Baystate Trauma Program Receives Top-level Verification
SPRINGFIELD — The American College of Surgeons (ACS) has re-verified Baystate Medical Center as a Level 1 Trauma Center, recognizing the hospital’s dedication to providing optimal care to injured patients.
The ACS verification followed an intensive on-site review by the College’s Committee on Trauma, a team of veteran trauma surgeons, over two days in October. The review verified the Baystate Trauma Program’s Level 1 status based on a comprehensive set of criteria, including the number of injured patients treated per year; the skill and experience of physicians, nurses, and other staff in the trauma center around the clock; the level of technology available to support care for injured patients; and the trauma center’s commitment to continuous improvement.
“We commend Baystate Medical Center for its demonstrated commitment to provide superior trauma care,” wrote Dr. Frank Mitchell III, chair of the ACS’s verification reviewing committee, in his letter of verification.
Dr. Ronald Gross, chief of Trauma and Emergency Surgical Services at Baystate Medical Center, stressed the importance and value of going through the ACS verification process. “As the only Level 1 Trauma Center in Western Mass., we take very seriously our responsibility to provide the very best level of care to the injured patients that arrive here from all over the area,” he said. “The ACS recognition lets our trauma patients know they’re getting the best, and that makes us proud.”
In the U.S., trauma is responsible for more potential years of life lost for people under the age of 65 than all other diseases combined. A trauma patient can be defined as an injured patient who requires timely diagnosis and treatment of actual or potential injures by a multidisciplinary team of health care professionals, supported by the appropriate resources, to diminish or eliminate the risk of death or permanent disability.
As the only Level 1 Trauma Center in Western Mass., Baystate treats the region’s most critically injured patients. The trauma program works closely with the hospital’s Emergency Department, one of the busiest in New England, to bring a high level of medical care to patients facing the gravest health crises.