Background

In early 2019, Te Tāhū Hauora Health Quality & Safety Commission (Te Tāhū Hauora) was contracted by the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) to support the National Trauma Network (the Network) to carry out quality improvement work within identified areas of need. The first priority was improving trauma care for critically bleeding patients, and the critical haemorrhage project commenced in January 2020. The three agencies worked in partnership with the New Zealand Blood Service, the Australian and New Zealand Massive Transfusion Registry, ambulance services and the-then district health boards with the aim of reducing mortality and complications in critically haemorrhaging trauma patients. They did this by:

• supporting hospitals to review and update existing massive transfusion protocols to meet current best-practice trauma care
• developing a national best-practice critical bleeding bundle of care for ambulance services and hospitals to adjust to their local context and implement
• developing associated national critical bleeding best-practice guidance.

The goal of this work is to support Aotearoa New Zealand health care providers with early recognition of and appropriate action for trauma-related critical haemorrhage across ambulance services, emergency departments, perioperative teams and intensive care units.

Dr Kerry Gunn was appointed clinical lead for the project. Kerry is an anaesthetist with a special interest in coagulopathy and massive haemorrhage management. He chaired the Auckland Blood Transfusion Committee and is a member of the steering committee for the Patient Blood Management Committee of the National Blood Authority (Australia) and the Australasian Massive Transfusion Registry. He is also a member of the Te Tāhū Hauora Perioperative Mortality Review Committee.

If you have any questions, please contact: help@majortrauma.nz