Current Trauma Status Report - Southern Nevada Health District

UMC Trauma Center
The UMC trauma center is unique in that it is a stand alone trauma center. That is, the trauma
resuscitation bays, trauma ORs, trauma computed tomography (CT) scan and trauma ICU beds are
separate and distinct from the hospital and the trauma center staff do not rely on the hospital to
support those areas on a daily basis. There are only four other freestanding trauma centers in the
country. Please see the Appendix for a survey of the other four freestanding trauma centers in the US.
Typically, a trauma center’s ED and resuscitation area is contained within a hospital’s ED. During
1992, the UMC trauma center moved from the ED to its own building. The 18,000 square-foot Trauma
Center includes 11 resuscitation beds (or trauma treatment areas), 3 dedicated trauma operating
suites, a 14-bed trauma intensive care unit as well as state-of-the-art rapid sequence CT scanner and
an angiography suite. Adjacent to the building is a helipad for air transport of trauma patients.
There are 10 trauma surgeons staffing the trauma center as well as 8 neurosurgeons, 20 emergency
medicine physicians, 15 anesthesiologists, a trauma fellow, many surgical residents and medical
students, and several registered nurses trained in trauma care.
UMC also has a robust trauma research program. Linked to the UMC Trauma Center is the Trauma
Institute, an organization dedicated to research on a wide variety of trauma topics. In addition, the
Trauma Center works closely with the UMC’s Rancho Rehabilitation Center, UMC’s burn and wound
care center and provides replantation services.
UMC is the only trauma center in Southern Nevada . It was originally verified by the ACS as a Level II
trauma center in 1989 and became a Level I in 1999. UMC was last re-verified in 2002, with verification
set to expire in 2005. The hospital will be undergoing the re-verification process during or before
December 2004.
UMC treated 3,899 patients who met trauma activation criteria in 2003. Most of these are from within
30 miles of the hospital, but they also see patients from outlying areas including California, Arizona
and Utah. The majority of trauma patients treated at UMC are there as a result of a motor vehicle
crash.
Southern Nevada Trauma Patient
The UMC trauma registry includes patients who are activated based on trauma field triage criteria, all
admitted patients regardless of activation or trauma consult status, all transfers in from referring
facilities and all deaths. The trauma registry does not include minor trauma patients that were brought
to the trauma center and treated by the emergency medicine physician staff. During 2003, there were
an additional 8,390 minor trauma patients brought to the trauma center as well.
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