Trauma disease and trauma systems

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every year there are over 4 million deaths due to and dozens of millions of people are injured. Risk factors are not only associated with the behavior of individuals, but also with socio-sanitary, occupational, economic, political and cultural variables, which exert a significant influence. Indeed, in high-income regions, along with the development of modern medicine and technology, results have dramatically improved in recent years. The appropriate use of resources and the management of logistic infrastructure have been essential in this regard. And this is the origin of the idea of Trauma Systems: the needs of patients with trauma are the same wherever they are, independent of the available resources; however, not all facilities have all the necessary resources to give appropriate and thorough attention. This reality has encouraged facilities to organize themselves within Trauma Systems. Along these lines, the Gipuzkoa Trauma System integrates all the Health Centres of our region, as well as emergency services, into one unique system. Likewise, the Gipuzkoa Trauma Commission, which is made up of members with different specialties, was established in 2010. Since then, many initiatives have been promoted to improve the attention of patients with trauma and, as a result, the mortality of severe cases admitted to hospital has decreased from 16.7 to 8.8% in our region. Therefore, it is clear that Trauma Systems are valuable tools for the appropriate management of available resources and for the optimal care of injured patients.