BHB and Hopkins are working to improve trauma care

Bermuda Hospitals Board (BHB) Community staff and surgeons worked last week with a Johns Hopkins trauma specialist, Dr. Kent Stevens, to improve care and outcomes for trauma patients in Bermuda.

This work is undertaken as part of BHBs clinical affiliation agreement with Johns Hopkins Medicine International.

Dr. Stevens was joined by BHB staff from the Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit, Surgery, Pathology, Pharmacy, Imaging Services and the Executive Team and community surgeons to discuss local service improvements and a possible transatlantic clinical collaboration that will deliver local doctors access to Johns Hopkins. specialists in handling the most difficult individual cases.”

CEO and President Scott Pearman comments: “BHB’s vision is to pursue excellence through improvement, to make Bermuda proud and this week we saw our vision in action as we focused on improving trauma care for patients from the island. We have amazing staff and community surgeons working around the clock – literally – to save the lives of people injured in crashes, accidents, shootings and stabbings. All of us in Bermuda rely on these individuals if we experience medical trauma and it is great to see our clinical affiliation with Johns Hopkins Medicine International providing the support our local providers are working to make improvements.”

Acting chief of staff, Dr. Anna Neilson-Williams, adds: “It has been a fantastic few days working with all BHB departments and the external surgeons who are part of the trauma response teams working with Johns Hopkins to improve the care of our patients. in Bermuda.

“When a patient is injured from an accident, accident or violent incident, there are many moving parts in the medical response. The moment when all these parts come together is essential for the patient to be diagnosed and treated effectively and efficiently. Following a traumatic incident, a rapid response is often crucial to saving their lives, whether they can be fully treated in Bermuda or require stabilization before being sent overseas.

“Therefore, our focus has been very much on how we can coordinate our response more efficiently and quickly and discuss solutions to the limitations of living on a small island where we don’t have specialists on the ground to cover every need trauma. . I look forward to the next steps of working together to address all the issues, comments and ideas raised this week and turn them into frontline improvements that will directly benefit our patients.”

Dr. Stevens comments, “It was truly a pleasure to visit Bermuda and meet with local health professionals to improve the trauma pathway. I was impressed with the facility and the staff. Bermuda should already be proud, but in healthcare, improvement is always possible. I was able to share knowledge about the quality standards and processes we use at Johns Hopkins and my experience dealing with very similar issues that teams here face. I look forward to exploring further opportunities to support the improvement of local services.”

Mr Pearman concludes: “The trauma care pathway is one of the many care pathways we are working to improve at BHB. The core of this work is to collaborate with other providers and patients in Bermuda to make improvements that make a real difference to patient experience and outcomes. To date, we have developed integrated care pathways for stroke, breast cancer and prostate cancer. Johns Hopkins is currently helping to develop improved trauma and burn pathways at this time, in the same way that this partnership helped BHB establish its flagship stroke center program.”

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