Connecticut Administrative Code › Title 19a - Public Health and Well-being › 177 - Statewide Trauma System › Section 19a-177-1 - Definitions

Current through July 10, 2024
As used in section 19a-177-1 to
				19a-177-9,
				inclusive, of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies:
(1) "Department" means the Department of
			 Public Health;
(2) "EMS Advisory
			 Board" means the advisory committee on emergency medical services established
			 pursuant to section
			 19a-177(a)
			 of the Connecticut General Statutes;
(3) "Glasgow Coma Scale" or "GCS" means a
			 standard and generally accepted scoring system for assessing a patient's level
			 of consciousness based on eye opening and response, verbal response, and motor
			 response. The higher the total point score, the better the patient's
			 neurological status;
(4) "Hospital"
			 means an acute care hospital having facilities, medical staff and all necessary
			 personnel to provide diagnosis, care, and treatment of a wide range of acute
			 conditions, including injuries;
(5)
			 "Protocol" means a written instrument that guides the collection of data
			 regarding the patient, provides for actions to be taken based on the collected
			 data, and provides for a minimum level of safe practice in specific
			 situations;
(6) "Trauma" means a
			 wound or injury to the body caused by accident, violence, shock, or pressure,
			 excluding poisoning, drug overdose, smoke inhalation, and drowning;
(7) "Traumatic brain injury" means damage to
			 the brain tissue and any combination of focal and diffuse central nervous
			 system dysfunction, both immediate or delayed, at the brain stem level and
			 above. Such damage and dysfunctions are sustained through the application of
			 external forces including, but not limited to, blows to the head, falls,
			 vehicular crashes, assaults, sports accidents, intrauterine and birth injuries,
			 and violent movement of the body. Such damage and dysfunctions are not
			 developmental or degenerative, and not associated with aging;
(8) "Trauma facility" means a hospital that
			 has met the requirements as prescribed in section
			 19a-177-4
			 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies and has received such
			 designation from the Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS) in accordance
			 with section
			 19a-177-3
			 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies;
(9) "Trauma registry" means a statewide data
			 base to provide information to analyze and evaluate the quality of care of
			 trauma patients and includes all admitted trauma patients, all trauma patients
			 who died, all trauma patients who are transferred, and all traumatic brain
			 injury patients.
(10) "Trauma
			 system" means an organized approach to providing care to trauma patients that
			 provides personnel, facilities, and equipment for effective and coordinated
			 trauma care. The trauma system: identifies facilities with specific
			 capabilities to provide care, triages trauma victims at the scene, requires
			 that all trauma victims be sent to an appropriate trauma facility, and collects
			 and analyzes data for evaluation of the system. The trauma system includes
			 prevention, prehospital care, hospital care, rehabilitation, data collection,
			 and evaluation; and,
(11)
			 "Verification" means a review process carried out in accordance with section
			 19a-177-4
			 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies.