For Release: IMMEDIATE
Date: February 14, 2006

High Point Regional Health System designated Level III trauma center

RALEIGH – High Point Regional Health System became North Carolina’s twelfth trauma center on Monday, with designation granted by the N.C. Office of Emergency Medical Services.

The hospital’s designation as a Level III trauma center means that the facility has in place specialized health care resources and that it passed a stringent review of criteria by a state trauma site team that visited the hospital Dec. 7-8, 2005.

“High Point’s designation as the third Level III trauma center in the state represents another significant stepping stone in the development of a comprehensive trauma system for North Carolina,” said Drexdal Pratt, chief of the N.C. Office of Emergency Medical Services. “They now provide a highly specialized health care resource and should be applauded for the degree of commitment and planning required by this pursuit.”

Pratt notified the hospital of the designation in a letter sent Monday.

This initial Level III designation is conferred for a three-year period, until Feb. 28, 2009. The designation puts High Point Regional Health System in the company of two other Level III trauma centers: Cleveland Regional Medical Center in Shelby, a Level III facility since 1997, and Northeast Medical Center in Concord, since 2000. There are four Level II trauma centers and five Level I centers.

The High Point designation makes the Triad the first Emergency Medical Services Regional Advisory Council in the state to have hospitals designated for all three trauma levels. North Carolina Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem is a Level I trauma center, and Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro is a Level II.

As a Level III trauma center, High Point Regional Health System provides initial assessment, resuscitation and stabilization for all types of trauma patients, but usually transfers the most serious trauma patients to a Level I or II facility for surgical care. Surgeons are available within 30 minutes of notification at a Level III facility, while at a Level II and Level I facility they are available within 20 minutes. At a Level I facility a trauma surgeon is available within 20 minutes, 24 hours a day, and a fourth year or senior surgical resident is available 24 hours a day in-house, for responses within 20 minutes.

High Point Regional, with 384 licensed and 345 staffed beds, had about 57,000 emergency department visits in fiscal year 2005 with 497 resulting in a trauma admission, mostly for blunt trauma injuries (92.28 percent), penetrating (6.82 percent) and burns (0.89 percent). The hospital currently has eight practicing general surgeons on staff with seven routinely taking call on the trauma service.

In its review of the hospital, the state site team lauded the hospital for the following strengths:

(1) Strong board, administrative and clinical department support and enthusiasm for the trauma program;

(2) An impressive and active performance improvement program with documented loop closure;

(3) Close working relationship with N.C. Baptist Hospital, facilitating timely and appropriate referrals;]

(4) A modern, technology-rich and financially sound facility;

(5) Routine involvement with the trauma regional advisory council and state trauma program;

(6) Emergency department physicians who appropriately stabilize and transport critical multi-system patients quickly, in conjunction with recommendations from the Level I; and

(7) A willingness to exceed the minimal state criteria for a Level III, as evidenced by back-up trauma surgeons on the trauma call schedule.

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