Boston Medical Center's (BMC) Trauma Center has been re-verified as a Level I adult trauma center and a Level II pediatric trauma center by the Verification Review Committee, an ad hoc committee of the Committee on Trauma (COT) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). The re-verification confirms that BMC's Trauma Center meets the essential criteria that ensures trauma care capability and institutional performance.
BMC has the longest continuously verified Level I trauma center in New England and is the busiest provider of trauma and emergency services in the region, with more than 130,000 emergency visits and approximately 2,000 trauma activations per year. It is the only trauma center in Boston that has full-time, dedicated trauma and critical care attending surgeons and physicians who are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"Our Level I verification is a true testament to the lifesaving care that our Trauma Center, in collaboration with all of the disciplines and specialties we collaborate with, provides every day," said Peter Burke, MD, chief of acute care and trauma surgery at BMC and professor of surgery at Boston University School of Medicine. "We're proud of our long history of excellence in this narrow field and our ability to provide the best care to each and every trauma patient."
Established by the ACS in 1987, the COT's Consultation/Verification Program for Hospitals promotes the development of trauma centers in which participants provide not only the hospital resources necessary for trauma care, but also the entire spectrum of care to address the needs of all injured patients. This spectrum encompasses the prehospital phase through the rehabilitation process.
The ACS COT's verification program does not designate trauma centers. Rather, the program provides confirmation that a trauma center has demonstrated its commitment to providing the highest quality trauma care for all injured patients. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is the agency that designates all trauma centers in the Commonwealth and has made ACS verification (along with other criteria) a requirement.
There are five separate categories of verification in the COT's program, each with specific criteria that must be met by a facility seeking that level of verification. Each hospital has an on-site review by a team of experienced site reviewers who use the current Resources for the Optimal Care of the Injured Patient manual as a guideline in conducting the survey.
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