Collaborative Efforts

	HIPRC Overview Overview Injury Prevention at Work Acute Care Biomechanics Epidemiology Rehabilitation Collaborative Efforts

As the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center (HIPRC) grows, so does its collaboration with local, state and national public health organizations and government agencies. Following are descriptions of some of the mutually beneficial partnerships forged in the HIPRC's first decade.

Washington Traffic Safety Commission -- From this research and advocacy partnership, the HIPRC has gained valuable information on motor vehicle collisions, older drivers, motorcyclists, and driving under the influence of alcohol. The Commission, in turn, has used these research results to support important statewide traffic-safety measures.

Seattle Police Department -- As part of the HIPRC's pedestrian safety research and prevention program, the Center has worked closely with the Seattle Police Department to evaluate enforcement efforts among drivers who violate pedestrian crosswalk laws. This partnership also produced the country's first evaluation of a gun buy-back program. They are now evaluating youth violence prevention programs and domestic violence interventions, and are embarking on a community-wide effort to promote the safe storage of handguns.

Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center -- In addition to guiding rehabilitation research, the Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center has collaborated with the HIPRC to study 20 years of data related to child drownings in three Western Washington counties, and consulted the HIPRC in establishing a community campaign on child drowning prevention. Other joint prevention efforts include bicycle helmet promotion and pedestrian safety.

State and local health departments -- Both the Division of Health of the Seattle/King County Health Department and the state Department of Social and Health Services provided initial funding for the HIPRC, and the Center was instrumental in establishing an injury control program at the state level. This ongoing partnership supports a state injury prevention coordinator at the HIPRC who offers technical assistance to health departments throughout Washington state.

Washington State Medical Association -- The Washington State Medical Association has supported the Center's research, public policy, and prevention efforts, including passage of Washington state's motorcycle helmet law, and the HIPRC's alcohol prevention/teen drinking and driving program. The association also sponsored the physician component of the Washington Children's Bicycle Helmet Campaign and has played a key role in involving physicians statewide in injury control efforts.

King County Medical Examiner's Office -- The chief medical examiner, and his colleagues in the King County Medical Examiner's Office have been a vital part of the HIPRC since its inception. Located at Harborview Medical Center, the office has jurisdiction in all deaths in King County and conducts post-mortem examinations on virtually all victims of trauma.

Collaborations include the ecological comparisons of firearm laws and risk of violent death in King County and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; an investigation of the relationship between home ownership of guns and risk of violent death; the effects of alcohol on outcome from trauma; and the correlation between the biomechanics of motor-vehicle crashes and the pattern of victim injury.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

In 1985, the National Academy of Sciences published Injury in America, a report calling on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to spearhead the development of a national agenda for injury control. The CDC established centers of excellence for injury research and prevention to carry out this mission. The HIPRC was designated in 1987 as one of the first five centers and the only one intimately connected to a trauma center and the only one west of the Mississippi. Today, there are several injury centers funded by the CDC, and the HIPRC remains as one of the few that bridges public health and trauma care. The National Center for Injury Prevention and Control of the CDC provides the core funding for the HIPRC, allowing it to carry out many of its functions, including training programs, injury surveillance, and much of its research agenda. It has allowed the HIPRC to become a truly inter-disciplinary program and provides the base for additional grant support from a variety of funding sources.

A fruitful collaboration with Group Health Cooperative (GHC)

Group Health Cooperative is the largest consumer-run health cooperative and one of the largest health maintenance organizations in the nation, with more than 450,000 members in the Puget Sound region. The Center for Health Studies was established at GHC in 1983 to conduct research on the prevention and treatment of major health problems. Dr. Robert S. Thompson and his colleagues there have been key collaborators with the Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center since its inception in 1985.

Researchers at the two centers have used the cooperative as a mini-population laboratory to study important injury problems, taking advantage of its large, closed population and of the Center for Health Studies' extensive data resources. Topics of collaborative projects include bicycle-helmet effectiveness to prevent head and facial injuries, the cost-effectiveness of bike-helmet subsidies, the medical risk factors for motor-vehicle collisions in older drivers, the epidemiology and outcome of childhood injuries, the risk of injuries in daycare, and methods to help health providers identify victims of domestic violence and provide proper care and resources.

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