Non-doctors as trauma surgeons? A controlled study of trauma training for non-graduate surgeons in rural Cambodia.

INTRODUCTION Due to the accelerating global epidemic of trauma, efficient and sustainable models of trauma care that fit low-resource settings must be developed. In most low-income countries, the burden of surgical trauma is managed by non-doctors at local district hospitals. OBJECTIVE This study examined whether it is possible to establish primary trauma surgical services of acceptable quality at rural district hospitals by systematically training local, non-graduate, care providers. METHODS Seven district hospitals in the most landmine-infested provinces of Northwestern Cambodia were selected for the study. The hospitals were referral points in an established prehospital trauma system. During a four-year training period, 21 surgical care providers underwent five courses (150 minutes total) focusing on surgical skills training. In-hospital trauma deaths and post-operative infections were used as quality-of care indicators. Outcome indicators during the training period were compared against pre-intervention data. RESULTS Both the control and treatment populations had long prehospital transport times (three hours) and were severely injured (median Injury Severity Scale Score = 9). The in-hospital trauma fatality rate was low in both populations and not significantly affected by the intervention. The level of post-operative infections was reduced from 22.0% to 10.3% during the intervention (95% confidence interval for difference 2.8-20.2%). The trainees' self-rating of skills (Visual Analogue Scale) before and after the training indicated a significantly better coping capacity. CONCLUSIONS Where the rural hospital is an integral part of a prehospital trauma system, systematic training of non-doctors improves the quality of trauma surgery. Initial efforts to improve trauma management in low-income countries should focus on the district hospital.