'Are they way behind the rest of the state and the country?' he said of Ventura County. Mackersie said counties without trauma plans find ways to treat severely injured patients, but studies show organized systems that involve a trauma center can bring more than a 20 percent reduction in the number of patient fatalities. And in 2003, about 1,400 patients with traumas ranging from sudden illnesses to injuries from freeway accidents were admitted. Ventura County's population is more than 800,000. State officials say counties with populations of about 350,000 and no less than 1,200 traumas can sustain a high-level center. The cases are taken to one of three hospitals. Ventura County already operates an organized system for treating severe heart attack victims, drastically reducing the time it takes to treat patients. Others have systems that call for the transfer of trauma patients to hospitals in other counties. ![]() But some counties haven't implemented the plans, Salvucci said. Angelo Salvucci, a leader of the county's emergency medical services department.Įvery California county except for Ventura and, in Northern California, Solano County, has an individual trauma plan or is included in a regional plan. Trauma patients already get good, fast care, said Dr. The status quo also hasn't revealed any glaring deficiencies. One reason the county didn't adopt a trauma plan several years ago is there wasn't enough trauma to justify designating a trauma center, emergency medical services officials say. Whether it happens today or next week, they're there and they have to be paid.' 'You have a full army, at full dress waiting for the war to happen. He described trauma centers as emergency rooms on steroids. Consider this the good housekeeping seal for hospitals,' said Jim Lott, executive vice president of the Hospital Association of Southern California. 'It places a star at the top of your facility for the level of services you provide. The hospitals would likely gain the satisfaction of providing better care and a prestige that can attract doctors and patients of all kinds. Hospitals can face as much as $2 million in annual costs, depending on staffing needs, with the best scenario involving enough revenue from trauma patients to break even. If a hospital were certified as a trauma center, it would run the financial gauntlet that has caused some California hospitals to shut down trauma units. At least one observer predicts that means the county hospital will be chosen, though recommendations would be made by an outside group and more than one hospital could be chosen.įive hospitals want to be designated as trauma centers of varying levels, far more than can be sustained by the county's approximately 1,400 traumas a year. And it likely won't be easy.Īny plan and system would have to be voted on by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors. It could take more than a year to decide how a trauma system would work and then figure out the roles of various hospitals. ![]() Ventura County's official planning began Wednesday with a committee meeting including hospital administrators, doctors, ambulance company officials and county emergency medical service officials. 'Do trauma systems save lives? The answer is yes, unequivocally yes,' Mackersie said. Surgeons who specialize in trauma, neurology and orthopedics would always be available as part of a team focused on saving people who likely would have died, known as 'unexpected survivors.' Trauma patients at other hospitals in the county would be stabilized and transferred. People with internal life-threatening injuries would be taken by ambulance or helicopter to that center rather than to the nearest hospital. ![]() 'Not having a trauma system is like not having a fire department, not having a police department.'Īfter off-and-on debate over several years, county officials and other healthcare leaders are putting together a plan that would lead to the designation of at least one area hospital as a trauma center. Robert Mackersie, a California state emergency medical services commissioner. Trauma is an essential public service,' said Dr. Of the 58 counties in California, Ventura is one of two without a state-approved emergency medical plan for treating victims of shootings, car crashes, kidney failure and other trauma.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |