INJURY SUPPORT INITIATIVE FOR GUATEMALA TRAUMA (INSIGHT)

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INJURY SUPPORT INITIATIVE FOR GUATEMALA TRAUMA (INSIGHT) Summary Abstract: Traumatic injury is now a major burden on the health of the Guatemalan people. Interpersonal violence is the second leading cause of Disability-adjusted Life Years (DALYs) in Guatemala, and homicide, suicide, conflict and unintentional injuries account for an estimated 900 thousand years of life lost due to premature mortality. 1,2. There is a need to understand the impact of trauma in Guatemala and to create targeted health policy initiatives to relieve this burden on the health of the country. The INjury Support Initiative for Guatemala Trauma (INSIGHT) project will establish an international collaboration between the University of Pittsburgh and the Strategic Planning unit of the Hospital San Juan de Dios (HSJDD) in Guatemala under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Health and Meditech/Guatemala, creating a dynamic, self-sustainable trauma information system (TIS) for the two main trauma care hospitals in Guatemala City. INSIGHT will draw on diverse expertise to build a fully integrated program incorporating several capacity-building elements: continued education of local IT talent in Guatemala; development of IT support for trauma information systems; continued education in clinical research methods for medical trainees, including training in data management, data analyses, study design, and scientific writing; and most importantly, health policy development. INSIGHT will generate new policies, guidelines, protocols and educational programs that will be promulgated at the level of the Minister of Health (MH). At the end of this study, we will have built a new entity for trauma care quality control, currently non-existing in these two main trauma care facilities in Guatemala charged with strengthening injury and trauma research; co- integrated by faculty, mentors and by health policy makers from the Ministry of Health. Our recent experience in Guatemala indicates that the most effective method of securing government support is to demonstrate the value of these data collection tools by having a direct link with the MH. This is a unique strategy solution essential for the creation of a sustainable platform for injury research and future trauma systems development for Guatemala.