Western Mass Emergency Medical Services Committee, Inc.

Meeting: Trauma Services Committee

Date: January 9, 2002

Place: Living Room, McCallum Building, CDH, Northampton

Presiding: Mary Cushman, Chairman

Called to Order: 8:44 am

Adjourned: 9:50 am

Attendance:

Present: Mary Cushman, Tracy Disilva, Jeffrey Lavoie, Ted White, and Melanie Zamojski

Excused: Richard Olsted, Chris Hopewell

Absent: Brian Andrews, Timothy Emhoff, Linda Murphy,

Guests: Dawn Josefski

Minutes: Minutes were approved as written. Ms. Josefski to bring copies of minutes to future meetings.

Membership list:

Discussion-

Ms. Cushman asked that members please add their fax numbers to the membership list. Dana Johnson and Dr. Hani Seoudi have requested to be added to the committee membership list. Ms Cushman also requested that a list be printed and handed out at the next meeting.

Action- Fax numbers to be added to list

Mr. Johnson and Dr. Seoudi to be added to the membership list

Membership list to be printed and brought to next meeting

Meeting Start Time:

Discussion-

Ms. Cushman requested that the meeting time be changed to 8:45 am. In the event that she is not present Dr. Emhoff or someone else should begin the meeting. Everyone present agreed to both suggestions.

Action- Meeting times to be changed on the WMEMS website

State Trauma Committee and Subcommittees:

Discussion-

Ms. Cushman again encouraged everyone to attend any state trauma committee or subcommittee meetings. She then gave a brief overview of the chairpersons and the different committees as the committee reviewed the synopsis handouts in front of them.

There was a brief discussion about the Clinical Sub-committee’s proposed Trauma Triage Point-of-Entry plan. It was suggested that everyone make notes on their handouts as they review the documents to ensure that specific issues can be brought forward from this committee to the appropriate state committee. Ms. Cushman described the process at the state level. The subcommittee develops a proposal that is then forwarded to the State Trauma committee for their review. After discussion, the proposal is forwarded to the State Medical Services Committee. This committee forwards the recommendation to the State Executive Committee for review and final approval. Therefore it is imperative that our committee identifies our recommendations to the appropriate state sub-committee as soon as possible. This process is an excellent opportunity to participate in creating a trauma system that is successful.

Ms. Cushman spoke about the State Designation Subcommittee and their role in helping to clarify hospital designation issues. Currently they would like to use the American College of Surgeons (ACS) system of verification but ACS does not designate. The consensus is that this will be an important topic for hospitals because there will be a significant financial impact. Ms. Cushman stated that over the last 10 years there have been phenomenal changes in the field of health care.

Committee Goals:

Discussion –

There was a lengthy brainstorming discussion about what this committee should have for its goals. Mr. Lavoie recalled several years ago there were positive changes made in regard to prehospital trauma care (notification of BSMC earlier, EMT report given after the patient is moved onto the trauma bed) after BSMC QA committee identified these issues. After some more discussion six potential goals were identified:

1. Standardize management of trauma patient care across the region

2. Build an educational plan which includes medical control and Triage criteria

3. Enhance the relationship between prehospital providers and medical control

4. Explore funding/grant opportunities for rural trauma care

5. Develop a database to track trauma care issues, practices and data

6. Increase communication between scene and receiving facilities

For the next meeting Ms. Cushman would like members to review the distributed material and be ready to set the goals for this committee.

Recruitment:

Ms. Cushman asked that the members continue to recruit individuals to attend our meetings, especially hospitals and services not currently represented. We need to have broader representation. She will discuss this at the Regional Council meeting and will call hospitals to identify potential members.

Agenda for next meeting:

1. Membership

2. Formalize goals

3. Communication plan

Next Meeting:

Wednesday February 13, 2002 at 8:45 am, Living Room, McCallum Building, Cooley Dickinson Hospital

Adjourn:

Motion made to adjourn at 9:50 a.m. Motion approved unanimously.

Dawn Josefski, Recorder