DEVELOPMENT OF A TRAUMA CARE SYSTEM
IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA: THE PAEDIATRIC PERSPECTIVE
Petranis, Leesa
Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia
Objective: Exciting and new developments have
occurred in the management of Victoria’s paediatric trauma patients.
Following completion of the Review of Trauma and Emergency Services
Victoria Report 1999, the Royal Children’s Hospital, Melbourne (RCH) was
designated as the Major Trauma site for the State’s paediatric trauma
patients, and the RCH Trauma Service was established. This paper provides
an insight to the development and progress of the RCH Trauma Service and
the introduction of the Trauma Nurse.
Methods: The primary goal of the Trauma Service is to
assist the RCH in meeting the standards of a Major Trauma site.
Establishment of the role of Trauma Nurse (TN) has been an effective way to
coordinate and streamline trauma management at the RCH. The activities of
the TN to achieve this goal have included:
-Extensive in-service
education and quality improvement initiatives
-Establishment of a
trauma activation system, formal response team for trauma patients at RCH
and introduction of trauma documentation
-Creation of a database for trauma patient
statistics
-Development of
paediatric trauma related policies and protocols
-Promotion of paediatric
trauma retrieval teams
-The development of a
Paediatric Trauma Education package.
Results: The role of TN has been pivotal to the success
of the Trauma Service RCH. Formal response mechanisms for paediatric trauma
presentations have been introduced. Education of staff, both internal and
external, has facilitated a far more structured approach to the management
of the paediatric trauma patient.