Original Title: Portrait du réseau québécois de traumatologie : 2016 à 2022

Authors' objectives: The Institut national d’excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS) is mandated to plan, coordinate, and carry out the performance evaluation of the 59 acute care facilities designated for trauma care in Québec. Through regular evaluation cycles, quality and performance reports containing descriptive statistics and quality indicators are generated for each facility. The 6th evaluation cycle took place from September 2023 to August 2024, and each designated trauma facility received its quality and performance report along with its data covering the period from 2016 to 2022.

Authors' results and conclusions: RESULTS (#1 INCREASE IN ADMISSIONS TO DESIGNATED TRAUMA FACILITIES): A 22% increase in annual admission volume was observed for the period 2016– 2022 in the designated facilities, compared to the 5th evaluation cycle (April 2013–March 2016), with approximately 23,000 patients admitted per year in the recent period. (#2 DECREASE IN PEDIATRIC ADMISSIONS BETWEEN 2016 AND 2022): Pediatric patients aged 15 and under accounted for 8% of all admissions in the trauma network between 2016 and 2022, with the proportion declining steadily each year during this period. The vast majority (93%) of admitted pediatric patients had minor injuries. (#3 INCREASE IN DIRECT PATIENT TRANSFERS TO THE DEFINITIVE CARE FACILITY): Ambulance remained the primary mode of transport from the trauma site to the hospital (for 75% of patients), a stable proportion when compared to the 5th cycle (74%). (#4 HIGH COMPLIANCE FOR CERTAIN PROCESSES IN DESIGNATED FACILITIES): For secondary and primary facilities, the transfer of spinal cord injury patients to a specialized centre was the PI with the highest average compliance (90%). (#5 PROCESSES THAT COULD BE IMPROVED IN DESIGNATED FACILITIES): • Secondary and primary facilities showed lower average compliance for: – administration of antibiotic prophylaxis for open fractures (37% overall, but observed mostly in secondary facilities); – emergency department stay ≤ 4 hours for severely injured patients (44%). (#6 COMPLIANCE WITH INDICATORS OF LOW-VALUE CLINICAL PRACTICE): • The use of low-value clinical practices was higher in primary-level facilities, except for whole-body CT scans. (#7 ON-TRACK HEALTH OUTCOMES AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE): • Low in-hospital mortality was observed among patients admitted to designated trauma facilities, with an average death percentage of 5.7% (for tertiary and regional secondary facilities) and 4.4% (secondary and primary facilities). CONCLUSION: This portrait highlights the strong performance of designated trauma facilities in Québec. While certain processes warrant improvement within the network, the designated facilities generally maintain good health outcomes. The profile of trauma patients between 2016 and 2022 confirms a trend observed across the healthcare system: an aging patient population.

Authors' methods: The Système d’information du Registre des traumatismes du Québec (SIRTQ, the Québec Trauma Registry Information System) and the hospitalization database (MEDECHO) were used to: 1) identify all patients admitted with a traumatic injury to any of the 59 designated trauma facilities between April 1, 2016, and March 31, 2022; and 2) obtain information on patients and their care episodes.

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: https://www.inesss.qc.ca/publications/repertoire-des-publications/publication/portrait-du-reseau-quebecois-de-traumatologie-2016-a-2022.html

Year Published: 2025

URL for published report: https://www.inesss.qc.ca/fileadmin/doc/INESSS/Rapports/Traumatologie/Portrait_traumatologie_EP_INESSS.pdf

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Other

Country: Canada

Province: Quebec

Organisation Name: Institut national d'excellence en sante et en services sociaux

Contact Address: L'Institut national d'excellence en sante et en services sociaux (INESSS) , 2021, avenue Union, bureau 10.083, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3A 2S9;Tel: 1+514-873-2563, Fax: 1+514-873-1369

Contact Name: demande@inesss.qc.ca

Contact Email: demande@inesss.qc.ca

Copyright: L'Institut national d'excellence en sante et en services sociaux (INESSS)