Author: Robert Fojut

“Trauma Survey Notebook” is a new article series that will take a close look at the American College of Surgeons (ACS) review process from the perspective of trauma program leaders who have recently undergone a site visit. The goals of this series are to identify the specific issues that review teams are focusing on, highlight…

The winner of the 2025 Distinguished TCRN Award is Kristi Bonny, BSN, RN, CPHQ, TCRN, EMT-P, trauma clinician at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Plano, a Level II trauma center in Plano, Texas. This annual award is presented by the Board of Certification for Emergency Nursing (BCEN) to a Trauma Certified Registered Nurse who demonstrates exceptional…

The more you know about the trauma survey process, the better able you will be to prepare for a successful review. At the recent Virtual Summit for Level III, IV & V Trauma Centers, a pair of trauma leaders looked at the survey process from two different points of view. The trauma program leadership perspective…

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…