Surgical Suites/Anesthesia

Surgical Suites/Anesthesia 1. The operating room (OR) must be staffed and available in-house 24 hours/day. 2. An operating room must be adequately staffed and available within 30 minutes of time of notification. Availability of the operating room personnel and timeliness of starting operations must be continuously evaluated by the trauma performance improvement process, and measures must be implemented to ensure optimal care. 3. The OR nurses should participate in the care of the trauma patient and be competent in the surgical stabilization of the major trauma patient. 4. The surgical nurses are an integral member of the trauma team and must participate in the ongoing PI process of the trauma program and be represented on the multidisciplinary trauma committee. 5. The OR supervisor must be able to demonstrate a prioritization scheme to assure the availability of an operating room for the emergent trauma during a busy operative schedule. There must be an on-call system for additional personnel for multiple patient admissions. 6. The anesthesia department in a Level I trauma center must be ideally organized and run by an anesthesiologist who is highly experienced and devoted to the care of the injured patient. Anesthesiologists on the trauma team must have successfully completed an anesthesia residency program approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, the American Board of Osteopathic Specialties and have board certification in anesthesia. One anesthesiologist must maintain commitment to education in trauma related anesthesia. 7. Anesthesia must be in-house and available 24 hours/day. Anesthesia chief residents or Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNAs) may fill this requirement. When residents or CRNAs are utilized, the staff anesthesiologist on- call will be available within 30 minutes, and present for all operations. 8. Hospital policy must be established to determine when the anesthesiologist must be immediately available for airway control and assisting with resuscitation. The availability of the anesthesiologist and the absence of delays in airway control or operative anesthesia must be documented and monitored by the PI process. The maximum response time for all trauma patients is 30 minutes from the time notified to respond. 9. The list of required equipment necessary for Surgery and Anesthesia can be found online at the Department’s website.