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The Uniformed Services University (USU) in Bethesda, Maryland, through its National Institute for Defense Health Cooperation (NIDHC), is partnering with the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to save lives on America’s roadways with prehospital blood transfusions.
USU has signed an Interagency Agreement with NHTSA aimed at supporting improvements in emergency medical services, 911, and post-crash care. This joint effort between USU’s NIDHC and NHTSA’s Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS) will improve motor vehicle post-crash survival rates while advancing our Nation’s medical readiness for other events in which trauma patients may require more robust prehospital care.
As NHTSA’s Chief Counsel, Peter Simshauser, indicated in his Road to Zero Annual Meeting remarks, “We know how critical post-crash care is to survival. Research shows that prehospital blood transfusion decreases mortality among trauma patients with severe bleeding by 37%. So, we’re partnering with the Department of War. This partnership will launch the largest federally-sponsored prehospital blood transfusion project ever undertaken, with the aim to create at least 25 new prehospital blood transfusion programs throughout the country in the next three years.”
Over the next several years, NIDHC and OEMS will facilitate the development of prehospital blood programs at sites across the U.S. Ultimately, this work will provide a clear path to greater and faster access to blood transfusion at the scene of a crash and to improved post-crash care on all of our Nation’s roadways.
The program will leverage NIDHC’s Joint Disaster Medicine and Public Health Ecosystem, which is composed of leading medical, academic, and research institutions from across the nation.
“This is not the first time, nor will it be the last, that the Departments of War and Transportation work together to translate lifesaving innovations from the military to the civilian medical community,” NIDHC Executive Director Dr. Jeff Freeman said. “NHTSA has a history of leaning forward in this way and countless lives have been saved because of it.”
”NHTSA’s Office of EMS and National 911 Program appreciate the partnership of NIDHC,” said Gamunu “Gam” Wijetunge, Director of NHTSA’s OEMS. “The resources and support for this effort will advance prehospital blood transfusion ⎯ a proven clinical intervention ⎯ and reduce the number of lives lost after a motor vehicle crash.”
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