The creation of a city trauma center in Vitebsk has improved medical care for the population

The Head of the Center, Andrey Zheleznyak, is an experienced traumatologist. He worked for 31 years at the Vitebsk Emergency Hospital alone, 14 of which he headed the trauma department. After the center was established, he did not have to change clinics, as it operates on the basis of the healthcare institution «Vitebsk Emergency Hospital» and includes three departments: an emergency room for urgent outpatient care, a trauma department for inpatient treatment, and a consultative trauma office, to which city polyclinics refer patients in complex cases.

— Polyclinics do not always have a traumatologist on staff; a surgeon works there, — says Andrey Vasilyevich. — The emergency hospital has all the necessary equipment and personnel to clarify the diagnosis, determine further treatment tactics, including indications for hospitalization and surgical intervention, and resolve expert issues. This approach allows us to avoid scattering resources and maintain a high level of medical care quality.

An experienced traumatologist consults in advisory office No. 105 of the admission department from Monday to Friday, from 9 AM to 3 PM. In 2014, 2714 people sought help here, and in the 9 months of the current year, there have already been 2821. Doctors of the center also provide consultative assistance in other city hospitals. Currently, within the walls of the trauma center based at the Emergency Hospital, everything that may be required by patients is performed: from applying a simple plaster cast immobilization, wound dressing, removal of the Ilizarov apparatus to high-tech and very complex surgical interventions for single- and double-pole hip joint replacement. The operating rooms were equipped with modern respiratory and anesthesia equipment, and an electronic image intensifier for intraoperative X-ray control with a low radiation dose during the reconstruction of the hospital's main building. As needed, equipment is purchased or replaced.

In the inpatient department of the center, 1393 people underwent treatment from January to September, 78 of whom had hip joint replacement surgery, and 2 had knee joint replacement surgery. The latter operation is a new type of care mastered by Vitebsk medics with the participation of colleagues from the Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Traumatology and Orthopedics. According to the chief physician of the Healthcare Institution "Vitebsk City Emergency Hospital" Sergey Lazary, this area is promising for the hospital. Here, they are ready at any moment to join the implementation of the state program for knee joint replacement.

Regarding hip joint replacement, such interventions are already mass-produced within a similar program. Since 2010, they have been performed for emergency indications for injured patients, and then the program transitioned to treating planned orthopedic patients. This year, there are no delays in the supply of high-quality prostheses of Belarusian production. 130 patients have been called for prosthetics, with 238 people remaining on the waiting list; the waiting time has been reduced from 2.5 to 1.5 years. Moreover, re-prosthetics for those whose joints were replaced five years ago are on the horizon, as even metal is not eternal.

Unfortunately, although not rapidly, our травматизм (traumatism/injury rate) is growing. Last year, 33,614 people passed through the trauma center of the healthcare institution "Vitebsk City Clinical Emergency Hospital," and in the first three quarters of the current year, 25,608 people. According to Andrey Zheleznyak, at least a thousand patients are added annually. While industrial травматизм is decreasing, domestic травматизм is only increasing. With the growth in the number of vehicles, the number of road traffic accidents with casualties is also increasing, especially recently among those who use motorcycles and mopeds. Therefore, in Andrey Vasilyevich's opinion, the creation of a city trauma center made sense. Otherwise, it would be impossible to cope with such a flow of patients. Now, the task for traumatologists is to reduce the level of temporary disability and the initial onset of disability among patients. These indicators represent not just the saving of state funds, but the fates of specific individuals.

Vera Murashkina. Photos by Oleg Klimovich. "Vitbichi".