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Planning
In
1990, the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (now
Department of Health) approved Hillsborough County's Trauma Plan to establish
the HCTA. This document, required for the formation of a trauma agency,
describes how the trauma system will be administered: the organizational
structure of the agency; the trauma system structure; the area and population
to be served; the agency's fiscal impact on the system; agency income
and anticipated expenses; transportation system design; provisions for
prehospital care management guidelines for triage and transportation of
cases; medical control and accountability of all hospital and prehospital
providers; EMS communications; mass casualty and disaster plan coordination;
data collection and system evaluation methodologies; and proposed public
information and educational program efforts. Trauma plans must be updated
every five years. Hillsborough's Trauma Plan
was last revised in 2005.
The HCTA
conducts monthly countywide trauma audit committee (TAC) meetings in a
confidential forum to address the quality of hospital and prehospital
provider trauma care, including the overall performance and coordination
of the trauma care system. Designated representatives from the prehospital
and hospital community attend. This body is the only avenue where all
prehospital, hospital, rehabilitation and emergency medical dispatch providers
can frankly and confidentially discuss trauma care system issues that
affect operational activities, promote smooth and efficient patient care
through the range of all services, and air and resolve grievances. These
meetings, which are exempt from Florida's
Sunshine Laws, promote better coordination and cooperation among EMS,
trauma centers and the area hospitals which ultimately improve trauma
care delivered to the citizens and visitors of Hillsborough County.
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