After a traumatic injury, receiving expert care quickly is key to a positive outcome.
Our Elvis Presley Trauma Center is making that easier by allowing other hospitals to send imaging digitally before they transfer a patient.
That allows our team to start planning care before the patient even arrives, and some patients can even avoid a transfer if they don’t require level-one trauma care.
When someone suffers a traumatic injury or illness, receiving expert care as quickly as possible is key to a positive outcome.
Regional One Health’s Elvis Presley Trauma Center is making that easier with remote imaging capabilities that allow them to start planning care before the patient even arrives at the hospital.
When another hospital is transferring a patient to the trauma center, they can now simply visit the Regional One Health website and digitally upload imaging like CT scans, X-rays, etc.
Josh Dugal, Executive Director of Trauma & Burn Services, said the capability is especially important for Regional One Health since the hospital serves as the only source of advanced trauma care for a wide region.
“As the only adult Level-One Trauma Center within 150 miles of Memphis, we receive patients from a very large geographical area,” Dugal explained. “We want outside hospitals to be able to digitally send imaging so our surgeons and providers at Regional One Health have immediate access and can view it before the patient even arrives.”
Dugal said the process is simple. Transferring providers visit www.regionalonehealth.org and select “Trauma” under the “Find Care & Services” menu tab. At the top of the page, they’ll find information on transfer guidelines and a link to securely upload and send digital imaging files.
When transferring hospitals send imaging digitally, Regional One Health trauma experts can start planning the patient’s care before they even arrive. Patients can also avoid repeat imaging.
Only imaging files can be uploaded, Dugal said, and the transfer is secure to protect patient privacy. The images go directly to Regional One Health, where providers with Regional One Health credentials can access them on their hospital work stations.
Regional One Health will ultimately expand the service for patient transfers in other areas outside of trauma. “It will help with patient access to a variety of services and allow for optimal care and use of resources,” Dugal said.
There are a number of advantages in terms of patient care.
Before, Dugal said, providers had to wait for the patient to arrive so they could upload imaging from a CD or perform their own imaging exams. Having an immediate look at imaging lets the trauma team avoid that extra step and immediately start delivering care when the patient arrives.
“We can start planning and making treatment decisions prior the patient even getting here,” he said. “If there are additional resources we need to have ready, we can do that. We can elicit help from specialists like neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons before the patient is here based on those imaging files.”
Avoiding repeat imaging also decreases the amount of radiation patients are exposed to and frees up imaging resources for other patients, Dugal said.
In some cases, receiving imaging ahead of time may save a patient from an unnecessary transfer and keep them closer to home for their care.
In some cases, doctors can determine a patient doesn’t need to be transferred to our level-one trauma center. That way, the patient can receive care closer to home and family.
“We’ve always had to rely on a verbal reading to make transfer decisions, and sometimes the patient arrives and it turns out they wouldn’t have needed a level-one trauma center,” Dugal said. “By reviewing the imaging before the transfer is made, in some cases we can keep some patients in their own community and closer to their families.”
“It helps us make the best decision for each patient.”
In doing so, that also helps protect level-one trauma center capacity for patients who are in need of the most critical care.
“It’s a win-win,” Dugal said. “This is the standard of cutting-edge care at trauma centers all over the country, and it’s another advancement that allows our level-one trauma center to better serve the community and be ready to take care of you on your worst day.”