UPMC Helps To Create New Trauma Service In Qatar

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 12 Dec 2007 - 15:00 PDT

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The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) and Hamad Medical Corp. (HMC) today announced the creation of a trauma service at Hamad General Hospital to better serve the citizens and residents of Qatar, located in the Persian Gulf.

As part of a contract announced in June 2006 to provide education, training and services to Qatar's emergency medical system, UPMC collaborated with HMC to create a trauma service modeled after the most sophisticated trauma centers in the United States, including one at UPMC. "This is part of our broader plan to establish Hamad General Hospital as a verifiable Level 1 trauma center, according to criteria established by the American College of Surgeons," said Kimball I. Maull, M.D., director of trauma services at Hamad.

With the new service, which opened Nov. 1, patients with multi-system injuries are immediately admitted to the trauma service, where they are cared for by teams of surgeons specializing in trauma medicine. Previously, such patients were admitted through the emergency department and seen by surgeons from various services throughout the hospital. A new radio in the trauma unit also allows for direct communication between paramedics at the scene of a trauma incident and the hospital's doctors, allowing the trauma teams to be activated before a patient reaches the hospital. The hospital also has created a trauma registry to track and improve the outcomes of its patients.

Hamad General, the largest hospital in Qatar, admits about 3,500 trauma patients a year, making it one of the busiest trauma centers in the world. Trauma surgeons typically treat victims of motor vehicle crashes and industrial accidents in booming Qatar, noted Dr. Maull, who has extensive experience establishing Level 1 trauma centers throughout the United States. "With our concentrated focus on treating the complex injuries of trauma patients, Hamad General will save more lives while improving the education and training of our surgeons," said Dr. Maull, who joined UPMC in June.

The broader plan of moving the trauma center to Level 1 status involves establishing research programs, quality improvement processes and other steps to verify performance. "We are working to create one of the world's leading trauma centers here at Hamad General Hospital, with the best possible care for our patients and the finest training for our physicians," said Hanan Al Kuwari, M.D., managing director, HMC. "Our collaboration with UPMC will ensure that we reach our goal as quickly as possible."

UPMC is the largest integrated health care enterprise in Pennsylvania and one of the leading nonprofit health systems in the United States. Widely recognized for its innovations in patient care, research and health care management, UPMC offers its services to improve health care around the world. It operates a transplant hospital in Italy, cancer treatment centers in Ireland and emergency medicine services in Qatar.

UPMC has appeared eight times on the prestigious U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll of "America's Best Hospitals," most recently earning 13th position in 2007. The largest employer in western Pennsylvania, with 45,000 employees and nearly $7 billion in revenue, UPMC comprises 19 tertiary, specialty and community hospitals, 400 outpatient sites and doctors' offices, retirement and long-term care facilities and an insurance plan with more than 1 million members.

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center