Today, Riverside Community Hospital proudly announced that it has been verified as a Level II Trauma Center by the Verification Review Committee (VRC), an ad hoc committee of the Committee on Trauma (COT) of the American College of Surgeons (ACS). This achievement signifies the hospital and its trauma teams have demonstrated commitment to providing the highest quality trauma care for injured patients.
Riverside Community Hospital treats over 2,500 trauma patients a year and is among the busiest emergency departments and Level II trauma centers in California. It was also the first hospital in California to register with the National Stop the Bleed Campaign in January of 2017 and has trained over 2,500 individuals, 50 Stop the Bleed trainers and over 20 community partners in the life-saving technique. Partners from the community included: the City of Riverside Police Department, Riverside Public Utility employees, Riverside City staff, faculty and students at local school districts including Riverside Unified School District, Victorville School District and Riverside City College.
"As one of the leading trauma centers in the state of California, this achievement is another demonstration of the level of commitment that Riverside Community Hospital's Trauma Center provides," says Riverside Community Hospital's President and CEO Patrick Brilliant. "I am extremely proud of all of our physicians and staff who are a part of our trauma team who work tirelessly every day to save lives and provide a higher level of care to every patient who is in need of emergent medical care."
Established by the American College of Surgeons 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.
Last month, the hospital underwent an intense on-site review with the Verification Review Committee (VRC) from the American College of Surgeons. Verified trauma centers must meet the essential criteria that ensure trauma care capability and institutional performance, as outlined by the American College of Surgeons' Committee on Trauma in its current Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient manual.
The ACS Committee on Trauma'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 actual establishment and the designation of trauma centers is the function of local, regional, or state health care systems agencies, such as the local emergency medical services (EMS) authority.
"Riverside Community Hospital has been providing trauma care to the greater Riverside community since the Trauma Program's inception in 1980. Over the past 38 years, the Trauma Program at RCH has grown significantly to meet the demands of the County's growing population", said Georgi Collins, MSN, RN, AVP Trauma Services Far West Division, HCA. "The journey to ACS Verification has been a rigorous process that required support from the entire hospital and HCA enterprise. ACS Verification is a pivotal achievement that clearly recognizes the hospitals dedication and confirms the delivery of high-quality trauma care."
"Achieving verification by the American College of Surgeons demonstrates a trauma program's commitment to provide the highest quality in trauma care for all injured patients spanning the entire spectrum of care, and that is exactly what we at RCH had set out to do," says Trauma Program Director Dina Elias. "Our goal is to continuously elevate the level of trauma care services offered to our community. I am incredibly proud of the trauma team and all the hard work each individual put into achieving a successful verification. The inter-professional teamwork alongside our administrative support is the reason we were incredibly successful."
There are five separate categories of verification in the COT's program. Each category has specific criteria that must be met by a facility seeking that level of verification (see attachment to this press release). 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.
As a Level II Trauma Center, Riverside Community Hospital provides:
- Dedicated trauma resuscitation rooms in the 50-bed Emergency Department, in addition to operating rooms available for trauma victims at all times and a 40-bed Intensive Care Unit.
- All critical trauma resources are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including Neurosurgery, Orthopedic surgery, Interventional Radiology, Rehabilitation Specialist, lab, radiology, CT scanning, MRI and blood bank.
- Patients are seen by a multidisciplinary team of highly-trained, experienced specialists, including trauma surgeons, trauma nurses, neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, plastic surgeons, vascular surgeons, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, social workers and case managers. All aspects of care and all subspecialties in medicine are coordinated in the care of each trauma patient.
- Community Outreach and Injury Prevention Trauma Education including free Stop the Bleed training and education to the community and business organizations.
By providing truly comprehensive care for trauma patients - from the resuscitation in the trauma bay through the intensive care and intermediate care phases - the doctors, nurses and support staff, Riverside Community's Trauma Center remains committed to decreasing the mortality rate from traumatic injuries in the counties we serve. The enthusiasm, flexibility and teamwork within the team provide ongoing opportunities to bring the care of the most severely injured patients to the highest level.