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Trauma Care in Rural Kentucky
| Topics |
Emergency services
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| States served |
Kentucky
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| Description |
Dr. Jeffrey Coughenour, a trauma surgeon at the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital in Lexington, is
working with the Kentucky State Office of Rural Health, along with ambulance services and small hospitals in
central, eastern and southern parts of the state, in an effort to establish a regional trauma care system.
Kentucky is one of 14 states that does not have a statewide trauma network. There are only four trauma centers in
Kentucky, and those in Campbellsville, Lexington, and two in Louisville are clustered in the center of the state. That means seriously injured patients who live outside the immediate area often die before they can reach the specialized medical care they need.
In addition to having few trauma centers, there is no regional or state system for the transfer of the injured from the scene to any hospital. The resulting fragmentation of trauma care leads to delay and inconsistency in some areas and the end result may be higher rates of death and disability from trauma. |
| Services offered |
Susan Starling, chief executive officer
of Marcum & Wallace Memorial
Hospital in Irvine and president of the
Kentucky Rural Health Association, is
taking steps to make her hospital a Level
IV trauma center in spite of the problems.
The hospital is sending staff members
for training now, and will apply for
certification as soon as the educational
needs are met and trauma care procedures
are put in place.
Most patients would still have to be
sent to Level I or II trauma centers,
but they would have a higher level of
care from the outset than they have now. |
| Results |
In the absence of legislative action, University of Kentucky trauma surgeon Jeffrey
Coughenour, the Kentucky State Office
of Rural Health and others are trying to
establish a regional trauma care system
on their own by working with ambulance
services and smaller hospitals in
central, eastern and southern Kentucky
to achieve rapid, high-quality trauma
care for as many residents as possible.
This proposed regional trauma system
has two main goals:
Rapid transfer of the most severely
injured patients to trauma centers (in
some cases, that means bypassing small
non-trauma centers); and
Fostering the development of
trauma capabilities at non-trauma hospitals
in the region through training. Some
hospitals in the region might even
choose to become a trauma center. |
| Replication |
Starling stated that if critical-access hospitals
those with 25 beds or less that primarily
serve rural areas can get the
Level IV certifications, then health advocates
can work on Level III certifications
for larger hospitals. Eventually, she
stated, the state can develop a system that
will provide a network of treatment
and, if necessary, rapid transfer so that
rural trauma patients will have the same
chance at survival that patients now
have when injured in Lexington and
Louisville.
Rural health care providers need to
decide to get involved, Dr. Coughenour
said. Not just agree and say this is a
good idea, but ask themselves what they
are going to do to make a statewide trauma
system in Kentucky a reality. |
| Source |
Rural Health Update, Summer 2007
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| Contact person |
Kentucky Rural Health Association
Phone: (800) 851-7512 ext. 83585
FAX: (606) 435-0038
Email: dstur0@email.uky.edu
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| Date added |
November 23, 2007 |
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