A leap in faith: the impact of removing the surgeon from the level II trauma response

from the Journal of Pediatric Surgery, via EmergencyMDLinx:

Limitation of resident work hours has created the need to explore alternatives to surgeon presence during initial assessment and resuscitation for selected life-threatening injuries in children. We recently eliminated the requirement for surgeon presence during Level II alerts. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of this change on patient care.

When ED physicians replaced PS for Level II alerts, trauma room length of stay was increased, but use of abdominal imaging was decreased with no differences in rate of missed injury or mortality. Emergency Department physicians can safely replace PS during Level II alerts. These findings may be useful to institutions experiencing surgical workforce limitations for trauma alerts.