title: Improvements in the management of trauma patients with the introduction of a lower limb trauma coordinator.
abstract: Mortality and morbidity from trauma continues to be a serious, ubiquitous public health problem. Our short communication reports on the benefits of a dedicated lower limb trauma coordinator (LLTC) to the trauma service of a busy inner-London Plastics unit. This is based on a retrospective case-note based audit; performed 19 months prior to the introduction of the LLTC and for 16 months after. After the introduction of a LLTC our statistical analysis demonstrated a significant improvement in trauma timings in terms of injury to referral time, time to first plastics operation and duration of inpatient stay. This suggests the use of a fully qualified nurse with an orthopaedic background as a coordinator may prove to be highly advantageous over a non-clinical administrator improving the overall journey of the lower limb trauma patient in the English National Health Service.
authors.affiliation: Department of ENT Surgery, Bimingham Children's Hospital, Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham B4 6NH, England.
authors.forename: Dulani
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mendis
authors.affiliation: Department of. Plastic Surgery, St George's NHS Trust, London SW17 0QT, England.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vesely
keywords: Lower Extremity; Trauma
references.citation: Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 2006 Mar;88(2):103-7
references.pmid: 16551394
references.citation: Br J Plast Surg. 1997 Dec;50(8):570-83
references.pmid: 9613398