In the United States, improvements in both medical technology and trauma clinical care have reduced in-hospital deaths from traumatic injury to fewer than 4%. However, what happens to the 96% of trauma survivors when they go home is largely unknown.

With funding from the Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation, Juan Herrera-Escobar, MD, MPH, and colleagues will analyze smartphone use data, sensors, and ecologic momentary assessments to learn about trauma survivors’ recovery experience after hospital discharge. Specifically, RESTORE will use this cutting-edge technology, known as smartphone-based digital phenotyping, to track trauma survivors’ physical activity, mobility, pain, sleep, social participation, return to work, and community integration. This information will allow us to better understand what happens to survivors of traumatic injury after they leave the hospital and to develop ways to improve long-term recovery in trauma.

Funded by the MGB United Against Racism initiative, this project will create a new post-discharge clinical and behavioral health pathway entitled “The NESTS Pathway.” The primary goal of this pathway will be to increase rates of outpatient mental health evaluation for non-English speaking survivors of traumatic injury dealing with symptoms of depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder. The NESTS Pathway will apply behavioral economic principles, employ the services of a community health worker, and design a checklist to anticipate and take steps to address systemic barriers to mental health evaluation or treatment. Leveraging the infrastructure previously developed for the FORTE project, the team will contact and screen for mental health conditions of all trauma survivors enrolled in the NESTS Pathway at 6- and 12-months post-injury. This project will be a multidisciplinary and multi-site effort at BWH and MGH with the goal to expand in the near future. 

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