Trauma Research Program

One of the distinguishing characteristics of a Level I trauma program is the production of scholarly activity in the form of peer-reviewed publications. B+A can assist trauma centers in building, improving, and maintaining the research infrastructure and productivity for adult and pediatric trauma programs. This can be part of a Level II trauma center initiative to become a Level I trauma center (See Trauma Center Upgrade) or a response to a research deficiency in an existing Level I trauma program.

Trauma research requires long-term engagement by a core team of individuals at the trauma center, including trauma surgeons, trauma nurses, residents and medical students, and hospital research support staff. A trauma center must be continuously initiating research projects and generating research publications, as each research study will take a minimum of 12-months to move from study design through publication.

As consultants, we recognize that our involvement is not permanent. B+A can provide the structure and organization to start the research process, but our approach ultimately works directly with hospital staff to build the infrastructure for a sustainable research program. This involves the development of a research culture led by the trauma program. We have first-hand experience in watching how the quality of trauma care is escalated when trauma surgeons and other staff grow in their research involvement and begin applying research findings to their clinical practice.

We will work with your study site to identify the essential components that must be in place for a successful research program, which could include access to an IRB to review study protocols, dedicated research staff at the hospital to manage projects internally and to learn how to sustain the research program, library access to published research articles, involvement of at least one trauma surgeon in research, access to state and hospital trauma data, and commitment from the state for hosting a resident research paper competition.

Components of the Project

The components of a typical trauma research program development project may include the following:

• Organization of a core trauma research group to lead the process and troubleshoot institutional barriers for research.

• Identification of physicians, staff, or hospital partners with experience, training, or current engagement in research (including any staff needing to conduct research as part of their training or degree program).

• Assistance in identifying hospital staff with the knowledge and capability to perform statistical analysis. In the absence of such staff, we will assist in the hiring or contracting of personnel for this skill set.

• Assistance in writing IRB protocols and launching new research studies.

• Facilitating ongoing conversations with research teams to identify research ideas and determine which ideas are feasible as research studies.

• Execution of a sequential and orderly timeline for starting, conducting, and publishing the required number of research publications.

• Preparation of a budget to cover research costs related to staffing, contracting, and publication fees.

• Application of experience in research and publishing to curb research ideas that may not be publishable and to recognize study design flaws that must be resolved to ensure publication of the paper.

• Support to the study team to write, edit, or revise paper manuscripts (*specific terms apply to preserve integrity and transparency in the research and publication process).

• Training and mentoring trauma physicians and staff in the research and writing process.

• Involvement in initial ACS verification or remediation of research deficiency of Level I trauma centers.