive survey used items from the WHO/IATSIC "Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care" to develop a checklist for inspection of physical equipment and a questionnaire assessing human resources and organizational capabilities in 25 district hospitals of the Center Region of Cameroon. All hospitals surveyed had at least one doctor available. Each reported treating a mean of 338±214 injury cases every year. Most hospitals (n=22) were globally either not compliant or partly compliant with the guidelines. Staff generally had received the appropriate basic training but had no additional training specifically directed toward trauma management. Skills for managing specific injuries (e.g., chest injuries) were poor. Availability and utilization of equipment was globally inadequate, and organizational capabilities were almost nonexistent. District hospitals of the Center Region of Cameroon still lack compliance with the WHO/IATSIC guidelines for essential trauma care but have significant potential for improvement. It seems possible to optimize the utilization of existing facilities.

All-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are inherently unstable and their use results in numerous injuries annually in the United States. We evaluated the magnitude of ATV-related head and spinal column injuries in Utah and identified risk factors that might be addressed by preventative measures. Four statewide trauma and hospital databases were queried to obtain data on hospital visits by patients with ATV-related neurological injuries in Utah from 2001 to 2005. Seven hundred forty-one patients (median age, 24 years; range, 2-87 years) with ATV-related head and spinal injuries were identified. Five hundred one patients had injuries requiring transport to a hospital, of which 261 required intensive care. Five hundred fifty-nine patients experienced head trauma and 328 patients sustained spinal trauma. The average injury severity score was 12.6 (range, 0-75). Average hospital stay was 4 days (range, 0-34 days). Vehicle rollover was the most common mechanism of injury (28.6%), followed by loss of control and separation of rider and vehicle (20.1%) and collisions with stationary objects (6.1%) or other vehicles (4.1%). Helmet use was inconsistently documented, but patients without helmets were more likely to have a head injury. Injury frequency increased over time, from 116 in 2001 to 174 in 2005. The number of ATV-related head and spinal injuries is increasing in Utah. Serious injuries requiring surgery or intensive care are common. Riders under 20 years of age are especially at risk, and helmet use may decrease the likelihood of admission to the intensive care unit, head injuries, and death.

To identify affordable, sustainable methods to strengthen trauma care capabilities in Mexico, using the standards in the Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care, a publication that was developed by the World Health Organization and the International Society of Surgery to provide recommendations on elements of trauma care that should be in place in the various levels of health facilities in all countries. The Guidelines publication was used as a basis for needs assessments conducted in 2003 and 2004 in three Mexican states. The states were selected to represent the range of geographic and economic conditions in the country: Oaxaca (south, lower economic status), Puebla (center, middle economic status), and Nuevo León (north, higher economic status). The sixteen facilities that were assessed included rural clinics, small hospitals, and large hospitals. Site visits incorporated direct inspection of physical resources as well as interviews with key administrative and clinical staff. Human and physical resources for trauma care were adequate in the hospitals, especially the larger ones. The survey did identify some deficiencies, such as shortages of stiff suction tips, pulse oximetry equipment, and some trauma-related medications. All of the clinics had difficulties with basic supplies for resuscitation, even though some received substantial numbers of trauma patients. In all levels of facilities there was room for improvement in administrative functions to assure quality trauma care, including trauma registries, trauma-related quality improvement programs, and uniform in-service training. This study identified several low-cost ways to strengthen trauma care in Mexico. The study also highlighted the usefulness of the recommended norms in the Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care publication in providing a standardized template by which to assess trauma care capabilities in nations worldwide.

Trauma care in the face of climate change in Pakistan

The publication Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care offers an opportunity to improve trauma care services in an affordable and sustainable fashion, primarily through improved organization and planning. The publication will be useful, however, only if it actually catalyzes improvements in trauma care in health care facilities in individual countries, especially those low- and middle-income countries with the greatest needs. There is much that can be done to make this happen on the part of the partners that created these recommendations, including IATSIC (International Association for Trauma Surgery and Intensive Care); ISS-SIC (International Society of Surgery-Société Internationale de Chirurgie); and WHO (World Health Organization). This includes such activities as organizing multi-sectoral stakeholders' meetings to adapt the Essential Trauma Care (EsTC) criteria to local needs; conducting trauma care needs assessments to identify priorities for low-cost improvements; having surgical colleges and societies throughout the world endorse the Guidelines; lobbying ministries of health to incorporate the EsTC recommendations into health policy; and seeking to integrate the EsTC recommendations into the 2-year action plans of WHO country offices. In all of these activities, surgeons and others who care for the injured can play a pivotal role, especially working collaboratively with their own ministries of health and WHO country offices.

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the usefulness of the International Association for Trauma Surgery and Intensive Care (IATSIC)/World Health Organization (WHO)'s Guidelines for Essential Trauma Care (EsTC Guidelines) in providing an internationally applicable and standardized template to assess trauma care capabilities in the South American Region. Field assessment was conducted in seven provinces (urban and rural, pop. 2,239,509) and 24 facilities (5 large hospitals (LH); 15 small hospitals (SH); 4 basic hospitals (BH)) in Ecuador using EsTC criteria. A total of 260 individual items in Human Resources (HR- availability, clinical knowledge, skills) and physical resources (PR) were evaluated via inspection, review of local statistics, and administrative and staff interviews. EsTC was evaluated on a scale as follows: 0 (absent); 1(inadequate;<50%); 2 (partly adequate>50%); 3 (adequate-100%). 210,045 Emergency Department (ED) visits and 61,365 (29%) ED trauma visits were recorded (incidence rate 2,740/100,000 population). Deficits were noted in prehospital trauma care (inadequate coordination, communication), education and training (ATLS<30%, TNCC 0%), facility based trauma care (poor physical resources [PR] and human resources [HR]), and quality assurance (1/27 hospitals). The IATSIC/WHO EsTC Guidelines provide a simple and useful template to assess trauma care capability in variable facilities and international settings, and they could serve as a valuable tool for trauma system development. Endorsement of EsTC Guidelines by the Panamerican Health Organization and lead trauma societies (the Panamerican Trauma Society) should be considered.

In this study the author documents the epidemiology of spine and spinal cord injuries (SCIs) over 2 decades at the largest Level I adult trauma center in Canada. He describes the current state of spine injuries (SIs), their changing patterns over the years, and the relative distribution of different demographic factors in a defined group of trauma patients. Data on all trauma patients admitted to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre between 1986 and 2006 were collected from the Sunnybrook Trauma Registry Database. Aggregate data on SIs and SCIs, including demographic information, etiology, severity of injuries (injury severity score [ISS]), and associated injuries, were recorded. The data were analyzed in a main category of spinal fracture and/or dislocation with or without SI and in two subgroups of patients with SIs, one encompassing all forms of SCIs and the other including only complete SCIs (CSCIs). Collected data were evaluated using univariate techniques to depict the trend of variables over the years. The number of deaths per year and the length of stay (LOS) were used as crude measures of outcome. Several multivariate analysis techniques, including Poisson regression, were used to model the frequency of death and LOS as functions of various trauma variables. There were 12,192 trauma patients in the study period with 23.2% having SIs, 5.4% having SCIs, and 3% having CSCIs. The SCIs constituted 23.3% of all SIs. The respective characteristics of the SI, SCI, and CSCI groups were as follows: median age 36, 33, and 30 years; median LOS 18, 27, and 29 days; median ISS 29, 30, and 34; female sex ratio 34, 24, and 23%; and case fatality rate 16.7, 16.6, and 21%. Seventy-nine percent of patients had associated head injuries; conversely, 24% of patients with head injuries had SIs. The mean admission age of patients increased by approximately 10 years over the study period, from the early 30s to the early 40s. The relative incidence of SIs remained stable at approximately 23%, but the incidence of SCIs decreased approximately 40% over time to 4.5%. Motor vehicle accidents remained the principal etiology of trauma, although falling and violence became more frequent contributors of SIs. The average annual ISS remained stable over time, but the LOS was reduced by 50% in both the SI and SCI groups. Age, ISS, and SCIs were associated with a longer LOS. The case fatality rate remained relatively unchanged over time. Poisson analysis suggested that the presence of an SCI does not change the case fatality rate. Data in this analysis will provide useful information to guide future studies on changing SI patterns, possible etiologies, and efficient resource allocation for the management of these diseases.