Trauma Association of Canada 2009 presidential address: trauma ultrasound in Canada--have we lost a generation?

On the occasion of the third joint meeting of the Trauma Association of Canada (TAC) and the Australasian Trauma Society, there remain innumerable challenges to be tackled in eradicating preventable death in both our societies. In Canada, the personnel, structure, and processes to take on these challenges currently exist under the auspices of TAC. Healthy, growing, relevant, and especially committed are descriptors appropriate to the current status of TAC. This was not always the case though, and the very survivability of TAC was in question as recently as the onset of this new millennium. The first joint meeting of TAC and the Australasian Trauma Society occurred in 2001, in Darling Harbor, Australia and was a notable event coinciding with a relative rebirth in the health of TAC as an organization. The Annual Scientific meetings have been growing every year since, not only in attendance but also in the quality and number of scientific presentations. This rebirth owes much to every TAC member in general, but past presidents Van WijngaardenStevens, Kortbeek, Simons, and Brenneman in particular. The TAC accreditation/verification committee in particular is one of the most dedicated committees. This group has now graduated to the stage of verifying regional systems across large areas of Canada. In terms of how to best to save lives that are otherwise needlessly lost, this may be the most crucial way to reach out to the population at risk. There are now verified trauma centers and systems that stretch from coast to coast. Past President, Richard Simons, is the current winner of the McLaughlin-Gallie award of the Royal College, an incredibly prestigious award, for his work on trauma systems. TAC now has a memorandum of understanding with Accreditation Canada, the leading independent accreditor of Canadian hospitals.1 Currently, TAC and Accreditation Canada are evaluating each other regarding a goal of one day amalgamating to increase the efficiency of trauma verification across the country. TAC now has a host of active committees working on prevention, performance improvement and patient safety, guidelines, international, pediatric, publications, and Canadian forces liaison issues, as well as many active research initiatives.2 An organization does not get better by focusing on what it is good at, however. It also needs to look to its weaknesses to truly improve. Unfortunately, one of the organizational weaknesses of TAC is a total lack of any position on trauma ultrasound (US).