Smart Trauma: Improving the Delivery of Evidence-Based Trauma Care

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Trauma Care
• Mobile Health

Background:

• Mobile technology offers potential for enhancing healthcare decision-making at the point of care.
• A web-based, trauma-specific smartphone application was developed, linking to local and national guidelines for trauma providers.
• The hypothesis was that smartphone access to these guidelines would expedite knowledge application.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of smartphone access to trauma guidelines on decision-making speed and accuracy.
• To assess the utility of a trauma-specific smartphone application for healthcare providers.
• To identify areas for improvement in mobile health application design for clinical settings.

Main Methods:

• Trauma providers were randomized into two groups: one with smartphone access and one without, during a timed examination of trauma scenarios.
• The examination was based on guidelines from the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST), Western Trauma Association (WTA), and local protocols.
• Participants completed a survey on their experience with the application, and outcomes were compared based on completion time and accuracy.

Main Results:

• Smartphone users took longer to complete the examination (9:18 vs. 6:36) but demonstrated a trend towards higher accuracy (50% vs. 40%).
• Smartphone users showed significantly higher accuracy for EAST (78% vs. 52%) and WTA (70% vs. 39%) protocol-based questions, but not for local protocols (29% vs. 37%).
• Users familiar with the application had the longest completion times (11:44) but the highest accuracy (60%).

Conclusions:

• Familiarity with the trauma application improved accuracy but increased time to completion.
• The study suggests a need to streamline the application interface and provide user education to optimize efficiency.
• Mobile technology can aid trauma care, but usability enhancements are crucial for timely information access.