Prevention Committee

May 19, 2022, was National Stop the Bleed Day. The event was launched by the White House in 2015 to encourage bystanders to intervene and stop bleeding before emergency personnel arrives at the scene of injury. Training bystanders to stop blood loss can avoid otherwise preventable death. National Stop the Bleed Day will bring instructors and students together for training, free of charge.

You can help raise awareness about future National Stop the Bleed days in your organization by sharing the following information:

•  Traumatic injury is the leading cause of death for people 46 years and younger
• 35% of pre-hospital deaths are due to hemorrhage
• Of the 147,000 trauma deaths in 2014, 30,000 might have survived with timely hemorrhage control
•  80% of victims of mass casualties are transported to the hospital by the public
• Emergency Medical Services (EMS) response times often exceed the five-minute target times for emergency response

Bleeding Control Classes can be found here:

https://cms.bleedingcontrol.org/class/search

Videos about Stop the Bleed are here:

https://www.bleedingcontrol.org/resources/videos

Visit the following websites for more information:

https://www.bleedingcontrol.org/ https://www.dhs.gov/stopthebleed

Unintentional injury is the 4th leading cause of death for all Americans and the 7th leading cause of death for older American adults. Unintentional injury is also a major contributor to the global burden of disease and disability. The goal of the Prevention Committee is to help advance and disseminate best evidence and best practice regarding injury prevention to members of the international trauma community. Our primary efforts are focused on educational activities at the Annual Meeting, electronic learning through AAST Grand Rounds and webinars, and publications. We also work closely with the Trauma Prevention Coalition of the American Trauma Society and the Prevention Committees of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (ACS-COT) and the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) to foster collaboration and synergy across organizations

Bleeding Control

BleedingControl.org is an initiative of the American College of Surgeons and the Hartford Consensus and contains diagrams, news, videos, and other resources contributed by a variety of other private and nonprofit partners to help prepare you in the event you witness one of these unspeakable events.

Check out AAST’s  Periscope to see the archived video of the live streaming of “How to Build a Comprehensive STOP THE BLEED Program: Tips and Lessons Learned”

I’d like to thank the members of this committee for their energy, enthusiasm, and commitment to pulling these programs together and for their thought-provoking/forward-thinking innovative ideas for advancing our goals. I would also like to express gratitude to Afia Jones, Brea Sanders, Sharon Gautschy, and the Board of Managers for their support of our work, which makes these activities possible.

Violence Prevention Internet Guide Update

The committee updated the Violence Prevention Internet Guide located under the ‘resources’ tab. It provides up-to-date data/statistics and access to information and websites pertaining to categories such as: Youth Violence, Domestic Violence, Intimate Partner Violence, Child Abuse, Elder Abuse, Sexual Assault, Suicide, School Violence, Workplace Violence, Cross-cutting issue: Firearms, Cross-cutting issue: Media Violence, Cross-cutting issue: Substance Abuse, Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs, Trauma-Informed Care.

Publications and Projects Update

1. Four Peer-Reviewed Publications:

• The Proceedings manuscript of the Medical Summit on Firearm Injury was published in JACS. Recommendations from the ACS-COT on Firearm Strategy Team (FAST) Workgroup.
  • The AAST Prevention Committee members were key participants in the planning and manuscript preparation. 
  • The AAST was represented by Dr. Croce at the Medical Summit on Firearm Injury Prevention. 
    • Duncan, Thomas K., et al. Domestic Violence and Safe Storage of Firearms in the COVID-19 Era. Annals of Surgery: August 2020 - Volume 272 - Issue 2 - p e55-e57 doi: 10.1097/SLA.0000000000004088. This manuscript was led by Dr. Thomas Duncan in partnership with the Prevention Committees of AAST, EAST, and COT.
    • Duncan, Thomas K., et al. American Association for the Surgery of Trauma Prevention Committee review: Family Justice Centers – a not-so-novel, but unknown gem: Trauma Surgery Acute Care Open 2021;6:e000725. doi:10.1136/tsaco-2021-000725. This manuscript was led by Dr. Thomas Duncan.
    • Kuhls, Deborah A., et al. Survey of American College of Surgeons Members on Firearm Injury Prevention. Journal of American College of Surgeons: September 2021 – Volume 233 – Issue 3 – p 369 – 382. Doi.org/10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2021.06.020. Dr. Kuhls was the lead on this manuscript.

Cutting Edge Update

- An article was written by Dr. Tatebe on Health care and law enforcement published in the March 2022 issue. A Grand Rounds was presented on March 23rd, 2022 by Dr. Leah Tatebe, Tina Nappi (The Health Alliance for Violence Intervention - HAVI), Dr. Andrew Dennis, Dr. Erin Hall, and Dr. Thomas Duncan on a similar topic. The committee is working alongside The HAVI in developing guidelines, and this charge is being led by Dr. Tatebe. A publication is pending.

- An article was written by Dr. D’Andrea Joseph titled Intimate Partner Violence and Elderly and published in the June 2022 issue.

- An article was written by Dr. Thomas Duncan titled Firearm Violence Perspective from the Injury Prevention Committee, and published in the June 2022 issue.

• The Committee is working on plans for potential new projects related to long-term follow-up of disability-adjusted years of life lost from sequelae related to firearm injury survivors, COVID-19, and Patterns of Trauma and Intentional Violence in the early pandemic period. Dr. Bonne is leading this charge.
  • Broadening our horizon with Stop the Bleed efforts are ongoing by Drs. Joseph and Fischer.
  • The Committee is embarking on obtaining critical knowledge of AAST members’ understanding of Trauma-Informed Care (TIC) and its implementation in varying trauma centers.

2. Trauma Prevention Coalition (TPC):

•  Ongoing participation in Trauma Prevention Coalition— Deborah Kuhls, is the current Chair.
• AAST helped raise awareness on National Injury Prevention Day (November 18th, 2021) as many trauma centers banded together in shining a neon green light on their respective buildings.

3. Arnold Foundation Grant Proposals for Firearm Injury Prevention

• The Coalition for National Trauma Research (CNTR) submitted a proposal and was accepted for a full submission. The proposal from 2021 was resubmitted and has been funded.

4. Next Step – projects in progress:

• The AAST Virtual Grand Rounds sponsored by the Prevention Committee was given by Drs. Eileen Bulger and Ronald Stewart on The Role and Importance of Regional Medical Operations Centers in the COVID-19 Pandemic.
• The Firearm Injury Prevention Research Scholar in partnership with the ACS-COT and other CNTR organizations previously selected Dr. Elle Thomas, who is finishing up her second year of phenomenal joint projects. We welcome Dr. Shelbie Kirkendoll as the incoming fellow.

-81st Annual Meeting of AAST and Clinical Congress for Acute Care (Chicago), September 21 – 24, 2022.

•  Prevention Committee has two sessions:
  • Short course: Thursday, September 22nd, 2022. Complex Follow-up and Discharge Management: Improving Lives and Preventing Reinjury. Focusing on post-discharge patient outcomes, programs that support patients and families, and complex discharge planning and management of social issues.
  • Lunch Session: Friday, September 23rd, 2022. Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs (HVIPs) – A Step-by-step guide to establishing one. Funding, implementation, and evaluation.