Injury surveillance through trauma registries is an important component of the healthcare system. Trauma registries provide an objective perception of the state of trauma care in a given area. Decision makers may use data from these registries to determine targeted interventions in education and prevention as well as to measure effects of such interventions on outcomes—allowing for a systematic approach to quality improvement, resource allocation, and policy change.
Currently, Ukraine does not have a national trauma registry that tracks detailed injury demographics, mechanism, type, and outcomes. This is despite the fact that in 2005, injuries were responsible for 146 per 100,000, a large proportion of which was attributable to road traffic accidents (89/100,000), according to the World Health Organization. Furthermore, the current conflict in Ukraine has led to approximately 10,000 deaths and 21,500 injuries, highlighting an acute need for enhancing trauma capacity.
The CGS has been active in Ukraine since 2012, and major highlights have included the development of a disaster preparedness plan in response to UEFA Euro 2012; implementation of the Trauma Team Training (TTT) course and training of instructors; and piloting of a trauma surveillance system in Donetsk, prior to the war. CGS members most recently administered the TTT and Basic Life Support (BLS) courses in Odessa in July 2015 and December 2015.
This past July, the Centre for Global Surgery (CGS) under the supervision of its co-directors Drs. Deckelbaum and Razek in collaboration with Ukrainian partners, began implementing trauma registries at emergency hospitals throughout Kyiv, the capital city of Ukraine. The sites included the National Specialized Children’s Hospital “OKHMATDYT”, the pediatric referral institution for all of Ukraine; Kyiv Emergency Hospital, the main emergency adult hospital in Ukraine; and No17 Kyiv Hospital, the second largest emergency adult hospital in Ukraine. Participating university institutions included Bohomolets National Medical University and Shupyk National Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education. The local health leadership are currently collecting preliminary data; once analyzed, this data will help determine targeted intervention to tackle the burden of injury, as well as to pass on tools for trauma registry implementation to other interested sites across the country.
At Okhmatdyt Hospital : Dr Volodomyr Povoroznuk, Nadia Demko, Dr Artem Luhovy, Dr Kristina Dzhuma, Dr Vasyl Prytula ( from left to right)
Over the month, we also met with our partners to discuss other ideas for future collaboration, including exchanges between trainees and staff; trauma training courses in the multidisciplinary approach and patient care guidelines in the Ukrainian language. The CGS’s experience has shown that such complimentary initiatives work synergistically to augment trauma capacity. Ukraine has been an exemplary country for partnership building with the goal of capacity building for injury care. We look forward to further expanding this and other similar programs.
Outing with Drs. Kristina Dzhuma and Anton Honcharenkoat and the residents
Written by: Nadia Demko