HMC’s Trauma Center launches Research Grants on Injury Prevention

Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Trauma Center at Hamad General Hospital (HGH) has begun two important research studies aimed at raising awareness of the prevention of road traffic and workplace injuries in Qatar.

As part of the launch, research collaborators in each of the respective grants held their first meeting to discuss various aspects of the research studies including objectives, methodologies, timelines and expectations.

The Trauma Center was recently awarded over US$1.7 million in research grants by the Qatar National Research Fund’s National Priorities Research Program (NPRP) for the two research studies: Young Kids in Safe Seats (Y-KISS) Qatar Project: A Randomized Study to Increase Child Restraint Use in Qatar and A Unified Registry for Workplace Injury Prevention in Qatar.

The research collaborators include representatives from HMC, the Supreme Council of Health, the Primary Health Care Corporation, the Ministry of Labor, Qatar Red Crescent and the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit (JH-IIRU) of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health based in Baltimore, United States.

Speaking at the launch of the NPRP grants, Dr. Hassan Al Thani, Head of HMC’s Trauma Center said: “The two research grants are an important embodiment of our firm belief that our most important work must take place outside of the confines of the operating theater, emergency room and intensive care unit. By that same token, our collective participation demonstrates our understanding of the need for multi-sector collaboration and support to prevent road traffic and workplace injuries in Qatar. We welcome the expertise, wisdom, resolve and dedication of our collaborators towards making our roads and workplaces safer.”

“The Y-KISS study will analyze the risk factors for child passenger injury in order to inform targeted educational programs for families with the aim of increasing the use of child restraints and promoting children’s safety on the roads,” said Dr. Ruben Peralta, Senior Consultant Surgeon and Director of HMC’s Trauma and Critical Care Fellowship Program, an international expert in road safety and lead principal investigator of the study.

Dr. Rafael Consunji, Director of the Hamad Injury Prevention Program at HGH and lead principal investigator of the unified registry grant said: “The creation of a unified registry for workplace injury prevention will help us in identifying the complex factors that lead to occupational or workplace injuries, and will inform all relevant stakeholders of areas or factors that need to be addressed or corrected to reduce the burden of workplace injuries.”

“The JH-IIRU is dedicated to finding effective solutions to the growing burden of injuries globally,” said JH-IIRU Director Professor Adnan Hyder, adding: “We are pleased to be a part of these two very important initiatives and a partner for high quality research in Qatar.”