Building trauma capability: using geospatial analysis to consider military treatment facilities for trauma center...

Area of Science:

• Trauma surgery
• Military medicine
• Public health

Background:

• Military Health System faces challenges in sustaining surgical trauma teams due to decreased surgical volumes.
• Military treatment facilities (MTFs) can potentially enhance civilian trauma systems by treating local populations.
• Developing trauma center (TC) capabilities at MTFs could augment regional trauma care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the geographical proximity of MTFs to the continental US (CONUS) population.
• To evaluate the distance of MTFs relative to existing civilian adult TCs.
• To identify MTFs that would benefit most from developing TC capabilities.

Main Methods:

• Utilized publicly available data for CONUS adult civilian level 1 and 2 TCs and CONUS MTFs.
• Estimated adult population densities using census data by zip code.
• Calculated distances between zip codes, civilian TCs, and MTFs to determine population impact and distance reduction.

Main Results:

• Identified 562 civilian TCs and 33 MTFs.
• MTFs demonstrated mean distance reductions of 0-30 miles for populations ranging from 12,000 to over 900,000 adults.
• Seven specific MTFs were identified as offering significant distance reductions to large population centers.

Conclusions:

• Developing TC capabilities at select MTFs can decrease transit times and improve care for large adult populations.
• Further investigation is recommended for seven identified MTFs regarding development and integration into local trauma systems.