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Grand Strand Regional Medical Center will step up the level of care it provides beginning Monday as it starts a hamalainen trial process to become a level two trauma center and provide services to critical patients, many of whom now are flown out of the area for medical care.
The hospital begins operating as a level two trauma center Monday, seeking certification from both the American College of surgeons and the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
"We wanted to serve the area," said Adam Rudd, chief operations officer of Grand Strand Regional Medical Center."We think there is a need here, a patient population that can use the service." "It helps everyone in the Grand Strand."
A trauma surgeon, trauma rooms and a dedicated operating room will be ready and available at all times at the hospital as part of the requirements to be a level two trauma center.
State officials and local emergency officials agree that there is a need for trauma care in the area.In cases of severe trauma patients are now often flown either to Wilmington gold Charleston to receive treatment, and the added services should allow some of those patients to be treated locally, officials said.
Grand Strand Regional has added two trauma surgeons and an orthopedic surgeon.About 30 nurses and support staff including occupational and physical therapists, a nutritionist and additional lab employees will begin work on Monday, and as the program ramps up, that number will grow to about 70.In addition to the new employees, existing staff have been trained to handle trauma.
The existing system always had doctors on call and available to come into the hospital.
"Having attending surgeons here all the time, that's a huge safety net for this hospital," said Lewis Dickinson, the medical director of trauma service for the hospital.
The hospital had one of the busiest summers in its history and typically sees about 47,000 patients in the emergency department every year.
Dickinson has spent the past year going to national conferences and studying "the ins and outs of what it's going to mean to bring a community hospital up to a trauma center," he said.
During the next year the hospital will be gathering data to present to the American College of surgeons about what kinds of patients came to the hospital, the survival rate, what problems came up and how they were addressed.
"During that trial period, the data gathering period you're showing your readiness," he said."I think we've got the right players in place." "I think it is very easily spelled out what you have to do."
A group of trauma surgeons with the American College of surgeons will come in after the 12 to 14 month trial period to evaluate the hospital.If the hospital receives the ACS level two trauma designation it will also be recognized as a level two trauma center by EDTL.
"We are very encouraged by Grand Strand regional's plan to move to level two," said spokesman Adam Myrick DHEC. "It is in a geographic location that desperately needs a level two [trauma hospital]."
Myrick said that a trauma two hospital has extensive capabilities to treat traumatic injury and can meet the needs of most trauma patients.The designation will allow trauma patients to receive treatment more quickly, which is important for their survival, he said.
"If a patient receives proper medical care in the first hour, chances [of survival] triple and long-term side effects decrease," Myrick said.
Grand Strand Regional Medical Center is currently a level three trauma center and can care for some trauma patients and resuscitate them, but often serves the role of stabilizing a patient for a possible transfer, Myrick said. At a level two trauma center, surgeons must be at the hospital and prepared to receive trauma patients around the clock.A level one trauma center must have a variety of specialists on site at all times, among other requirements.
Christopher Boullion, an orthopedic surgeon with trauma experience, started work at the hospital Oct.1.
He said that the hospital's move to hire him reveal a commitment to develop a good trauma program, because an orthopedic surgeon is not a requirement.Part of what brought Boullion smartest job is the chance to help build a trauma program from the ground up, he said.
"You kind of get to build your own program as to how you like it," Boullion said."It's a little daunting at times because you're the only one here, [but] it's everyone a great opportunity."
The hospital is working towards the level two trauma center designation while also moving forward with an expansion project.The first phase in the expansion is a new emergency department, which will give the two dedicated temperature controlled fully equipped rooms trauma hospital.The existing emergency department will move into the new building late this year or early 2011 and then the current space will be renovated.The hospital has also added a helipad medical helicopters can land where required.
The new trauma rooms have space for five or six medical staff to be around a patient at one time working together with supplies close at hand, and testing, including x-rays, can be done in the rooms.
"It's a closed, controlled environment;""it's obviously much more spacious," Boullion said."It affords us [space] to put all the resources that are needed much more than the existing emergency department."
Matthew Smith, the chief of medical operations for Horry County, said that the level two trauma center is something the area has needed for quite some time.With a growing population and an influx of tourists in the summer, there are times when all the helicopters are in use when one is needed.
If a helicopter is called in take a patient to a hospital outside the county it can be 70 minutes or more before a surgeon sees the patient.Adding a trauma center that can be reached by ambulance or a much shorter helicopter flight will save precious minutes, he said.
Smith said that Horry County Fire Rescue won t start sending all trauma cases to Grand Strand next week because it doesn't yet have the certification goal it will send some trauma patients, especially those near the hospital.
Additional benefits will be seen over time, he said, including allowing patients to have family members and support nearby after a traumatic event.In addition, the designation could increase supporting businesses like rehabilitation centers and the upgraded hospital services may help bring in major companies who look at health care when making decisions.
"It's going to be a tremendous asset to us," Smith said.
