Current Trauma Status Report - Southern Nevada Health District

Clark County Health District has identified a significant problem with drownings of children aged 1 - 4,
motor vehicle crashes and suicides. All three high-risk groups have prevention programs in place that
were identified through data screening processes using various existing databases.
Evaluation
The Clark County Health District is responsible for the prehospital component of care in Clark County
and the Nevada State Health Division’s EMS section has the responsibility of overseeing trauma.
There are mechanisms in place for evaluation of trauma in Southern Nevada that include the ACS
verification process UMC must complete every three years, the EMS training requirements set forth in
state law, and the oversight provided by the Medical Advisory Board (members of the MAB are
representatives from all hospitals, prehospital providers, the Nevada Division of Mental Health and
Development Services, and the Clark County Health District).
There is no overall quality improvement committee for the current trauma program. However, UMC
does have a trauma center focused quality improvement committee that meets weekly. The UMC
quality improvement committee focuses on deaths and other serious adverse events. All deaths are
reviewed by the trauma center peer review/performance improvement committee and if necessary are
presented to a monthly multidisciplinary committee at UMC, then to the hospital performance
improvement committee. If the case involves a prehospital component, then it is forwarded to the
Clark County Health District EMS Department. The UMC trauma registry is used to help direct process
improvement by reviewing data generated from the registry. For example, trauma treatment protocols
have been developed based on identified trends in the trauma registry and recommendations for the
trauma activation criteria have been made based on data contained in the trauma registry. In addition
to the oversight provided by UMC, the MAB provides oversight for the EMS portion of trauma.
Research
UMC conducts a vast amount of research as part of its level I trauma center requirements. Their
trauma registry is used to research topics identified by surgery residents, resulting in numerous
posters and presentations. In addition, the surgery residents participate in the ACS Committee on
Trauma annual Residents Trauma Paper Competition.
Another significant research entity of trauma in Southern Nevada is the Trauma Institute, which was
established with private funding in 1997. The Trauma Institute obtains its data from several sources.
Its primary source is the Uniform Billing 92 Hospital Discharge data set collected by the Nevada State
Health Division. The Trauma Institute also has a working agreement with a local EMS transport
agency to obtain prehospital data. Funding for the Trauma Institute is obtained via grant funding from
several entities including: the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA),
Nevada Attorney General’s Office, Centers for Disease Control, Health Resources and Services
Administration (HRSA), and Emergency Medical Services for Children (EMSC). The Trauma Institute
also receives private funding.
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