The future of prehospital trauma resuscitation: Brian Burns

Trauma is an epidemic so what is the future for prehospital trauma resuscitation? The statistics are shocking – 14,000 people a day and 5 million people every year die from trauma. Injuries accounts for 9% of deaths worldwide and they are the biggest killer of under 40s across the world. Incredibly, these numbers are only rising. Dr Brian Burns describes what is largely a silent killer… many critical care doctors and nurses may never get the chance to see, treat or save the patient, because they often do not make it to the emergency department. Death often occurs in the first hour post trauma and 90% of trauma deaths are due to exsanguination. We pick up the story of Paul. Paul is driving alone when he loses control and crashes his car. There are no witnesses. No one to call for help. No emergency responders. Paul bleeds and dies. The emergency system that is currently used is not specific or sensitive enough – and we need to do better. The meercat is the animal world exemplar of the early warning system. Meercats knows where danger is, know how to look for it and on finding danger, they sound an alert that raises an immediate and appropriate alert from the collective. Brian applies the meercat model to Paul. Brian describes a new response, one driven by data, and fast and accurate access to that data. He draws parallels to the data gathering and sharing of Formula One teams. Brian takes a deep drive on predictive algorithms to calculate the likelihood of injury, automate the response and alert the dispatchers. He describes a response that utilises real time images, biosensors sending biometric analysis and the use of drones to deliver equipment ahead of retrieval teams – all while being supervised by a trauma team leader in a trauma centre. Brian re-tells Pauls tale in the future, the future of prehospital resuscitation. He describes a situation where technology is used to do better for Paul, and the countless others like him. Join Brian as he makes the case for computerised algorithms and decision-making assistance in medicine and implores the pre-hospital community to do better by utilising technology. 

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