Data and Care: A Winning Combination to Prevent Injury and Save Lives
Dr. Stephanie Bonne’s lifesaving work combines public health data analysis and trauma care. She is a tireless researcher and surgeon, analyzing injury data and working directly within the healthcare system to treat patients.
She is also a powerful and clear advocate for the central importance of trauma centers’ uninterrupted and sustained access to federal surveillance data, allowing these centers to identify trends and then build, staff, and resource trauma facilities accordingly.
“The Violent Death Reporting System and some of the other CDC-funded data initiatives specifically provide epidemiology-of-injury functions that are really vital to trauma centers,” Dr. Bonne said. “Over decades, places where injury is prevalent have built up over time. And over the last 30 years, we've become very good at laying the groundwork to build a national trauma system. So instead of these hospitals all operating in silos, we come together and set standards and create benchmarking. The basis of it all is — Where do you put a trauma center? Who is being served by that trauma center? and What kind of resources and programs are in those trauma centers?”
We know care deserts can take shape if public health and healthcare officials don’t have access to timely and relevant data. In fact, Marie Crandell et al wrote about this in their important American Journal of Public Health piece, Trauma Deserts: Distance From a Trauma Center, Transport Times, and Mortality From Gunshot Wounds in Chicago.
According to Dr. Bonne, the current situation has the potential for both short- and long-term negative impacts on care and, in turn, both morbidity and mortality. “The current national uncertainty surrounding federal funding is certainly changing the way that hospitals are staffing and resourcing their trauma centers. There's a lot of hesitancy to hire additional personnel or staff because where is the money going to come from for these extra people? We don't want to start hiring people that then become unfunded.”
And, according to Dr. Bonne, if trauma centers are not adequately staffed or resourced, we may see worse care outcomes or even the closing of trauma centers which could result in new trauma deserts or longer distances that people needing life-saving care would have to travel. Those increased distances would certainly lead to higher rates of death, particularly in the case of things like gunshot wounds that require immediate attention.
Further, if the flow of surveillance data were to stop entirely it could jeopardize long-term planning about where and what type of care facilities to build. Dr. Bonne said, “Without that data, we might as well just sit with a map of the United States and throw darts at it and build trauma centers where the dart lands.”
When asked how people across the country will see the effect of the loss of data, Dr. Bonne said, “I think we could potentially see people arrive with an injury to a trauma center, and we won't have enough resources. As these prevention efforts get dismantled, we're not even going to know what’s happening in real time because we're not going to have the data to show it. And when you take away these anchor systems or have a brain drain, it takes time to build things back.”
Dr. Stephanie Bonne is Chair of the Prevention Committee of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma.
Do you have a story to share about the impact of the CDC Injury Prevention Center and the work you’ve been able to do? If so, please share it with us.
