Special Programs

Trauma Prevention Program (TPP)

Typical Activities for a Trauma Prevention Program:

Present High School assemblies with video, or power point presentation.
Provide Key note speaking.
Engage students in discussions of the risks of poor decision making.
Discusses with youth the dangers of drunk, drugged or distracted driving with options, stories and video clips.
Share stories of teenage patients injured or killed in motor vehicle collisions as a result of speeding, distracted or impaired driving.
Brings a recovered patient to share story with youth.
Works with the PSO at the school to reinforce messages. Augment programs with a wrecked car on site, seat belt convincer, or drunk driving simulator goggles.
Works with Science teachers and health classes to incorporate messages into curriculum. Guide student leadership groups in reinforcing the messages throughout the season i.e.: prom promise or homecoming.

Unique Issues for Teens:

In 2008, about 3,500 teens in the United States aged 15-19 were killed and more than 350,000 were treated in Emergency Departments for injuries suffered in motor vehicle collisions.
Nationally, 25% of drivers age 15-20 who died in MVC had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher.
Maryland data reveals 592 persons were killed in motor vehicle collisions on Maryland roads, and 48,143 were injured.
32% of fatalities were aged 16-24 years.
The Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland provided care for 8025 patients.

Among teen drivers, those at especially high risk for motor vehicle collisions are:
Males: the motor vehicle death rate for male drivers and passengers ages 15-19 was almost two times that of their female counterparts.

Teen drivers with teen passengers - the risk increases with the number of teen passengers.
Newly licensed teens: crash risk is particularly high during the first year that teenagers are eligible to drive.
Teens are more likely than older drivers to underestimate dangerous situations or not be able to recognize hazardous situations.
Teens are more likely to speed and allow shorter headway (the distance from the front of one vehicle to the front of the next).
Compared with other age groups teens have the lowest rate of seat belt use.

This page was last updated on: July 22, 2011.

For all patient information, please call 410-328-9833.