JAY REEVES
The Associated Press
06/05/98 4:31 PM Eastern

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- A driver is badly hurt in a wreck on a rural road, and precious minutes tick away as paramedics search for a hospital capable of treating the injuries.

A new trauma-care system planned for Alabama could help eliminate such delays and save lives -- all using a computer.

Officials with the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Friday unveiled plans for a statewide trauma system modeled after a six-county network that helped speed storm victims to hospitals after a tornado killed 34 people and injured about 200 on April 8.

The heart of the system will be a computer network.

Participating hospitals will constantly provide updated information on the status of their emergency rooms and operating rooms through the system. The information will be passed along to paramedics, who no longer will have to search for an available hospital.

"In trauma, time is life. Anything that can speed the process along saves lives," said Dr. Loring Rue, chief of trauma, burns and surgical critical care at UAB.

Currently, delays of five hours are not uncommon in getting trauma victims to specialized care, Rue said. Partly because of that, Alabama has one of the nation's highest death rates from traumatic injuries.

"As an example, if you had a severe car accident you wouldn't be very well served by a hospital where all the operating rooms are full," he said.

UAB's surgery department is in line for $6 million in federal highway funds over five years to implement the statewide system. The money was included in a transportation bill President Clinton is expected to sign.

The funds will be spent on computers and communications equipment and training workers.

"Having advanced trauma care means saving lives," said U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who helped get the money included in the bill.

The state communications center initially will be located at the UAB office used by the Birmingham Regional Emergency Medical Service, which helped coordinate trauma care after the killer twister.

Rue said establishing the system statewide will probably take five years, and regional communications centers may be included eventually.

The system will be especially helpful in rural areas, Rue said. Not only will paramedics use it from the field, but small hospitals will use it before transferring patients to larger, specialized hospitals.

The Alabama Hospital Association and the state Department of Public Health will help implement the network. Participating hospitals will have to meet care standards and have a computer, Rue said.

"It's not as much a financial investment as a commitment to providing the service," he said.