State Trauma Advisory Council
Performance Improvement Work Group

Charge

1. Facilitate the development of clinical and system quality improvement, injury prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation programs.
2. Strive to decrease/eliminate preventable trauma deaths and poor outcomes through State Trauma System PI initiatives.
3. Ensure that the collection, distribution and use of trauma data and all related materials are in compliance with applicable state and federal privacy laws.
4. Ensure that data is valid and acknowledge its limitations.
5. Advocate for improved data reporting and accuracy.
6. Develop system for comparative benchmarking.

Activities

• Develop and analyze statutorily mandated reports.
• Develop and analyze measurable performance standards for the trauma system and recommend improvement initiatives.
• Develop and implement a data quality and validation plan.
• Periodically review, clarify and modify as necessary the trauma registry data elements/dictionary, ensuring that each one is necessary versus "nice to know."
• Promote uniformity of standards with related data committees (e.g., EMSRB Data Policy Committee).
• Develop policies, in compliance with state and federal regulation, for the prioritization, compilation and distribution of trauma data for various levels of requests (e.g., RTAC, interagency sharing, public requests, and clinical research).
• Reach out to RTACs to understand their needs and provide necessary data and educational support.

Guiding Principles

• The trauma data system will be patient-care driven and improvement oriented.
• Data will focus on supporting the continuum of care: From the 911 call and pre-hospital data to community re-integration.
• Appropriate state and federal laws will govern data.
• The TPIC will work with other STAC committees to understand their needs.
• Data will be accessible and will flow in both directions.
• Data quality and validity will be of paramount concern. The committee will work to ensure that conclusions drawn are supported by the data and are unbiased.

Meetings

The STAC PI Work Group meets via teleconference. Those wishing to listen in to the meeting should contact the trauma system coordinator.

None scheduled

Members

While the entire STAC functions as the state trauma performance improvement committee, this small work group provides guidance and prepares STAC for its deliberations. Each member possess expertise in trauma performance improvement and the use of injury data.

If you have questions regarding the STAC Performance Improvement Work Group, please contact the trauma system coordinator.