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Elliott R. Haut, MD

Arch Surg. 2008;143(1):27-28.

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

Scientific evidence is accumulating, supporting the long-held belief that trauma centers save lives.¹ Scarborough and colleagues add to this literature with compelling data that injured patients admitted to SMC had improved mortality in the 4-year period beginning January 1, 2003, vs the previous 5-year period.

The authors suggest that this improved mortality was entirely because of the change in trauma level designation, although the exact mechanism by which this improvement occurred is not clear. Other interpretations are also plausible. Could this be the effect of a staffing change that produced a "core group of dedicated trauma surgeons" treating all trauma patients as opposed to on-call general surgeons? It has been suggested that "full-time" trauma surgeons achieve improved survival compared with general surgeons who cover trauma "part-time."² Is it merely a volume-outcome relationship with improved outcomes from trauma surgeons treating more patients?^3-4 Was it because of . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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RELATED ARTICLE

Reduced Mortality at a Community Hospital Trauma Center: The Impact of Changing Trauma Level Designation From II to I
Kristin Scarborough, Denetta Sue Slone, Phyllis Uribe, Michael Craun, Raphael Bar-Or, and David Bar-Or
Arch Surg. 2008;143(1):22-27.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT