MDNews - San Antonio

A National Voice Beyond its vital mission of patient care, University Hospital and its physician partners at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio have played a significant role in the care of trauma patients around the world — working closely with the San A ntonio Militar y Medica l Center's Level 1 trauma center. Ronald Stewart, MD, a trauma surgeon a nd Cha irma n of Su r g er y a t the UT Health Science Center, is Chair of the American College o f S u r g e o n s ' Committee on T r a u m a , t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n c h a r g e d w it h setting standards for trauma care and verifying the qualifications of trauma centers internationally. San Antonio is a nationa l hub of trauma research and training, thanks to the critical mass of that military- civilian partnership. It is no accident that the National Trauma Institute, an independent nonprofit that supports and advocates for trauma research and prevention, is headquartered in San Antonio. The Institute was founded by Dr. Stewart. "We have constant ongoing research projects aimed at improving trauma care," Dr. Myers says. Underscoring those close ties to military trauma is Brian Eastridge, MD, Trauma Medical Director at University Hospital and Professor of Surgery at UT Health Science Center, and a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Corps with multiple deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq, including a tour last year. Dr. Eastridge previously served as trauma medical director at Brooke Army Medical Center, now known as the San Antonio Military Medical Center. Dr. Eastridge is also a member of the Governor's EMS and Trauma Advisory Council's Trauma Systems Committee. Among his many research interests, Dr. Eastridge last year analyzed the impact to San Antonio's trauma centers of the eco- nomic boom taking place in the counties south of Bexar that make up the Eagle Ford Shale region. South Texas Trauma System University Health System and the UT Health Science Center have guided the development of trauma care and a trauma system in the region from the beginning. When San Antonio launched its Emergency Medical System in 1974, its first medical director, Charles Rockwood, MD, Professor of Surgery at the UT Health Science Center, began requiring that the most seriously injured patients go to Medical Center Hospital, known today as University Hospital. Prior to that, the ambulance delivered the patient wherever he or she wanted to go. Surgical residents from the military rotated through Medical Center Hospital for experience in treating shootings and other serious injuries. In the 1980s, the two military hospitals, Brooke Army Medical Center and Wilford Hall Medical Center (now an outpatient facility), began accept- ing civilian trauma patients to boost their battlefield readiness — making San Antonio the only city in the nation where military hospitals played a key part in the civilian trauma system. In the 1990s, Texas required hospitals and EMS systems to organize themselves into trauma systems, in part to improve the survival rates of injured patients in rural areas. University Hospital took the leading role in South Texas. Today, Dr. Stewart chairs the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council, or STRAC, which coordinates trauma care in a 22-county region known as Trauma Service Area P. STRAC developed MEDCOM, a San Antonio-based communications center that facilitates more than 300 critical trauma transfer requests each month. MEDCOM is staffed around the clock to connect physicians at regional hospitals with trauma surgeons in San Antonio. "Trauma is a serious, often under- appreciated problem, one that leads to lost lives and lifelong disabilities, that costs millions of dollars in medical expenses and collateral property loss," Dr. Myers says. "At University Hospital, we've made it our mission to provide the highest level of care for injured patients of all ages, to find better ways of treating them through research and innovation, and to prevent traumas before they happen in the first place. No one spends more time thinking about trauma in all its dimensions than we do." For m or e in f or m a t i on a b o u t th e Le vel 1 t rauma center at Universit y Hospital, please visit universit yhealth- system.com/trauma-services. ■ Trauma surgeons Dr. Liao, Daniel Dent, MD, Ronald Stewart, MD, and George B. Hernández Jr., President and CEO of University Health System, discuss South Texas injury trends at the release of the annual Community Trauma Report. Dr. Stewart, Chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Texas Health Science Center, is also Chair of the American College of Surgeons' Committee on Trauma, which sets standards for trauma care worldwide. COV ER FE AT UR E 8 | San Antonio MD NEWS ■ M D N E W S . CO M

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