Western Mass Emergency Medical Services Committee, Inc.

 

Meeting:                                 Trauma System Committee

Date:                                       October 8, 2003

Place:                                      Date Room, McCallum Building, CDH, Northampton

Presiding:                               Mary Cushman, Chairman

Called to Order:                     8:49 am

Adjourned:                              10:30 am

 

Attendance:

Present: Mary Cushman, MJ Dinneen, Tracy DiSilva, Sue Gaughan, Chris Hopewell, Dawn Josefski, Diane Murphy and Melanie Zamojski 

 

Conflict of Interest Statement: The chairperson opened the meeting with a review of the conflict of interest statement. No one present had any conflicts to divulge for any items on the agenda

 

Minutes:         August minutes were reviewed and accepted as written. There was no September meeting.

 

Proposed State Trauma Regulation Changes:

A copy of the proposed trauma regulations was distributed. Comments need to be emailed to lmoriarty@wmems.org by October 10th, 2003.

 

Membership List:

A copy of the updated membership list was passed around. Only one correction was needed (the accidental omission of Chris Hopewell). Ms. Josefski will fix that promptly.

 

DPH Emergency Data:

A spreadsheet compiled by DPH, obtaining data from all Region One hospitals, pertaining to emergency room visits and mode of transportation was distributed. After review the consensus was that the numbers were too low. A question then arose as to who was submitting the data (perhaps billing) from each hospital and how accurate is the information. Those present were glad to have DPH sharing the information and a suggestion was made to have individuals check with their facilities to determine where the information is being gathered and who is sending it to DPH.

 

Region One Trauma Triage Plan:

There was a lengthy discussion regarding the educational portion of the implementation of this plan, the creation of a system review strategy and evaluation of effectiveness. The hope is that individuals will be able to identify this committee as a resource for review of cases and attract more representation from all areas of region one (i.e. North Adams, Fairview, Wing etc.). There was a suggestion that a group, comprised of medical directors, nurses and EMTs, will facilitate the education phase when this plan is put in place.

The remainder of the meeting was spent discussing the current Region One Trauma Triage Plan with particular attention to reviewing all the changes thus far.  Modifications were discussed and recommended.  Please see Trauma Triage Plan, Draft 8.

 

Agenda for next meeting:

 

1.      Determine pediatric definitions to be included in the Plan.

2.      Develop the rapid transport guidelines appendix.

 

 

 

Next Meeting:

 

Wednesday November12, 2003 at 8:45 am, VNA Hospice Building, 168 Industrial Drive, Northampton (the new location for WMEMS but there are no signs up yet)

 

Adjourn:

Motion made to adjourn at 10:30 a.m.  Motion approved unanimously.

 

Dawn Josefski, Recorder