Author: Robert Fojut

The second article in the “Trauma Survey Notebook” series focuses on NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, a Level I trauma center in Queens, New York. Elmhurst Hospital underwent a successful ACS reverification review in January 2025. I spoke with Carrie Garcia, RN, trauma program director at Elmhurst Hospital. She detailed her recent experience with the ACS…

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) recently released the third update of Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient: 2022 Standards. The new July 2025 Revision of the resources manual relaxes several trauma program requirements in four separate standards. According to the ACS, the changes are effective immediately. More leeway in ICU physician coverage…

Deepika Mohan, MD, MPH, has been working for more than a decade to develop Night Shift, a video game that simulates trauma triage decision-making. The goal of the game is to improve the ability of ED physicians at Level III, IV and V trauma centers to recognize severely injured patients who would benefit from being…

“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…