Trauma clinical trials at UCLA

Traumatic injury and inadequate follow-up care are a significant cause of morbidity and 10% of all deaths in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In Cameroon, ~50% of all emergency department (ED) visits are due to traumatic injury, which is likely only ~60% of all traumatic injuries. In the subset of patients who seek care, follow-up after discharge can save lives, yet is uncommon due to both supply-side (e.g., under-resourced health systems, poor data) and demand-side (e.g., poverty) barriers, resulting in preventable complications after discharge (e.g., sepsis, osteomyelitis). Consequently, better follow-up care of trauma patients is a neglected, but high-yield opportunity to improve injury outcomes, especially when coupled with mobile health technologies (mHealth) to better predict and implement post-discharge care, preventing disability and death. Thus, in this study, the investigators will scale up an existing trauma registry and expand use of a mHealth screening tool (triage tool). At 10 hospitals, the investigators will implement a trauma registry and mHealth tool and evaluate success in a mixed-methods study; a quantitative prospective cohort of all eligible injured patients will be followed for 6 months after discharge and an inductive qualitative study.