Author: Robert Fojut

Every trauma program needs a process for identifying patients who meet trauma registry inclusion criteria. This typically involves manually combing several electronic and paper information sources to match patient records with activation data. The process is not only time-consuming for staff, it does not reliably identify all registry-eligible trauma patients. Recently, trauma program leaders at…

Community and rural trauma centers in the U.S. face significant challenges in quality management, nurse staffing, standards compliance, physician coverage and program funding, according to a recent survey by Trauma System News. The survey was conducted in May 2024, and it was sent to trauma program staff who work in trauma centers with a Level…

Providing timely care to injured patients in Montana is a tremendous challenge. As in many rural areas worldwide, distances are vast and resources are scattered. This creates significant problems for patients who need both rapid transport to a higher level of care and immediate access to blood products. Alyssa Johnson, MSN, RN, CEN, TCRN, helped…

Concurrent review of nonsurgical admissions (NSAs) allows trauma program staff to identify opportunities to optimize care while the patient is still in the hospital. However, many trauma centers struggle to operationalize concurrent inpatient review. According to Ginger Knapp, MSN, RN, CEN, one key to solving this challenge is to leverage the trauma registry to organize…

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) recently released the second update of Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient: 2022 Standards. The new December 2023 revision of the resources manual tightens up one requirement, relaxes a few others and makes a number of important clarifications. To download the latest version of the ACS trauma…

Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, has lost its Level II trauma center verification from the American College of Surgeons (ACS). An ACS spokesman confirmed the change in verification status on December 7, according to a report in the Idaho Statesman. During the hospital’s recent reverification survey, ACS reviewers identified “four findings that…

The principles of trauma performance improvement (PI) are well understood, but many trauma programs struggle with developing effective PI processes. One of the biggest challenges is achieving consistency in PI documentation and review. Trauma leaders at UCHealth in Colorado addressed this problem by creating a trauma PI dictionary that standardizes the entire performance improvement process…

Multidisciplinary peer review is a key element of trauma performance improvement. One major challenge is creating a peer review process that does not overburden the specialty liaisons to the trauma service. If too many cases are referred to the trauma multidisciplinary PIPS committee, overwhelm sets in, liaisons become disengaged, and the quality of review breaks…

In the 2022 revision of Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) made several key changes to response requirements for neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery and interventional radiology. The biggest compliance challenge in most trauma centers is documenting specialist response times. This article was created by Trauma System News with…

Under rules from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a trauma center cannot bill for a trauma team activation (TTA) using the revenue code UB 68x unless it has received prehospital notification of patient arrival. But according to an expert in trauma center management, there is a permissible way to charge for a…