Rural and Community Health Institute Research Highlights

In June 2003, the Texas A&M Health Science Center established the Rural and Community Health Institute, which strives to partner with rural and community health facilities, clinics, and physicians to provide a variety of educational programs that strengthen and assure quality and patient safety. The institute targets healthcare delivery services, establishes database management and analysis, and conducts policy research that may be difficult for small facilities to accomplish alone.

Among its many research efforts, HSC-RCHI is creating a Trauma Registry and Research Database in collaboration with the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research and Altarum.

With advances in battlefield medical care and personal armament for soldiers, survivability for injured soldiers is at an all-time high. However, many survivors are faced with recovering from severe traumatic injuries, and there is no methodology that can accurately assess the trauma being faced in today's conflicts, nor a soldier's treatment and recovery from those wounds over time. The Trauma Registry and Research Database is designed to fill this gap, as well as assist in rural trauma care.