Staff of the Bermuda Hospitals Board and community surgeons worked last week with a trauma specialist from a US facility to improve care and outcomes for patients on the island.

Kent Stevens, an associate professor of surgery at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, was joined by BHB staff from the emergency department, intensive care unit, surgery, pathology, pharmacy, imaging services and executive team.

Community surgeons were also part of the session to discuss service improvements for the island.

The BHB said that talks covered “a possible transatlantic clinical collaboration that will give local physicians access to Johns Hopkins specialists when managing the most challenging individual cases”.

It explained that the work was undertaken as part of the BHB’s clinical affiliation agreement with Johns Hopkins Medicine International.

Scott Pearman, the hospital board’s chief executive and president, said: “BHB’s vision is to pursue excellence through improvement, to make Bermuda proud and this week has seen our vision in action as we focused on improving trauma care for patients on island.

“We have amazing staff and community surgeons who work round the clock — literally — to save the lives of people injured through accidents, crashes, shootings and stabbings.

“All of us in Bermuda rely on these individuals if we experience a medical trauma and it’s great to see our clinical affiliation with Johns Hopkins Medicine International provide the support our local providers need as they work to make improvements.”

Anna Neilson-Williams, the acting chief of staff, added: “This has been a fantastic few days of work with all the BHB departments and external surgeons who are part of the trauma response teams working together with Johns Hopkins to improve care for our patients in Bermuda.

“When a patient is hurt due to an accident, crash or violent incident, there are many moving parts in the medical response.

“The timing of all of these parts coming together is critical in getting a patient diagnosed and treated efficiently and effectively.

“Following a traumatic incident, a fast response is often crucial to save their lives, whether they can be fully treated in Bermuda or require stabilisation before being sent overseas.

“Our focus has therefore very much been on how we can co-ordinate our response more effectively and quickly, and discussing solutions to the limitations of living on a small island where we don’t have on-the-ground specialists to cover every single trauma need.

“I’m looking forward to the next steps of working together to take all the issues, comments and ideas raised this week and turning them into improvements on the front line that will directly benefit our patients.”

Dr Stevens said it was a pleasure to visit Bermuda and meet healthcare professionals on the island.

He added: “I’ve been impressed with the facility and staff.

“Bermuda should already be proud, but in healthcare, improvements are always possible.

“I’ve been able to share knowledge about the quality standards and processes we use at Johns Hopkins and my experience of dealing with very similar issues faced by the teams here.

“I look forward to exploring additional opportunities to support local service improvements.”