Trauma providers are natural problem solvers. They rarely settle for “good enough” but try to find a way to overcome obstacles and get better results. This mindset is one reason I decided to become a trauma surgeon in the first place. And it’s an ideal I had in mind in 2013 when I set out…
Author: Alex Guerrero MD MSc FACS
Trauma resuscitation has changed a lot in the last 20 years. Not that long ago, most hemorrhagic shock patients received a crystalloid-based resuscitation. Many of us remember the resulting open abdomens with planned ventral hernias. That paradigm eventually gave way to blood component therapy with balanced ratios, followed by the goal of limiting crystalloids altogether…
Ensuring operating room (OR) availability is a challenge for many trauma centers. It is even more difficult when you are building a new trauma program from scratch within a busy academic medical center. In December 2015, University of Chicago Medicine committed to launching a Level I trauma program to serve the south side of Chicago.…
While most of us in trauma have had to deal with some type of patient surge, few have experienced the challenge of providing continuous service during a weeks-long natural disaster. For this installment of How We Did It, I talked to trauma program leaders at CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth Hospital in Beaumont, Texas, a 431-bed Level…
Many new trauma programs struggle with trauma bay logistics. How do you get a large team working in concert to deliver organized care in a timely manner? Even experienced teams struggle to optimize workflows and make sure resuscitations run as efficiently as possible. For this inaugural “How We Did It” column, I spoke with Star…
Physician burnout is a growing problem in healthcare, especially for trauma surgeons and other emergency providers. While burnout can create serious physical and mental health challenges for trauma physicians, it also puts trauma programs at risk. Clearly, physicians who are edging toward burnout are more likely to resign and seek other employment. The problem is…