I cannot believe that 2019 has ended! That year had been a tremendous growth year for the Society of Trauma Nurses (STN) largely due the dedication of our numerous volunteers, committee chairs, and board of directors. These diligent efforts from members of our organization are leading us toward exciting new adventures. In late October, the STN led the launch of the Centre for Trauma Quality Improvement. This project is one that I am, now, extremely excited to share with all our members. What started out as a collaborative workgroup between the STN Trauma Outcomes and Performance Improvement Course and international committees has grown into an exciting collaborative multidisciplinary initiative that is moving forward, full steam ahead!
BACKGROUND AND NEED
Nearly 6 million people die every year as the result of traumatic injury, which accounts for approximately 10% of all worldwide fatalities (Sakran, Greer, Werlin, & McCunn, 2012). Trauma is the leading cause of death worldwide for people younger than 45 years, imposing tremendous economic and societal costs. Today, 90% of the global burden of injury death and disability occurs on low- and middle-income nations (Sakran et al., 2012).
Implementation of trauma quality improvement (QI) programs has been shown to reduce both costs and mortality associated with trauma but remains a neglected area in low- and middle-income countries (Reynolds et al., 2017). The 72nd World Health Assembly (World Health Organization [WHO], 2019) recently passed a landmark resolution seeking WHO support for specific QI activities relevant to trauma, including "training for ... health workers, system- and facility-level assessments, implementing standards for essential equipment and processes at each level of the health system, and data collection and quality improvement."
CGTQI MISSION AND PURPOSE
The Centre for Global Trauma Quality Improvement (CGTQI) seeks to create a virtual environment that fosters global trauma QI through shared knowledge, resources, and guidelines across the continuum of trauma care. The CGTQI seeks to support objectives outlined by the WHO Global Emergency and Trauma Care Initiative to save millions of lives over the next 5 years through improvements to emergency care systems (WHO, 2018).
CGTQI PLANNED INITIATIVES
1. Develop digital platforms including a website, social media networks, video channels, and forums to house a variety of trauma QI education and resources that can be shared and delivered in multiple formats.
2. Create a collaborative network of stakeholders from around the world for the purpose of sharing information, knowledge, research, and operational best practices related to trauma QI.
3. Identify and develop trauma QI resources to assist health care providers, hospitals, and trauma systems accurately, readily, and cost-effectively to put trauma QI programs, projects, and principles into practice.
FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CGTQI DELIVERABLES
* Collaborative
* Evidence-based
* Accessible
* Useful/achievable
* Timely
* Cost-effective
* Multidisciplinary
* Globally applicable
The need for improved access to relevant and actionable trauma QI resources is well-documented. The CGTQI is committed to advancing initiatives to meet that need, to support the delivery of optimal trauma care to injured people throughout the world.
On behalf of the STN board of directors, I would like to thank Helen Jowett, Stephanie Czuhajewski, Cristiane de Alencar Domingues, Brian Doty, Sean Elwell, Rene Grobler, Heidi Hotz, Michael Glenn, Alaina Campbell, and Knut Kolstadbraten for leading this initiative on behalf of our organization. The tireless work of this group has brought this project vast vision to fruition.
For more information about the Center for Global Trauma Quality Improvement, please contact Helen Jowett at mailto:[email protected] or Stephanie Czuhajewski at mailto:[email protected]. Please visit http://www.globaltraumaquality.com to learn more.
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