March 27, 2006

U-M Trauma Burn Center received renewal of Level 1 Trauma Verification

ANN ARBOR, MI – The University of Michigan Trauma Burn Center, part of the Acute Care Surgery Division in the U-M Department of Surgery, has been reverified as a Level 1Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons’ Committee on Trauma (COT).

Level 1 is the highest classification that a trauma center can receive. It identifies the U-M Health System as being fully-equipped and staffed to care for the most serious trauma injuries and capable of serving as a comprehensive regional trauma resource.

The U-M Trauma Burn Center has successfully received renewal of this Level 1 designation every three years since first undergoing the voluntary verification process in 1993.

Director of trauma surgery Paul A. Taheri, M.D., MBA, who led the Trauma Burn team through the verification process, calls the verification “recognition of our commitment, readiness and capability to provide excellent patient care. This is a great testament to our teamwork.”
 
Established by the American College of Surgeons in 1987, the COT’s Verification/Consultation Program for hospitals promotes the development of trauma centers in which participants provide not only the hospital resources necessary for trauma care, but also the entire spectrum of care to address the needs of all injured patients. This spectrum encompasses the pre-hospital phases through the rehabilitation process.

Verified trauma centers must meet the essential criteria to ensure trauma care capability and institutional performance, as outlined by the American College of Surgeons’ Committee on Trauma in its current Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient.

There are four separate categories of verification in the COT’s program: Level I, Level II, Level III and Level IV. Each category has specific criteria that must be met by a facility seeking that level of verification. To become verified, hospitals have an on-site review by a team of experience trauma surgeons who use the current Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient manual as a guideline in conducting the survey.

A Level 1 trauma center, such as the U-M Trauma Burn Center, is a comprehensive regional resource that is a tertiary care facility central to the trauma system. Key elements include 24-hour in-house coverage by general surgeons and prompt availability of care in specialties such as orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology, internal medicine and critical care. Other capabilities include: cardiac, hand, pediatric, and microvascular surgery, and hemodialysis.

Such centers also provide leadership in prevention, public education and continuing education of the trauma team members, and are committed to continued improvement through a comprehensive quality assessment program and an organized research effort to help direct new innovations in trauma care.

The American College of surgeons is a scientific and educational association of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical education and practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The college has 59,000 members and is the largest association of surgeons in the world. Long-standing achievements have placed the college in the forefront of American surgery and made it an important advocate for all surgical patients.

In addition to a being a Level 1 trauma center, the U-M Trauma Burn Center also is a burn verified center by the American College of Surgeons and the American Burn Association.

For more information on the Division of Acute Care Surgery’s Trauma Burn program, visit www.traumaburn.org.

Written by Alicia Hoiles

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