AfterTrauma is a website that provides information and support for survivors of traumatic injury and their families to help them rebuild lives and support each other after experiencing a traumatic injury. The website also contains an on-line forum for survivors to connect with each other, a range of survivor stories and videos, and a platform for patients to connect with researchers via Public and Patient Involvement activities.
The information provided for AfterTrauma comes from clinicians and support services working in trauma care within all of London's major trauma networks and from trauma practitioners around the UK.
Supported Self Management for trauma survivors
There are currently two supported self management resources in development in the London Major Trauma System which are designed the help survivors of traumatic injury recover. AfterTrauma is developing a digital recovery tool, which will be an on-line web application which trauma patients, their families and clinicians can access. Bridges are developing a paper-based set of books for trauma survivors and training sessions for clinicians building on their previous self-management programs.
Developing a peer-support tool for people and families after trauma: Bridges Self-Management and St. Georges Major Trauma Centre
Whilst major trauma centres are delivering high quality acute care, there is a high level of long-term unmet needs in patients with multiple injuries. The Bridges team are working with staff, patients and their families and friends at St George’s Hospital Major Trauma Centre, to develop a new support tool for people after trauma. This work is funded by the Major Trauma Fund, part of St. George’s Hospital Charity ‘Giving to St. George’s’, and builds on our earlier work in this area.
Bridges have completed focus groups with people who have experienced a traumatic injury and heard their different experiences of life after trauma. The team have listened to their opinions about what the support tool could look like and contain, based on our other tools in stroke, TBI and long-term conditions. Bridges have started to interview people who have agreed to share their stories, tips and ideas that will make up the new content for the workbooks.
The Bridges team are aiming to produce a prototype book by the end of 2016. When the advisory group are happy with the final book, they will print copies that will first be made available to patients and families at St. George’s Hospital Major Trauma Centre. Thereafte they will be available to clinical teams through their bespoke training packages.
If you have any questions about this project, please contact: lucinda@bridgesselfmanagement.org.uk.
More information can be found here
AfterTrauma Recovery app
The Centre for Trauma Sciences (C4TS) has received a grant from Barts Charity to further improve the usefulness of AfterTrauma by using it to host an on-line supported Self-Management Program (SMP) for trauma survivors. C4TS works closely with the Royal London Hospital Major Trauma Centre as their primary clinical partner.
Supported self-management programs aim to educate people about their health condition and care, motivate them to care for themselves in the best possible way (eg coaching, goal setting), and provide them with techniques and tools to enable them to do that (eg connecting with peers). Patients and carer's sharing their stories and learning from each other'sexperiences, like the Survivor Stories on AfterTrauma, are an important a part of these programs.
There are lots of different models of SMPs, most of them for long term conditions such as chronic pain and diabetes. You can read about many of them here. So far, there is only one on-line SMP set up specifically for survivors of multiple traumatic injuries, and that is Next Steps in America.
The SMP is being co-produced with former trauma patients from across the UK.A group of 13 patients, mostly based in London, has been established but the AfterTrauma team are always looking for more contributors to help them develop the SMP content, and make the best use of web-based technology to help survivors and their families improve their recovery experience. If you are interested in finding out more, please contact Jacqueline Rappoport
Click here to visit AfterTrauma
London Air Ambulance
London Air Ambulance (LAA) have produced a booklet documenting the stories of 10 trauma survivors, with the objective of giving severely injured patients and their families hope. You can download it here. If you'd like to be involved with the service or know more about LAA, please contact their outreach officer Frank Chege
