Project Background
Phase 1: 2003-2007
The Trauma Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) project commenced in March 2003 with Liverpool Hospital receiving a commission from the NSW Institute of Trauma and Injury Management (ITIM) to develop numerous evidenced based clinical practice guidelines for state-wide distribution and implementation.
The CPG project team, lead by Dr. Michael Sugrue as Project Director and Ms Joan Lynch as Project Manager, with coordination from NSW ITIM, reviewed over three thousand journal articles in an exhaustive search for the best evidence available.
This information was then tabled with the CPG Committee through which various members volunteered to be an author of a particular guideline. The CPG Committee is made up of representation from major, urban, regional and rural clinical environments, both medical and nursing. The development of each guideline was reviewed by this committee and fed back to other NSW Trauma Committees such as the Trauma Services and Education and Research Committees.
The development phase of the project was completed by the third quarter of 2005. Four key CPG's were prepared for trial implementation while other guidelines underwent continued refinement to ensure usability state-wide. The four key CPG's that were trialled were:
- Management of Hypovolaemic Shock in the Trauma Patient
- The Management of Haemodynamically Unstable Patients with a Pelvic Fracture
- Emergency Airway Management in the Trauma Patient
- Initial Management of Closed Head Injury in Adults
Following the successful trial of the four key CPG's, each underwent further refinement following feedback on the content and usability during the trial.
In June 2006, NSW Health approved the four key CPG's which were then forwarded to the Clinical Excellence Commission who also approved them in August 2006.
Following the approval process, NSW ITIM was tasked with the completion of the publication process which includes a fresh redesign of the documents, printing and, finally, state wide distribution.
The distribution of the CPG documents is accompanied by a extensive education program, led by NSW ITIM. Numerous trauma clinicians have also presented the CPG's as various seminars and conferences, all improving the awareness of the project.
Phase 2: 2007-current
Following the successful development of the first 4 Adult Trauma Clinical Practice Guidelines, NSW ITIM sort to continue the project with the aim of developing additional guidelines and reviewing the current guidelines as required. NSW ITIM funded new project manager and secretarial support positions to be based at Liverpool Hospital tasked with the next phase of development (see the Under Development section for more information).
Recruitment of staff for Phase 2 commenced in October 2007 with literature searches beginning in early 2008.
Also in this section:
» Published Trauma Guidelines» Under Development