Making a solid trauma system takes a comprehensive training effort – from the villages up to the local hospital. The quality of the Chain-of-Survival Model is not better that its weakest link.
Basic Life Support
Survival or death depends on an army of trained first responders who area ble to keep victims alive on the way to surgery. For this we have developed the Village University training concept.
The trauma victim starts dying at the time of injury. Preventing unnecessary deaths means preventing oxygen starvation. The ABC of saving lives is:
- Airways - prevent airway block
- Breathing - support the breathing
- Circulation - stop the bleeding
Advanced life support
The paramedic supplements the first aid provided by the villagers: securing airways, placing chest tubes, stopping bleeding, giving warm intravenous infusions, painkillers, antibiotics – and antimalarials.
The”Burma Pack” medical kit is developed by our paramedics in the Burmese democratic resistance. It contains all instruments and drugs necessary to manage three severely injured patients.
District Hospital surgery
At the rural hospitals in the South there may be one graduate doctor, but in most cases the hospital is staffed by medical officers – short in formal medical training, but rich in hands-on trauma experience.
The district hospital is the hub of the rural trauma system; if the staff is well trained, 80% of all trauma cases can get proper primary surgical care at the local hospital.
That requires on-site training programs for the district hospital staff. TCF has developed a curriculum using animal models for surgical skills training.
When all three links in the Chain-of-Survival Model are in place, trauma mortality can be reduced to less than 10% – even where prehospital evacuation times are 4 – 6 hours.
Read more
Read more in Trauma Care Wiki
Advanced life support