The Eastern
Regional Advisory Committee (ERAC) is composed of representatives
from the 29 county referral region of Pitt County Memorial
Hospital’s Level I Trauma Center. The representatives fall into
several categories: prehospital providers; physicians, nurses, and
administrators from the regional hospitals; and community
volunteers. The major focus of ERAC is to implement and coordinate a
regional trauma system and thereby improve trauma care in eastern
North Carolina.
Several
components must be in place in an organized trauma system. These are discussed in the Trauma Systems Act legislation
which became effective in August 1998.
The major components included are :
Education
for the public and for trauma care providers.
Public education should include system access information
and prevention. Provider
education, which includes both hospital and prehospital personnel,
is focused on ensuring that providers at all levels have the
knowledge they need to safely and efficiently care for trauma
patients.
Trauma
care guidelines.
Trauma protocols must be developed for the region.
These protocols will address triage, assessment, and
transfer of trauma patients at both the prehospital and emergency
department levels.
Transfer
agreements.
Transfer agreements must be in place between the trauma
center and all hospitals that transfer patients to the center.
Additionally, transfer agreements must be in place between
hospitals and specialty care centers such as the Burn Center.
Diversion
policies.
A diversion policy must be developed which outlines
procedures to be followed when the trauma center no longer has the
resources to adequately care for trauma patients needing transfer.
Dispatch
protocols.
Regional dispatch protocols must be developed.
System
evaluation tools.
A regional quality improvement program needs to be
developed and implemented.
To ensure that all of these elements are taken care of, ERAC
members have volunteered to work on subcommittees.
There are four of these:
Guidelines/Quality Improvement; Public/Provider Education;
Communications; and Research.
The goals and objectives of each of these committees relate
to one or more of the above listed elements.
The focus of ERAC for the next year will be on education of
providers and the public and on eliciting the cooperation and help
of all levels of providers throughout the region.
Currently,
ERAC representatives are attending regional EMS advisory committee
meetings to discuss implementation of the system.
Representatives will also be contacting local rescue
associations and asking to be included on agendas.
For
more information, please contact Sallie Gough at 252-847-8687.
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