Southwestern Indiana has nearly a dozen hospital emergency rooms, but until now none of them had a Level 3 trauma center status.
That changed last week, as Good Samaritan Hospital received permission from the state, after rigorous evaluation and a number of procedural changes, to operate as a Level 3 trauma center.
A Level 3 trauma center does not have the full availability of specialists, but does have the resources for emergency resuscitation and intensive care surgery for many trauma cases.
Level 1 and 2 trauma centers have surgeons and staff qualified in orthopedics and neurosurgery with “trained-trauma” physicians and nurses on call around the clock.
As the fifth Level 3 center in the state, and the first in the 10-county area in Southwestern Indiana, Good Samaritan officials say the new status will help drive better service, better care and ultimately a better outcome for patients with life-threatening injuries.
“It’s not to say we’re not always focused on having really good care, but now we’ve definitely made a shift to focus more on timely care,” said Vickie Potts, director of emergency room nursing at Good Samaritan. “In the hospital and on the scene we’ve redirected and coordinated care to make it timely and to make sure patient outcomes are more positive.”
To earn the Level 3 status, she said, the hospital had to demonstrate an ability to provide prompt assessment, resuscitation, surgery, intensive care and stabilization of injured patients.
Karen Haak, chief nursing officer, said with the status change the hospital now has 24-hour immediate coverage by emergency physicians, nearly immediate availability of general surgeons and anesthesiologists, and an integrated quality assessment program.
“We’ve been serving trauma patients all along, but now we have in place a process that works in a faster, very specific manner,” she said. “We’ll be able to assess a situation and determine quickly if it needs to go to a higher level hospital or if it’s something our center can most adequately handle.”
The hospital has also developed transfer agreements for patients requiring care at a Level 1 or Level 2 trauma center, Haak added, working in conjunction with hospitals in Indianapolis and Evansville.
“The whole state is working to come up with a network of trauma centers where each designates what we’re going to do,” Potts said. “We can take care of almost anything, everything but a head trauma, so now instead of wasting time in the field, (emergency medical service personnel) can see what’s wrong and can take them to get the best care quicker.”
Good Samaritan's new Level 3 status now calls for EMS personnel within a 45-mile radius to transfer severely injured patients to Vincennes.
Indiana has nine trauma centers located in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend and Evansville (both St. Mary’s and Deaconess hospitals) that are Level 1 and Level 2 centers, the highest designated by the American College of Surgeons.
Just 24 percent of the state is located within 45 minutes of a trauma center by conventional ambulance, according to a report by the Indiana State Department of Health. Outside of large population centers, most cities are not close to a trauma center, except through transportation by air ambulance.
The health department is indicating the state needs 13 or 14 trauma centers. The goal is to have a trauma center within 45 minutes of a patient being transported by ground.
IU Health plans to open Level 3 trauma centers in Muncie, Lafayette and Bloomington within the next year.