Free Essay on a Local Trauma System and Disaster Preparedness

A trauma center or system is a hospital equipment and staff that are aimed at providing care for patients who are suffering from injuries and traumatic problems. The problems might have resulted from motor vehicle collisions, falls and gunshot wounds. The trauma system or center may also be referred to as an emergency center or department. The center may have departments that include the casualty departments and the accident or the emergency departments. In American, a hospital may receive the status of traumatic center after meeting the set criteria for the traumatic centers. The criteria were proposed by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and reviewed by the Verification Review Committee of the Senate (Danis et.al, 2007). The local trauma systems and trauma centers are important in that they play a critical role in saving the lives of people during emergency cases. It also provides public health awareness and emergency training during the emergency cases. In the recent study regarding the preparedness of the trauma systems and centers showed that there are still gaps in the preparedness and services provided by the centers, and thus there is a need to improve these centers effectively.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The Mountain Trauma Center (MTC) is a center that is found in New York City. The center was developed based on the state law provisions. The center has specific capabilities that identify it as a level-1 trauma center. The Center provides trauma services that are geared towards addressing the trauma problems that result from accident, falls, and gunshots. It provides the nursing care services that include the emergency medicine, critical care, trauma surgery and neurosurgery (Keyes et.al, 2004). Furthermore, the center provides anesthesiology, radiology and orthopedic surgery. The center has a highly sophisticated diagnostic and surgical equipment. Furthermore, the center has a helipad center as a center for receiving the airlifted emergency cases.

The MTC has a nursing room where nurses perform the nursing services on the individuals who are traumatically affected. The center also has a surgeon's room where the minor and major surgeries are undertaken on the people who have traumatic problems. The center also has well-equipped laboratories where testing is conducted in the emergency cases. The blood bank room is used to store blood that is used for transfusion on those who require additional blood (Danis et.al, 2007). The ambulances available in the center are used to respond speedily to the emergency scenes and bring the victims to the emergency center. The helipad center contains the center's helicopter that is used to airlift the victims from the scene of an emergency to the center.

The major strength of the MTC is its highly developed structures for addressing the emergencies. The center has the modern equipment required to attend the traumatic cases. Furthermore, the center also has highly qualified personnel who meet the criteria to attend the emergency cases. The main weaknesses of the Center are the financial problem. Sometimes the center runs short of finances and thus might not be able to attend critical emergencies. MTC having highly qualified nurses and doctors meets the capability of attending emergency situations. The center is highly prepared and can manage a major incident such as the Boston Marathon incident or the terror attack of 9/11 (Keyes et.al, 2004). The center can attend to such situations because the structures put in place allow it to address such situations effectively. The helipad in the center is the major structure that aids in effective attendance to traumatic emergencies.

References

Danis, D. M., Blansfield, J. S., & Gervasini, A. A. (2007). Handbook of clinical trauma care: The first hour. St. Louis, MO: Mosby Elsevier.

Keyes, D. C., Burstein, J. L., & Schwartz, R. B. (2004). Medical Response to Terrorism: Preparedness and Clinical Practice. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health.