Injury Prevention and Outreach Program

Traumatic injuries are one of the leading causes of death in the United States and are the second most burdensome health care expense in the nation. Trauma can affect anyone. Whether it is a fall, gun violence, or a car crash, someone in the U.S. dies every three minutes from a trauma-related injury.

As a Level 1 Regional Resource Trauma Center, we conduct educational workshops and presentations about trauma awareness and injury prevention to the public. Our outreach program is dedicated to providing injury prevention education, awareness, and strategies to prevent unintentional injuries and deaths.

To schedule a presentation or event, email Sunny.Jackson@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.

Penn Medicine encourages the public to learn more about trauma prevention. Resources from the American Trauma Society, Pennsylvania Division are full of helpful information for audiences such as schools, scouts, senior citizen complexes, and churches.

Learn more about trauma prevention from these resources:

• Think First - National Injury Prevention Foundation
• Injury Free Coalition for Kids (IFC)
• American Trauma Society
• National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Geriatric medicine at Penn Medicine
• SafetyLit
• Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
• Society of Trauma Nurses (STN) Injury Prevention
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Coalition for National Trauma Research (CNTR)

Bleeding injuries are the second leading cause of trauma-related deaths in the country. Studies have shown that uncontrolled blood loss was the leading cause of preventable death among troops who died on the battlefield or in military treatment facilities. Excessive and uncontrolled bleeding can result in death in less than five minutes, often before trained responders are on the scene.

Penn Medicine’s Level 1 Trauma Center is part of a nationwide campaign, Stop the Bleed, to empower individuals to act quickly and save lives. The Stop the Bleed Campaign provides education to the local Philadelphia community with basic tools and information on the simple steps that can be taken in an emergency to stop life-threatening blood loss. Our first Stop the Bleed event was held at Lincoln Financial Field and provided more than 250 school nurses with hands-on training on how to stem bleeding through proper application of tourniquets, gauze packs, or bandages, and safely open an airway.

Since the nationwide launch of the campaign in 2015, organizations and businesses across the country, including the American Heart Association, the American College of Surgeons, the American Red Cross, and even airports, have signed on to teach civilians basic lifesaving techniques. In addition to offering training for the public, campaign supporters are working to make tourniquets and bleeding control kits commonplace in schools, stadiums, airports, malls, and other places to reduce casualties from mass attacks and bombings.

To learn more about Stop the Bleed, email InjuryPrevention@uphs.upenn.edu.