Introduction: Traumatic injuries can be psychologically daunting for the patients from the time of sustaining the injury until discharge from the hospital. A need was identified in the trauma surgery service of Hamad General Hospital (HGH) to start a screening program for assessing predisposition to developing mental health challenges, referrals and follow-up. The aim of this study was to research the effectiveness of this screening program and subsequent referrals to the in-house trauma psychology service.

Methods: This was a retrospective study of cross-sectional data for the calendar year 2022 for assessing the effectiveness of screening, referral and intervention program in the trauma psychology service. Injured Trauma Survivor Scale (ITSS) along with the additional criteria checklist were used to identify patients who were predisposed to develop major depressive disorder (depression) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). These patients were referred to the trauma psychology service for appropriate intervention in order to prevent long-term psychological disorders that would impair the quality of life of trauma survivors beyond the effect of injury. The screening had been performed within 24 hours of admission of trauma patients aged 14 and above, those who were conscious, oriented and with a Glasgow coma score of 15 admitted to trauma surgery unit.

Results: 100% patients who fit the inclusion criteria had been screened and predisposed patients were referred to the trauma psychology service. 17 of these screened patients went on to developed PTSD or depression, and were treated using brief CBT or EMDR in the trauma psychology clinic. 100% of these patients ceased to be positive for either of the disorders and their symptoms recovered by 87% on an average. Overall, 272 traumatic injuries patients were attended to in the trauma psychology service while they were in-patients or out-patients, of which 98% reported improvement in stress levels upon completion of intervention and 100% patients expressed satisfaction with trauma psychology service.

Conclusion: Screening for predisposition to mental health challenges and timely psychological intervention was effective in preventing patients from developing full scale disorder.

Tulika Mehta Agarwal PhD has over 18 years of extensive experience of working as a clinical psychologist. She is an ardent researcher and has many publications in her name. She is regularly a part of the review board for multiple peer reviewed journals. She is a registered psychologist with the Indian association of clinical psychologists, New Zealand Psychologist Board and Qatar council of health practitioners; and a member of the American Psychological Association. She is presently working as a clinical psychologist in the trauma surgery section of Hamad General Hospital, Qatar, where she established the trauma psychology service right from inception 5 years ago, authored several publications and presented in multiple national and international conferences. She is passionate about her work as a psychologist and believes its her duty to take to the world the implication of mental health in healing of injuries and how psychological support plays a pivotal role in the recovery of these patients.