The primary aim of the Trauma Reception & Resuscitation (TR&R®) project was to test the hypothesis that real time, computer-aided decision and action support would reduce the incidence of management errors for severely injured patients in the first 30 minutes after admission to an adult Trauma Centre.
The TR&R® System developed in Melbourne, Australia, provides hospital trauma teams with access to computerised decision support for the first 30 minutes of trauma management. The system depends on evidence-based medical algorithms. Patient data including vital signs, confirmed and/or unconfirmed diagnoses and treatments are entered into the TR&R® System directly from a monitor or by the Trauma Nurse Leader.
Based on this data, computerised algorithms prompt the Trauma Team in real time to confirm the state of the patient, perform procedures and administer drugs as well as assisting with diagnosing injuries.
The Trauma Team view prompts and patient data on a large overhead monitor mounted on the wall of the Trauma Bay. In this way, compliance with the algorithms is guided by real-time computer generated prompts linked to real-time data collection.
TR&R® Project software advances decision support by collecting data in real time and allowing detection of response to decision support prompts. Such an approach allows iterative validation of the decision support system’s performance and identification of details about clinician performance not found in other quality improvement processes.