Updated July 17, 2024
10 min 53 sec estimated read timeWith access to the world’s largest de-identified medical database, the 2023 ESO Trauma Index looks at data collected from the 596 participating hospitals to establish best practices in important areas. By providing an in-depth analysis of these 968,438 hospital records taken from January to December 2022, the goal is to create industry-wide benchmarks accompanied by recommendations that help to improve patient care across the board.
This month, the discussion at the Data Café will be around the penetrating trauma and shock index. Penetrating trauma, characterized by a foreign object breaking the skin to enter the body, has become an increasing issue over the past few decades, especially in areas with limited access to trauma centers. According to the Trauma Index, hospitals reported 86,811 reported incidents of penetrating trauma in 2023 alone, which strained the trauma system as a whole.
Shock index (SI), a tool that assesses the severity of blood loss and hypovolemic shock associated with penetrating trauma, helps predict patient outcomes and guide treatment plans. SI is calculated by the patient’s heart rate divided by systolic blood pressure upon arrival at the trauma center. A higher SI value indicates a higher severity of injury, greater need for blood transfusions, and increased mortality rates
What are the key takeaways for establishing best practices?
First and foremost, educate your teams on the importance of the shock index and establish clear guidelines and protocols for effective and timely treatment and surgery for patients with penetrating trauma. Here are some additional recommendations from the 2023 ESO Trauma Index:
- Quickly assess and stabilize patients to determine the severity of penetrating injuries, including controlling bleeding, maintaining clear airways, stabilizing breathing, and regulating vital signs.
- Control hemorrhage by rapidly stopping bleeding, both externally with tourniquets and pressure dressings and internally with surgical interventions.
- Implement damage control resuscitation (DCR) to minimize crystalloid use, administer blood products early, and control coagulopathy.
- Provide prompt access to blood products without a complete cross-matching process in critical time-sensitive situations.
- Have a massive transfusion protocol (MTP) with predefined ratios of blood products for the management of blood loss.
- Identify areas with limited access to healthcare, especially trauma centers.
- Improve access to public health and injury prevention efforts.
- Monitor response times to expedite access to lifesaving care for patients.
- Improve EMS access and administration of prehospital blood.
- Collect key clinical data beyond the first 30 minutes, such as vitals, SBP, and heart rate.
- Ensure that clinical practice guidelines and key performance indicators are achieved for trauma patients, especially penetrating trauma patients.
The recommendations from the 2023 ESO Trauma Index emphasize the importance of quick response, proper training, and having the right resources available. Simple steps like educating staff, ensuring quick access to blood products, and monitoring patient vitals can make a big difference in outcomes for penetrating trauma cases.
You can download the full 2023 ESO Trauma Index here.
Get a breakdown of the 2023 ESO Trauma Index data directly from the authors
Every third Thursday of the month from 12-1 p.m. C.T., you can tune into the ESO Data Café Webinar series for insightful conversations with the authors of the 2023 ESO Trauma Index. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the data and ask questions to help you improve your performance.
Register now for this month’s Data Café on Penetrating Trauma and the Shock Index, on July 18th.
Next Month’s ESO Data Café Webinar: Occurrence of Hospital Events
Then, on August 15th, we’ll look further into the frequency of hospital events and what they mean for your team. You can earn nursing and registry-specific continuing education contact hours by joining the discussion. Learn more and register now by heading to the ESO Data Café.
More from the Data Café Insights: 2023 Trauma Index blog series:
