HMC’s national accident injury database helps improve care

Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is maintaining a national database for accident injuries, in collaboration with the National Trauma Data Bank of the American College of Surgeons, a senior official has said.Dr Hassan al-Thani, head of Trauma and Vascular Surgery Sections of Hamad General Hospital, told local Arabic daily Arrayah that the data is used to generate statistics, such as identifying the main causes of accidents and injuries in Qatar and to work on minimising their occurrence.The information is also utilised for scientific research contributing to the improvement of provided care, determining priorities for accident prevention, identifying the categories most susceptible to various injuries, and aiming to raise awareness, reduce the chances of accidents, and to co-ordinate with relevant authorities.The Hamad Trauma Center receives around 3,000 patients annually with varying degrees of severity, ranging from critical to moderate and minor cases. Around 2,000 to 2,300 cases are admitted to various departments to provide appropriate clinical care and necessary treatment.Dr Hassan al-Thani stressed that critical and severe cases are admitted to the intensive care unit for accidents. Cases requiring immediate surgical intervention are transferred to the operating room, to stop bleeding and to treat injuries to save lives.The moderate cases are admitted to the Accident Surgery, Orthopaedic Surgery, Neurosurgery or other relevant departments, depending on the specialisation required and depending on the nature of the injuries. Around 600 to 700 minor cases are given radiological screening to confirm the absence of severe injuries, provided with the necessary care and sent home on the same day.Many patients received by the Hamad Trauma Center suffer from multiple injuries to different parts of the body, such as head, chest, abdomen, spine and limbs. As for the primary causes of injuries received at the centre, he stated that they vary, including various road accidents and work-related injuries, such as falls from heights and injuries resulting from fall of heavy objects.