Developing and Organizing a Trauma System and Mass Casualty Management: Some Useful Observations from the Israeli Trauma Model

A trauma system is a chain of arrangements and preparedness to provide quality response to injured from the site of injury to the appropriate hospital for the full range of care. Israel has a unique trauma system developed from the experience gained in peace and in war. The system is designed to fit the state's current health system, which is different from the European and American systems. An effective trauma system may potentially manage mass casualty incidence better. The aim of this paper is to discuss learning points to develop a trauma system based on the Israeli trauma model. After participating in a course on developing a trauma system organized by a top Israeli trauma center, a literature search on the topic on the Internet was done using relevant key words like trauma system and disaster management in Israel using the Google search engine in the pubmed, open access journals and websites of trauma organizations. Israel has a unique trauma system of organizing and managing an emergency event, characterized by a central national organization responsible for management, coordination and ongoing quality control. Because of its unique geopolitical situation, the armed forces has a significant role in the system. Investing adequate resources on continuous education, manpower training, motivation, team-work and creation of public volunteers through advocacy is important for capacity building to develop a trauma system. Wisdom, motivation and pragmatism of the Israeli model may be useful to streamline work in skeletal trauma services of developing countries having fewer resources to bring consistency and acceptable standards in trauma care.