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A Plea for Changing the Vernacular and the Mind-set

Thomas J. Esposito, MD, MPH
Maywood, Ill

Arch Surg. 2000;135:716-718.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

LET ME propose abandoning the term, the concept, and the hope of a separate but equal, broad-ranging, "trauma care system" within a greater health care system. We need to adopt a mind-set of dealing with the injury control component of public health promotion. Why? Because the word trauma and the concept of an isolated system to take care of it are ill defined, poorly understood, unworkable, and outdated in today's health care environment.

In a keynote address at the Skamania Symposium on Trauma Care Systems, Mark Rosenberg¹ lamented that trauma system development is perhaps not where it should be. They asked, "What's the catch?" The catch may be that the current state of trauma systems is in the throes of an identity crisis.

What is trauma? What is care? What is a system? Very few members of the public understand what trauma is. Trauma is . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Trauma and Trauma Care Systems: In the Throes of an Identity Crisis—Invited Critique
Howard R. Champion
Arch Surg. 2000;135(6):719.
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