Although Georgia has state-of-the-heart hospitals across the state, visits are often confusing and fraught. For patients in the state’s more rural areas, these feelings of confusion only grow.
With these concerns in mind, the Georgia Trauma Foundation created its Rural Continuing Education Program with the goal of allowing victims of trauma “to get the best care as quickly as possible before being transferred to a trauma center,” according to a news release.
“When it comes to treating physical trauma, minutes matter,” Cheryle Ward, executive director of the Georgia Trauma Foundation, said in a news release.
The program, funded partly through the Georgia State Office of Rural Health, focuses on getting health professionals through the first hour after someone comes to the emergency room with a serious physical trauma. Spinal cord injuries, head traumas and uncontrolled bleeding, which the foundation calls the “leading cause of preventable death from trauma,” all fall under the umbrella of what it hopes to focus on.
Emergency room providers located a considerable distance from a fully equipped trauma center will receive advanced training from Georgia Trauma Foundation staff, learning how to best assess and stabilize patients in their care.
“It can be the difference between life and death,” Ward said in the news release.
The program offers three course areas: rural, emergency and trauma. The rural course focuses on creating a “coordinated and efficient” response to trauma to rural health care providers. In the emergency course, instructors will help nurses enhance their pediatric care skills, particularly in critical situations. The trauma course will feature hands-on training, focusing on skills of patient assessment and the application of evidence-based practices.
“Traumatic accidents don’t always happen close to a trauma center,” Ward said in the news release, “so it’s crucial that rural emergency room teams are trained to provide the appropriate care.”
The Georgia Trauma Foundation, founded in 2013, also hopes to breakdown barriers rural health care providers face in accessing higher education, including distance to sites, travel expenses and general course costs.
“Education programs are key to our mission of investing in trauma care in Georgia,” Ward says. “We’re confident the Rural Continuing Education Program is helping save lives.”
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