toh

Quickly stabilizing and transferring patients from rural emergency rooms to the Civic Campus trauma centre can save lives. Photo by Scott McLeod.

Rural trauma team development courses run by The Ottawa Hospital are making the Ottawa region’s rural emergency departments more effective and efficient.

Over the past two years, the team has taught courses at eight hospitals. With initially just five trainers, the team now includes 15 people.

Although it’s difficult to isolate the course’s impact from other trauma-care improvements, training teams in rural hospitals have made regional trauma services stronger and more reliable, said The Ottawa Hospital’s Trauma Coordinator Melissa Waggott. Since 41 percent of trauma cases at the Civic Campus’ trauma centre are transferred from other hospitals, quick and effective responses at rural hospitals means efficient care and better outcomes at The Ottawa Hospital.

“We really want to limit how much time a patient spends in a rural emergency room,” said Waggott. “Getting transferred quickly could save their life.”

The Renfrew Victoria Hospital was the first emergency department to complete the course. ED Nurse Manager Kimberly Dick said the course has helped her team improve its trauma response, and helped everyone focus on stabilizing patients so that they could be transferred to the Civic Campus quickly – within 30 minutes, if possible.

“We were able to see the team approach – how we each contribute in trauma care, how every role is important,” said Dick.

After each course, the The Ottawa Hospital’s trauma team gives recommendations for improving processes and care – everything from moving equipment so it’s more accessible to bringing in new drugs. The team stays in contact after the course to continue providing advice and feedback.

This strong relationship has helped her team continue to improve well after the course finished, said Dick. The Ottawa Hospital’s trauma team gives feedback on patient outcomes so that the Renfrew hospital can see where things work and where they don’t.

“It’s valuable feedback and we can take that back to our nursing staff,” she said. “It’s great to know, ‘this was a job well done,’ or ‘this you could improve’.”

You might also like…