ISDH Mission: Promoting and providing essential public health services to protect Indiana communities

ISDH Vision: A healthier and safer Indiana

Trauma and Injury Prevention Division Mission: Develop a state-wide trauma system to protect Hoosier communities

Trauma and Injury Prevention Division Vision: Prevent injuries in Indiana

2013 Statewide Trauma Tours

The Division of Trauma and Injury Prevention will be traveling the state again this year, TWICE, to update the trauma community on what the Division has been doing since the "Listening Tour" last year and to educate as many people as possible about what to expect as we continue to put together a comprehensive statewide trauma system for the State of Indiana.

Please stay tuned for updates and results from each meeting.

2013 Education Tour

• 2013 Education Tour Sessions
• 2013 Trauma Tour Announcement

2013 Training Tour

• 2013 Training Tour Sessions
• Register for the 2013 Training Tour Sessions

Rural Trauma Team Development Course Update

The Indiana State Department of Health’s (ISDH) trauma and injury prevention program has teamed up with the agency’s Office of Primary Care to fund efforts by Indiana trauma centers to work with non-trauma hospitals to better coordinate trauma care throughout the state, especially in rural areas.

The agency will fund trauma centers to teach the Rural Trauma Team Development Course (RTTDC), which emphasizes the important role of smaller, often rural, non-trauma hospitals in the overall state trauma system. The RTTDC program covers key concepts in the triage of trauma patients, including the decision whether the hospital can meet the patient’s needs or needs to transfer the patient to a trauma center. Understanding everyone’s role in a statewide trauma system is crucial in providing good care to trauma patients, especially in light of the fact that at least 60% of all trauma deaths occur in areas where only 25% of the population lives.

If your facility is interested in participating in the RTTDC program with a nearby trauma center, please contact the ISDH (Katie Gatz at 317.234.7321 or kgatz@isdh.in.gov) or your nearest trauma center:

Key highlights of trauma and injury prevention for the state of Indiana are:

• Injury is the No. 1 killer of Hoosiers under the age of 45 and the No. 5 killer of Hoosiers of all ages.
• Problems posed by injury are most acute in our rural areas.
• A major way that states address the problem of trauma is through the design, implementation and oversight of a statewide trauma system. The ISDH has that statutory responsibility in Indiana.
• Bad things happen where state trauma systems are not in place; where trauma systems exist, they save lives. Trauma systems lower preventable death rates by as much as 25-30 percent.
• Indiana has in place several elements of a statewide trauma system, but we don’t yet have what can honestly be described as a “system.” Other challenges with our current approach to trauma include:
  • We don’t have enough EMS providers, especially in rural areas.
  • There aren’t enough trauma centers.
  • At the state level, not all components of the trauma system are located in the same state agency.

See the Trauma White Paper for more information about the trauma system in Indiana.