Trauma Centres: When every second is vital

Posted on 3 January 2019

What is a Trauma Centre and what does the level that it is accredited at, imply?

A Trauma Centre is a facility with sub-specialty personnel, infrastructure and medical equipment. The primary purpose of such a facility is for the care of patients that have been severely injured, usually to the extent that multiple organ systems are affected.

The accredited level of a trauma centre is dependent upon the level of care that it affords and the infrastructure for such. The most basic grading (level 03) is for facilities that can cater for non-severely injured patients not necessarily requiring higher levels of specialist intervention for their treatment. Designated theatres and ICU’s are not necessary for a level 03 accreditation.

Level 02 Trauma Centres offer highly specialised services that necessitate both on site and in house services. Mediclinic Pietermaritzburg is proud to announce that they have recently been accredited as a level 02 Trauma Centre.

Our service offering begins with the only full time Emergency Specialist managed Emergency Centre in Pietermaritzburg and extends to the inclusion of Specialist Intensivist service rendering. We offer a complete subset of specialised surgical and radiological services that are on site and at hand immediately. Of note in this regard is the full time presence of our Vascular Surgeon, Dr Mueen Saley. Also important is the fact that our hospital is the only facility in Pietermaritzburg that offers an MRI compatible ventilator. This means that in the event of a patient requiring a ventilator, it will be possible to continue ventilation while they are being scanned in the MRI.

For patients that require the services of the Trauma Centre, primary stabilisation is carried out at our Emergency Centre. Subsequent to that is transfer to the first available operating theatre where a team led by a General Surgeon with trauma experience performs what is often inadvertently life-saving surgery. Our patients are subsequently accommodated in one of our two Intensive Care Units. The support services that we offer include a multidisciplinary team of medical and allied health professionals.

In terms of a level 01 accredited centre, the facilities differ in terms of having designated operating theatres, staff and ICU’s on a 24/7 basis for trauma patients. The constant presence of Trauma Surgeons is also mandatory for this level of accreditation.

Given our strategic location along the N3 corridor, we are proud of the fact that we have been able to amalgamate the skills of many talented individuals to provide a safe and much needed service for Pietermaritzburg, and the greater Midlands community as well.