Traumatic brain injury is involved in about 1/3 of all injury-related deaths- it’s clearly a public health issue.  That’s why we created Arizona’s Excellence in Pre-hospital Injury Care project- which is aimed at improving brain injury outcomes in AZ. The National Institutes of Health chose AZ as the only state to evaluate the national standards for pre-hospital emergency care of brain injury.  

Since we got started about a year ago- we’ve recruited almost 100 fire departments and ground/air ambulance companies to get up to speed on the standards, covering more than 80% of the state’s population. Participants send treatment information to us and the UA College of Medicine for tracking and evaluation. A donation from the Ramsey Justice Foundation makes it possible for agencies to receive special breathing devices to assist in the treatment patients at no cost.  Our initiative uses standards for treating traumatic brain injuries developed by the Brain Trauma Foundation. 

This project will save countless lives by improving the survival rates of folks with traumatic brain injury by implementing pre-hospital guidelines…  but it will also help folks recover more fully from brain trauma. Our study will help EMS providers throughout the state apply guidelines and measure their success.  In a nutshell- AZ pre-hospital agencies will be implementing guidelines that have been studied across the country and measuring outcomes so we can improve our system and set a new standard for the country.  For more info go to www.epic.arizona.edu.