Newswise — Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have embarked on a project that will evaluate methods to improve emergency response time to automobile collisions with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes.
"In urban areas especially, it is becoming more of a worry that traffic congestion increases the time it takes emergency medical personnel to arrive at an injury site. It also increases the time it takes to transport an injured person from the scene to a trauma center," said Russ Fine, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., director of the UAB Injury Control Research Center. "We hope our work will increase medical personnel's ability to reach and treat the injured and sick within the 'Golden Hour,' which is the first hour after the accident when a trauma victim's chance of survival is the greatest."
Gerald McGwin, Jr., M.S., Ph.D., principal investigator for this project and professor of epidemiology at UAB, says that the results of this research could be used to implement a plan of action that would enable EMS personnel to minimize the response and transportation time. The results of this research, along with the Alabama Trauma Advisory Council's implementation of a statewide system to identify the most accessible trauma centers, has the potential to improve Alabama's motor vehicle collision mortality rates, he said.
The UAB ICRC and University Transportation Center (UTC) will unveil its research plan at the inaugural meeting of the UTC Advisory Board on Dec. 4 at the Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham. A panel of national experts will attend the meeting to discuss the emergency response and traffic congestion issue. The UAB UTC was established in August, 2006. The ICRC leads the UTC's effort to reduce motor vehicle injuries and fatalities.
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