RESEARCH

 

The Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center is one of 12 injury-control centers supported by the Centers for Disease Control in the country. Our faculty and staff are dedicated to conducting research aimed at diminishing the personal impact of trauma and broadening the effectiveness of injury prevention and trauma treatment programs regionally, nationally and globally.

Research at the Center spans the continuum of medical care, from epidemiological research to determine injury causes, to acute care of trauma patients in the emergency department, to rehabilitation in the hospital and home. The Center is divided into five sections, each devoted to an injury-control specialty: Epidemiology, Prevention, Biomechanics, Acute Care and Rehabilitation. 

Center studies are designed to:

  • Track the type, causes, treatment and consequences of injuries
  • Use epidemiological tools to identify risk factors for injury
  • Develop and evaluate new injury-prevention programs, using behavior change, community education, government action, and product- environment modification
  • Use the principles of biomechanics to study injury causes and treatment
  • Develop more effective ways to resuscitate and treat injury victims
  •  Improve rehabilitation strategies by identifying injury-related disability and long-term effects
  • Train new investigators in the field of injury research
  • Educate health professionals, policy makers, and the public about trauma’s magnitude, costs, and prevention

 
Learn more about our current research projects.

 

Pediatrics       Epidemiology
Surgery         Psychiatry

 

 

National Study Finds Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Is Common After Serious Injury

Researchers from the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center joined by colleagues from the University of Washington and John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that post-traumatic stress disorder and depression were very common among patients assessed one year after suffering a serious injury. They also found that injured patients diagnosed with PTSD or depression were six times more likely to not have returned to work in the year following the injury.  The U.S. study, published in September in the Annals of Surgery, was the largest ever to evaluate the connection between PTSD and traumatic injury.

 

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