Wednesday, June 22, 2011
San Juan Regional Medical Center Re-designated as Level III Trauma Center
Farmington, NM (June 22, 2011) – The state of New Mexico’s Department of Health has re-designated San Juan Regional Medical Center as a level III trauma center. A level III designation is defined as a trauma center having comprehensive care available on a 24-hour basis and with the immediate availability of specialized surgeons, physician and nurse specialties, anesthesiologists, and sophisticated equipment for treating severely injured patients.
San Juan Regional Medical Center underwent an extensive re-designation process that began in December 2010 with an application to the state’s Injury Prevention and EMS Bureau and included an on-site review in March 2011 to determine the hospital’s capabilities to provide trauma care services and if it met the standards for the level III trauma center designation sought. The state’s secretary of health granted San Juan Regional Medical Center’s Level III Trauma Center re-designation in May 2011 for a period of three years.
“This designation is important to the residents of the Four Corners because it speaks to the quality trauma care available right here,” says AirCare and trauma manager Mike Berve. “A trauma patient needs immediate attention and could require care from several departments in the hospital, including EMS, AirCare, emergency, cardiology, neurosciences, pediatrics, radiology, surgery, and even our childbirth center. Because of the collaboration required throughout the hospital to treat a trauma patient, we had to demonstrate the highest quality of care across departments in order to receive this re-designation.”
For more information on San Juan Regional Medical Center, visit www.sanjuanregional.com.
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