Trauma teams: Global reality and implementation in a developing country. narrative description

Abstract

Introduction. Trauma is one of the entities with the highest morbidity and mortality in the world. Teams specialized in trauma patient care are called «trauma teams». These teams arose from the need to provide timely multidisciplinary treatment to individuals with severe injuries in war; however, with time they moved to the civilian arena, generating a positive impact in terms of care times, mortality and morbidity. The objective of this study was to describe the process of development of trauma teams worldwide and the experience in our institution in southwestern Colombia. Methods. A search of the PUBMED database was carried out, which included systematic reviews, meta-analyses, Cochrane reviews, clinical trials, and case series. Results. Forty-one studies were included for this narrative review, and it was observed that the length of stay in the ER, the time of transfer to surgery, mortality and complications associated with trauma were lower when trauma teams are implemented. Discussion. The design of a horizontal care and assessment system for a patient with severe trauma produces a positive impact in terms of care times, mortality and morbidity. It is necessary to establish operational parameters in high and medium complexity health institutions in our country to implement such work teams.