Surgical Volumes in a Regional Trauma Center: Is It Enough?

Abstract

Purpose: This study evaluated the surgical volumes and types of specific surgical procedures in asingle trauma center for 3 consecutive years. Methods: From January 2014 to December 2016 there were 9,530 injury cases in the trauma registrythat were reviewed. Results: There were 1,502 patients (15.8%) with an injury severity score over 15, of which 426 (28.4%)underwent an emergency operation or had an interventional radiology procedure. There were 186craniotomies, 87 laparotomies, and 74 interventional radiology procedures performed. Conclusion: The number of emergency operations by each dedicated trauma surgeon was very lowtherefore implementation of an acute-care surgery model is appropriate to consider together withchanges to the training program for trauma surgeons.