Trauma centers receive survey deficiencies for many reasons — inadequate specialty coverage, insufficient registry staffing, ineffective PI processes and other compliance challenges. But the root cause of all these problems goes deeper than any specific compliance issue. In my experience, the underlying cause of most trauma program deficiencies is lack of informed leadership commitment at…
Author: Kathleen Martin
Kathleen Martin
Kathleen Martin, MSN, RN is a trauma system consultant who develops trauma centers and trauma systems globally. Previously, she served as senior director of trauma services at UCHealth (Colorado), where she had responsibility for four trauma centers. She has also served as trauma nurse director at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany (the first ACS-verified trauma center outside the U.S.) and trauma program manager at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Kathleen served on the board of directors of the American Trauma Society (ATS) for nine years, is a member of the ATS Nurse Leadership Council and teaches the ATS Trauma Program Management Course. She served for 19 years as a board member of the Society of Trauma Nurses (STN) and was the 2000-2001 STN President. She was also Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Trauma Nursing. In addition, she was a charter developer of the TOPIC course and has developed a number of far-reaching trauma PI processes. As a consultant, Kathleen has mentored trauma professionals nationally and internationally and has presented trauma education for colleagues in Europe, the Middle East, South America and Australasia.
The “levels of review” model was created to make trauma performance improvement (PI) more efficient. In many trauma programs, however, managing events through the levels of review is a complicated process that absorbs time and attention. At times, it feels like the process creates additional work without providing additional benefit. In my experience, the solution…