Highest Ranking for Trauma Center

Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital have been re-verified as a Level I adult trauma center—and newly verified as Level 1 pediatric trauma center—by the American College of Surgeons. Verification by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) is the highest possible ranking for trauma centers and recognizes dedication to providing optimal care for injured patients.

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital is the only Level I pediatric trauma center verified by the ACS in the San Francisco Bay Area and Stanford Hospital & Clinics is the only Level I trauma center between San Francisco and San Jose.

Level I verification recognizes the hospitals’ ability to provide round-the-clock care for patients with the most serious trauma injuries, from admission through rehabilitation and follow-up care. Stanford Hospital & Clinics became a trauma center in 1986, and since 1998 has been recognized as a Level I Trauma Center.

“At Stanford, saving the lives of our patients and helping them through their road to recovery is our primary focus,” said David Spain, MD, chief of trauma and critical care surgery at Stanford and professor of surgery at the Stanford School of Medicine. “Re-verification of our trauma center is a result of our team’s collective efforts to provide comprehensive trauma services, and affirms our commitment to continually improving the level of care we provide.”

For Stanford and Packard Children’s, the Level 1 verification for the pediatric trauma center was concurrent with Level 1 designation by the Santa Clara County Emergency Medical Services Agency. The Verification Review Committee, an ad hoc committee of the Committee on Trauma of the ACS, conducts onsite reviews of trauma centers. The ACS does not designate trauma centers. Rather, it provides confirmation that a trauma center has demonstrated its commitment to providing the highest quality trauma care for all injured patients. In California, trauma centers are designated by their local Emergency Medical Services Agencies.

“Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital’s capabilities for delivering nation-leading, innovative care to the most critically ill patients has allowed us to deliver the highest quality care to traumatically injured children,” said Karl Sylvester, MD, pediatric trauma medical director and associate professor of surgery and pediatrics at the Stanford School of Medicine. “We are delighted that our concerted efforts—including the quantity and quality of pediatric research we do—toward providing trauma care 24/7 has been now been recognized by the American College of Surgeons verification.”

A Level 1 Trauma Center provides access to:

Trauma surgeons and emergency medicine doctors who are always in the hospital

Coordinated response from all needed specialty medical staff

Neurosurgical and neurological care for severely injured patients

Pediatric surgeons 24 hours a day

Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for the special needs of children with serious illness or injury

Operating rooms equipped and ready at all times

In-hospital anesthesiologists

The ACS is a scientific and educational association of surgeons that was founded to raise the standards of surgical education and practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The College has over 72,000 members and it is the largest association of surgeons in the world.