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Perham hospital named trauma center
Published 3:17pm Monday, October 12, 2009Trauma is the third leading cause of death in Minnesota — and trauma victims taken to the Perham Memorial Hospital will receive a new level of care after the hospital was recently designated as a Level IV trauma center.
The designation means the hospital has added equipment and more educated medical staff to treat patients in the emergency room.
The goal is to assess the trauma victim quickly and to either treat or transfer the patient to improve the outcome, said Bonnie Johnson, Perham Hospital’s senior director of patient services. Most patients are transferred to MeritCare in Fargo, with the exception of burn victims, who are sent to the Twin Cities, Johnson said.
Perham Memorial Hospital received the designation from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). The trauma system is a voluntary state-wide process that ranks hospitals from Level I to Level IV.
Trauma is a broad definition and can mean anything from a fall to a motor vehicle accident, Johnson said. On average, trauma claims the lives of 2,400 Minnesotans annually, according to the MDH. States with trauma systems have seen survival rates increase by 15 to 20 percent.
Although Perham Memorial Hospital was already receiving trauma victims, staff have spent the past year working toward meeting the criteria for the Level IV designation.
They added more equipment to the emergency room after they compared what equipment they had to a list of recommended equipment, Johnson said.
The education level also increased for the doctors, nurses and physician’s assistants after they were required to complete courses in trauma, Johnson said.
If the hospital could recruit a orthopedic surgeon, it would be able to be designated as a Level III trauma center — the only difference between the two levels is having a 24-hour, on-call orthopedic surgeon on staff, Johnson noted.
