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Tufts Medical Center wins approval from key agencies
for Adult Trauma Center designation
BOSTON (Feb. 18) - The American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health have approved Tufts Medical Center’s application to serve as a Trauma Center for adults.
The designation from the ACS required the hospital to meet stringent guidelines for the delivery of care to trauma patients, and mandates that the hospital carefully track and report trauma care and outcomes. While Tufts Medical Center has been treating trauma patients for many years, the new designation offers additional quality assurances to patients. These include the development of multiple evidence-based trauma protocols, the institution of 24/7 in-house trauma attending coverage, the implementation of a very comprehensive Performance Improvement and Patient Safety reviews and upgrading of the Trauma and Operating Rooms. The trauma designation also enables the hospital to join the point-of-entry plan for Emergency Medical Services.
“This designation is important to our patients across the region, as well as our neighbors in the Chinatown community, for which Tufts Medical Center serves as the primary emergency healthcare facility,” said Reuven Rabinovici, MD, FACS, Chief of Trauma at Tufts Medical Center. “We provide state of the art care to trauma patients, and ambulances will now be able to bring patients who have suffered traumatic injuries directly to our emergency department rather than bypassing our doors for a more distant trauma center. This achievement was made possible thanks to the dedicated work of all trauma team members from multiple services as well as the strong support of Dr. William Mackey, Chairman, Department of Surgery, and of the medical center’s administrative leadership.”
Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center has long operated the Kiwanis Pediatric Trauma Institute, a designated trauma center for children and the first dedicated pediatric trauma center in the country. The infrastructure associated with the KPTI made it more cost-effective for Tufts Medical Center to open an adult trauma center than if it had to build an entirely new service.
“We are very proud of all the staff members who worked so hard to demonstrate our commitment to quality and to develop the programs necessary to earn this designation,” said Ellen Zane, President and CEO of Tufts Medical Center. “And we are very pleased that we will be able to offer our patients and our community this lifesaving service.”
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