Goal of new state trauma records system: share data, save lives, show trends

John Kelly, Emergency Medical Supervisor at WMC, is shown with emergency medical equipment.

WMC's Emergency Department Supervisor John Kelly learned several things while the hospital has been serving as one of 13 pilot hospitals for a new Iowa state trauma records system here.  And he needn't look farther than traffic where he works for a potential connection.

The new system should allow Iowa hospitals of all sizes to coordinate care for patients involved in trauma.  The digital registry system will collect and analyze information on the incident, severity, causes and outcomes of traumas, burns and more, to evaluate factors and the health system's response from the ambulance on the scene to the hospital emergency room and post-discharge care.  And emergency workers can add questions to help determine trends.

"Because we are able to track the patient's information from the scene to the medical facility we are able to prepare space and treatment for the trauma," says Kelly, a registered nurse.  "Because the program eliminates redundancies, we save valuable time in providing the best care for our patients."

Kelly says the system will help answer the paramount question: Are we fixing people?  "Data going both ways closes the loop," he adds.  The data can help in treatment for stroke and heart attack as well as trauma.

An added benefit of Winneshiek Medical Center being chosen as a training site for implementing the records system was learning its user friendliness — what made sense and what didn't, Kelly said.

As an example of how this data system can work, Kelly points to the hospital's Entrance Drive intersection with Montgomery Street: If data collected from emergency calls to this location shows a pattern of accidents, it might suggest installing warning or stop lights.

Winneshiek Medical Center will also serve as the training site for regional hospitals as they prepare to engage in the new program.