by Tony Peregrin
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The 2016 Trauma Quality
Improvement Program (TQIP)
Annual Scientific Meeting
and Training, November 5− 7
at the Omni Orlando Resort
at ChampionsGate, FL, drew
nearly 1,600 attendees—the
highest number to date—
including trauma medical
directors, program managers,
coordinators, and registrars.
“There are so many people
here today—all of whom are
committed to the care of the
patient,” said Avery Nathens, MD,
PhD, FACS, FRCSC, in his opening
remarks at the seventh annual
meeting. Dr. Nathens is surgeon-
in-chief, department of surgery,
and medical director, trauma,
Sunnybrook Health Sciences
Centre, Toronto, ON, and Medical
Director of the American College
of Surgeons (ACS) Trauma
Quality Programs. “We aspire
to zero preventable deaths,” he
said. “I think, with the degree
of commitment in this room,
that is possible,” referring to the
seminal report released by the
National Academies of Sciences,
Engineering, and Medicine
(NASEM) Committee on Military
Trauma Care’s Learning Health
System and Its Translation to
the Civilian Sector’s A National
Trauma Care System: Integrating
Military and Civilian Trauma
Systems to Achieve Zero Preventable
Deaths after Injury, cosponsored
by the ACS. The report calls
for eliminating all preventable
deaths in both military and
civilian trauma patients.
Topics covered at the 2016
TQIP meeting include best
practice guidelines for palliative
care, an overview of the ACS
TQIP Collaboratives program,
lessons learned from the Pulse
nightclub mass casualty event,
and a presentation from trauma
survivor-turned-Ironman
triathlete Brian Boyle.
TQIP update
Dr. Nathens provided an
update on key TQIP initiatives
including a new program,
Level III TQIP, which launched
in July 2016 and extends the
program to more levels of care.
The program includes access
to risk-adjusted benchmarking,
opportunities to share best
practices, and online education
customized to Level III centers.
Dr. Nathens also highlighted
the ACS Registries Project, which
will migrate all ACS clinical
registries into a single platform.
“We worked to find a partner
to meet the needs of all of the
ACS Quality Programs,” he said.
“You will see a lot of integration
of data across all programs.
[However,] I want to make an
important clarification—local
registries will remain the same.
What you will see differently
are business intelligence
tools that will help you better
understand the data. And from
a reimbursement standpoint,
you will be able to export data to
the Surgeon Specific Registry.”
Dr. Nathens also spoke
about the TQIP Collaboratives,
through which hospitals in either
a specified geographic area or a
hospital system work together
with a shared goal of trauma
system quality improvement.
At present, Florida, Georgia,
Michigan, Pennsylvania, and
Texas have TQIP Collaboratives,
and North Carolina, parts of
California, and the Committee
on Trauma (COT) Region III
are in the process of forming
TQIP Collaboratives.
Another TQIP initiative of
note centers on best practice
guidelines for managing
different patient populations
and processes. Past TQIP Best
Practice guidelines have included
standards for the management
of geriatric trauma patients,
massive transfusion, traumatic
brain injury, and orthopaedic
trauma. A new best practices
guideline for palliative care will
be released in 2017. The next
TQIP guideline will focus on
imaging in pediatric trauma.
TQIP annual meeting
continues to advance
quality trauma care