Trauma & Emergency Health Care Resources

A Resource Library for Trauma & Emergency Health Care Professionals

Trauma Resources

Trauma Center Designation Guide for Hospital Executives

The Trauma Division developed a guide to help hospital executives understand why trauma center designation is important, their role in the process, and how it is achieved and maintained.

Trauma Activation Guidelines

The Trauma Division developed a publication focusing on trauma team activations. The publication provides sample policies from several Texas hospitals, criteria for trauma team activation, and development of hospital policies.

Texas Trauma Registrar

The Texas Trauma Coordinators Forum’s Trauma Registrar Committee’s website  features access to data dictionaries, education, and other resources to maintain the highest quality of data in your facility’s trauma registry.

Burn Clinical Practice Guideline

TETAF published the Burn Clinical Practice Guideline to provide clinical guidance for Texas hospitals regarding the treatment of burn patients.

National Burn Repository 2019 Update

The American Burn Association (ABA) released its National Burn Repository 2019 Update that includes a Report of Data from 2009-2018.

Best Practices Guidelines for Trauma Center Recognition of Child Abuse, Elder Abuse, and Intimate Partner Violence

The Best Practices Guidelines for Trauma Center Recognition was published by ACS Trauma Quality Improvement Program (TQIP) along with The Committee on Trauma and The American College of Surgeons.

Telemedicine in Rural Trauma Facilities

The Health Facility Compliance Guidance Letter from the Texas Health and Human Services provides instruction to hospitals in counties with a population of less than 30,000 on the use of telemedicine medical services to satisfy a Level IV trauma facility designation requirement.

ACS Trauma Quality Programs - Best Practices Guideline for Acute Pain Management in Trauma Patients

ACS Trauma Quality Programs released the Best Practices Guideline for Acute Pain Management in Trauma Patients in November 2020. Click here to view the guideline.

Trauma Lecture Files

TETAF provides complimentary access to The Electronic Library of Trauma Lectures® by the Society of Trauma Nurses. Each presentation contains learning objectives, a detailed lecture format with built-in instructor notes, and discussion questions. Additionally, there are post-test questions and answers for each presentation that may be used for self-assessment purposes.

Section 1 General Concepts

Section 2 Clinical Concepts

Section 3 Single Systems

Section 4 Unique Populations

What is Trauma-Informed Care?

Learn more about the benefits of trauma-informed care and how to become a trauma-informed organization from the Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc.

Pediatric Resources

Pediatric Transfer Toolkit Available

TETAF has been authorized to share the Inter Facility Transfer Toolkit for the Pediatric Patient toolkit. The nationally developed downloadable resource is based on hospital best practices and current literature. More than 10,000 children are transferred annually to access higher levels of care and specialty services. Such moves are stressful for the patient and his/her family as well as for caregivers and facilities. The Inter Facility Transfer Toolkit for the Pediatric Patient toolkit provides resources to support the establishment of agreements or memorandums of understanding to facilitate transfer of children to specialty resources when need.

Organized in 10 sections, the toolkit will aid in the development of pediatric transfer guidelines to assist staff to accomplish a safe and timely transfer. Content is based on the best practices at hospitals across the U.S. and the current literature.

The downloadable toolkit was developed by the Emergency Nurse Association Pediatrics Committee, the Pediatric Special Interest Group of the Society of Trauma Nurses and EMS for Children National Resource Center.

Geriatric Resources

The incidence of geriatric trauma admissions is increasing. Texas trauma care providers should be aware of the differences in the triage and management of this patient population. Health care providers with additional knowledge and training in the principles of geriatric medicine will ensure this population receives optimal patient-centered care. The links below provide research, nationally accepted guidelines, protocols, tool development and best practices.