PEGASUS Argentina Project

A global partnership led by Harborview Injury Prevention and Research Center is aiming to improve outcomes after severe pediatric traumatic brain injury with support from a grant by the National Institutes of Health.

The partnership with Centro de Informática e Investigación Clínica in Rosario, Argentina, Children’s National Hospital in Washington D.C., and HIPRC in Seattle is studying best practice guideline adherence and outcomes in severe pediatric TBI treatment in Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay.

Pediatric traumatic brain injury is the leading killer of children worldwide, and learning how to provide the best care possible in a variety of settings is critical to reducing the harms from these injuries.

A previous study found low adherence to evidence-based guidelines in a set of Argentina treatment sites, and the new grant will fund the implementation of a multilevel Pediatric Guideline Adherence and Outcomes (PEGASUS) program in sixteen hospitals throughout Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay.

With this project, researchers are testing the efficacy of PEGASUS through the South American Guideline Adherence group, a consortium of Argentine and U.S. investigators dedicated to understanding TBI guideline adherence.

PEGASUS was developed and pilot tested as a quality improvement project at the University of Washington’s Harborview Medical Center from 2015 – 2017, and the pilot included nearly 200 children and teens. Among studied patients, 97 percent were diagnosed with severe traumatic brain injury. After evaluating the pilot, researchers found improved patient outcomes and high adherence rates, both of which indicate that PEGASUS was both effective and feasible in a Level 1 trauma center. Their findings were published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health in November 2018.

HIPRC contributing authors of the study are Monica S. Vavilala, MD, Professor and Vice Chair for Strategic Affairs, UW Department of Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine and Director, Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center (HIPRC); Linda Boyle, Ph.D, Professor and Chair, UW Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Charles Mock, MD, UW Professor of Global Health, Surgery, and Epidemiology; Megan Moore, Ph.D., Sidney Miller Endowed Associate Professor in Direct Practice, UW School of Social Work; Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, MD, Ph.D., Bartley Dobb Professor for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Associate Professor, and Curriculum Committee Chair, UW Department of Epidemiology; Bryan Weiner, Ph.D., Professor of Global Health and Health Services, UW Departments of Global Health and Health Services; and Jin Wang, Ph.D., Statistician, UW Department of Pediatrics.