A process two years in the making has finally paid off. On April 26th, 2012, MUSC Children’s Hospital was designated the First Level I Pediatric Trauma Center in the state – the highest level of quality standard for injured children. This designation was a team effort lead by Dr. Chris Streck, Pediatric Trauma Medical Director and Melanie Stroud, RN, Pediatric Trauma Program Manager. In order to receive the designation, MUSC Children’s Hospital willingly demonstrated the long term capability to provide leadership and total patient care for every aspect of injury, from prevention to rehabilitation.
Dr. Streck commented on the various components that MUSC Children’s Hospital exhibited in order to receive the prestigious designation:
• Volume: MUSC Children’s Hospital provides care to an appropriate number of injured patients, and thus demonstrates experience. Each year, over 300 injured children are cared for at MUSC Children’s Hospital.
• Quality: MUSC Children’s Hospital demonstrated a high quality of care. This component required a thorough review of all patient care systems and demonstrated an excellent quality of patient care.
• Specialization: MUSC Children’s Hospital surgeons, ICU physicians, and emergency doctors are board certified in pediatric care and trained specifically for children and have additional training for critically ill and injured children.
• Prevention: MUSC Children’s Hospital demonstrated injury prevention programs internally and has a strong prevention program within the community.
• Research: MUSC Children’s Hospital is actively involved in researching care for injured children.
This was indeed a process, but it was a process that MUSC Children’s Hospital voluntarily requested given the unparalleled pediatric care. Dr. Streck commented on the support received from the care teams and that “everyone got on board and was excited.” This could explain the comments received by the site visitors regarding the collaboration between specialists and the observance that everyone works together to ensure a child’s care.
View the recent news coverage of this designation.
