Apr. 13--The Alabama Trauma System, a relatively new approach to trauma care that is designed to get emergency patients to the hospital that is best prepared to care for them, is helping to save the lives of Alabamians -- but not those who are injured in the region that stretches from Autauga County through Montgomery and on to Houston County.
According to The Associated Press, the Alabama Trauma System is up and running in five of the six regions in the state, but Region 5 in Southeast Alabama is not part of the system because of the reluctance to four hospitals to join the program.
Trauma System officials say the four largest hospitals in the region -- Baptist Medical Center South and Jackson Hospital in Montgomery, and Flowers Hospital and Southeast Alabama Medical Center in Dothan -- have not agreed to become part of the program.
The Trauma System approach started in the Birmingham area in 1996. The approach is designed for trauma victims, such as those involved in automobile accidents, not just to be sent to the nearest hospital but to the hospital in the region that can provide the emergency care they need. According to proponents, that approach minimizes the need to transfer patients from one hospital to another to receive care.
"This will especially affect lives in rural areas where people are going to the little local hospital and lying there for hours," said Dr. John Campbell, director of the State Department of Health's emergency services department.
Campbell told the AP: "The larger hospital would get them while they still have a chance to save them rather than two or three hours later when it may be too late."
A spokeswoman for Baptist Medical Center South said the hospital is willing to participate but only if the other three hospitals join in, according to the Associated Press. That makes sense, up to a point. If all four of the larger hospitals were to join the program, none of them would have to bear the full burden of the additional patient load.
But Campbell pointed out that emergency personnel can still dispatch trauma victims to any of the nonparticipating hospitals. He said being part of the system at least allows hospitals to inform dispatchers when their beds are full or doctors aren't available.
Such concerns about sharing the burden for emergency patients is nothing new in Montgomery. Some Montgomerians will remember when the city had three principal hospitals -- one has since closed -- that rotated the "emergency room of the day" among them.
We strongly urge administrators at the Montgomery and Dothan hospitals to give the new trauma program a try. If it doesn't work, they can always pull out of the system later. But if this system truly helps to save lives, these hospitals need to be part of it.
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Copyright (c) 2010, Montgomery Advertiser, Ala.
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Why Hospitals Should Unite on Trauma CareOriginally from: http://www.nursinglink.monster.com/news/articles/12093-why-hospitals-should-unite-on-trauma-care
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