Broward Health Hosts International Trauma Physicians
International Trauma Critical Care Improvement Project works to improve diagnosis and management of injured patients in developing countries
Ft. Lauderdale, FL, - Broward Health trauma physicians are spearheading an international effort to improve the diagnosis and management of injured patients in developing countries through the International Trauma Critical Care Improvement Project.
The project team leads are Michael W. Parra, M.D., trauma critical care research director at Broward General’s Medical Center ’s Level I Trauma Center and associate professor at NOVA Southeastern University ; and Edgar Rodas, M.D, trauma surgeon at Broward General’s Medical Center ’s Level I Trauma Center and associate professor at NOVA Southeastern University.
“Here in United States we have advanced trauma services that we may take for granted,” said Parra, who is originally from Colombia. “For example, in the case of a car accident, highway patrol can block off the section of the freeway so paramedics can arrive and transport a critically injured patient by helicopter to a trauma center within 10 or 15 minutes. Once there a trauma surgeon can be waiting in an operating room if need be. This is a system that most of the world is still in the process of creating.”
This week Broward General is hosting physicians, Fabian Puentes, M.D., and Leonor Medina, M.D., from San Felix Hospital in Colombia. While here, the physicians are participating in a preceptorship to see how Broward Health’s trauma system works, interact with the trauma physicians and bring back their experiences to implement in their own system in Colombia.
The project has also included regular case reviews of critically injured patients in South America. “We evaluate the case and determine the local and regional infrastructure, resources and specific injury patterns of each nation,” said Parra. “Then we provide educational and training resources to further enhance the trauma care, according to available resources and what is workable in the specific country’s trauma system.”
The long-term goal of the project is to create a trauma system within each participating nation which entails all aspects of pre, intra and post hospital care, which will be tailored specifically to each local region according to its existing resources and infrastructure.