The Trauma Care Center X in Miami is one of the biggest emergency medical care units in the US and the World. It is a part of the Hospital Y and functions as a mini-hospital within the premises of the hospital (University of Miami, 2007).
Thousands of people use this facility every year. It works in collaboration with the Department of Surgery, University of Miami. The Center has received a Level 1 Certification from reputed accreditation organizations, and remains to be one of the few with such certifications in the region.
More than 3600 patients get admitted every year, out which about 1000 are from weapon injuries and the remaining for road-traffic accidents (University of Miami, 2007). The trauma care center was founded in the year 1992. Many medical teams from other countries have visited the organization to study the set up. The facility is located in a four-storey building and occupies about 160000 square foot area.
The trauma care center provides world-class facilities without much concern for finance. The funds are usually provided by the public health trust. Several emergency services such as resuscitation, emergency surgery, diagnostic and medical treatment, intensive care, rehabilitation, CT and MRI scans, recovery services, etc, are provided at the trauma care center (University of Miami, 2007).
The center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The trauma care network of Miami uses emergency mobile services to locate the position of the person needing immediate medical care. Paramedics stabilize the patient and bring them to the trauma care center.
The paramedics inform the surgical team of the condition of the patient. The surgical team gets ready to provide care to the patient on arrival. Ambulances and helicopters are utilized to transfer the patient to the trauma care center. The trauma care center provides training and research facilities to paramedic and other support personnel.
The trauma care center employs surgeons, physicians, nurses, anaesthiologists, radiologists, burn care specialists, orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, cardiac and thoracic surgeons, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, hand surgeons, pediatric surgeons, intensive-care specialists, radiographic technicians, support staff, etc (University of Miami, 2007).
The trauma care center receives funds from the University, insurance reimbursements, patient collections, the associated hospital and the public health trust. The public health trust was founded in the year 1973 (JHS, 2007). Citizens are the members of the trust who form policies that ensure the organization works towards fulfilling the needs of the community.
The trust performs planning between the organization, hospital, community and the university. In the year 2003, major changes were made to the structure, number and responsibilities of the public trust.
The center also executes several projects in collaboration with the Department of Transportation, Trauma Research Centers and Burn Research Centers (JHS, 2007). This Organization also provides funds for these projects. More than 300 patients visit the trauma care center every day for medical help (JHS, 2007).
The first floor of the center houses resuscitation facilities, Imaging rooms, and recovery rooms. The Second floor houses the intensive care units, and a computerized trauma research center. The third floor houses and inpatient facility and the fourth floor contain an inpatient rehabilitation unit. More than 150 beds are present in the hospital (JHS, 2007).
One of the major problems the trauma care center is facing is regarding excessive patients. There has been a sudden increase in the need for emergency treatment in Miami.
The physicians and other healthcare staff seem to be insufficient to handle the excessive number of patients. Due to this, the quality of care provided seem to decrease, the chances of error are even greater and often it is very tough for the physician to interact with the patient or their families and seek consent for treatment.
