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Global Initiative for Children's Surgery (GICS) Pediatric Trauma Care Initiative: A Call for a Comprehensive Approach
Abdelbasit E Ali1, Adesoji Ademuyiwa2, Simone Abib3
1Department of Pediatric Surgery, King Saud Medical City, Imam Abdelaziz bin Mohamed bin Saud Street, Olayshah, Riyadh 12746, Saudi Arabia.
Insights
The Global Initiative for Children's Surgery (GICS) Children's Trauma Care (CTC) initiative aims to improve pediatric trauma care globally, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), through collaboration and advocacy for better prevention and treatment strategies.
Area of Science:
- Global Health
- Pediatric Surgery
- Trauma Management
Background:
- Pediatric trauma presents a significant global health challenge with substantial mortality and morbidity.
- There is a critical need for a coordinated global effort to address pediatric trauma care, particularly for subspecialized surgeons.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose and organize a comprehensive Children's Trauma Care (CTC) initiative by the Global Initiative for Children's Surgery (GICS).
- To address pediatric trauma management globally, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
- To foster structured cooperation with international organizations and local stakeholders.
Main Methods:
- The initiative encompasses a wide range of aspects including first aid, prehospital and hospital care, advanced trauma life support (ATLS), diagnostic facilities, operating room equipment, specialized surgical services, and rehabilitation.
- It also includes registry, research, auditing, specialization in pediatric trauma, and capacity building.
Main Results:
- The GICS Trauma Working Group developed trauma prevention leaflets and a primary trauma course.
- Advocacy efforts included presentations at the UN General Assembly, GICS meetings, and Pan African Pediatric Surgical Association meetings.
- Participation in the development of a WHO pediatric trauma module and publication of related studies.
Conclusions:
- The GICS CTC initiative offers a collaborative approach to enhance pediatric trauma care through awareness, education, prevention, and training.
- It aims to improve facilities, infrastructure, education, and research in LMICs.
- Encourages the establishment of specialized pediatric trauma services to improve outcomes in LMICs.
Introduction:
Trauma is a major problem which has a significant health, social, and economic impact. Particularly, pediatric trauma carries substantial mortality and morbidity. This is a great concern for subspecialized general and pediatric surgeons. Therefore, a global initiative for pediatric trauma care is warranted and should be initiated.
Aim:
The international association "Global Initiative for Children's Surgery" (GICS) would like to propose and organize a children's trauma care (CTC) initiative. This initiative should comprehensively address pediatric trauma management globally, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The initiative seeks to achieve a structured cooperation and collaboration with respective sister organizations and local stakeholders.
Methods:
The initiative will address these relevant aspects: 1. first aid; 2. prehospital primary trauma care; 3. hospital primary trauma care; 4. advanced care (ATLS); 5. diagnostic facilities; 6. operation room (OR) equipment; 7. specialized surgical services; 8. rehabilitation; 9. registry, research, and auditing; 10. specialization in pediatric trauma; 11. capacity and confidence building in pediatric trauma; 12.
Prevention:
The GICS CTC provided activities have been recorded and evaluated in a structured manner. This statement paper is based on data of a narrative review as well as expert opinions.
Results:
The Trauma Working Group of GICS provided specialized trauma prevention leaflets available for translation to different languages. A one-day children's primary trauma course has been designed to be delivered at the physical GICS meetings. Exercising advocacy, the group addressed several meetings on prevention of pediatric trauma, which included the 75th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) (2020), GICS IVth meeting in Johannesburg (2020), Norwich (UK) Joint SPRINT Symposium on Pediatric Surgery for Pediatricians (2021), the second online Pan African Pediatric Surgical Association (PAPSA) meeting (2021), the seventh World Congress of the World Federation of Associations of Pediatric Surgeons (WOFAPS) in Prague (2022), and GICS pediatric trauma webinar (2023). Additionally, the working group participated in the preparations of a pediatric trauma module for the World Health Organization (WHO) and published several related studies. The contents of the selected articles added relevant information to the categories stated above.
Conclusions:
The CTC initiative of GICS is proposed as a mean to address pediatric trauma comprehensively through a process of collaboration and advocacy with existing organizations to achieve awareness, health education, prevention, health, and training. Further, it will support the provision of suitable facilities to health institutions. The establishment of a specialization in pediatric trauma is encouraged. GICS CTC initiative aims to improve pediatric trauma care in LMICs by developing injury prevention strategies; optimizing the use of locally available resources; obtaining commitment by LMICs governments; improvement in all fields of hospital care; improvements in infrastructure, education and training, and attention to data registry and research.
