Dr. Natalie Yanchar

Injuries are the leading cause of death in children. My research focuses on reducing the burden of pediatric trauma through prevention, policy, and access to quality care.  Previous work facilitated policy development to reduce injuries from motor vehicle and all-terrain vehicle crashes.  Subsequent evaluation demonstrated that legislation (booster seats) works only for the former; however, efforts must now be targeted elsewhere for the latter.  Once a child is injured, regional trauma systems must get them to the right place for the right care.  Our work in the paradigm of "precision public health" involves defining “the right patient” who would fare best at a pediatric trauma center, using different contexts. Studying regional outcomes of “the right patient” and their access to care, relative to varying provincial trauma system comprehensiveness, will enable development of evidence-informed triage guidelines to ensure the appropriate and cost-effective care of injured children across the country.  Within southern Alberta, adolescents are treated for major trauma and common surgical diseases (e.g. appendicitis) in both adult and pediatric centers.  Evaluating where they fare best, from both clinical and family-centered perspectives, will enable development of regional triage guidelines that ensure their best outcomes.  Finally, we are prospectively identifying factors that predict the need of computed tomography for trauma in children; factors that will interplay with the need to triage to specialized pediatric care.