Personal Injury Law

Personal Injury Victims Will Have New Facility in Florida

By Flaxman & Lopez

The University of South Florida will team up with five facilities that are part of the Hospital Corporation of America in order to create a Florida-wide trauma network.
At least of the facilities, Blake Medical Center, also plans to open a trauma center. The goal of the network is to improve care for trauma patients. Currently, only about 48% of trauma patients in Florida get care at a licensed trauma center. Nationwide, about 65% of trauma patients receive care at a licensed trauma center.

According to the Hospital Corporation of America and University of South Florida, the main cause of Florida trauma injuries is Florida car accidents. The two organizations also noted that Florida car accident fatalities are closely linked to distance from the nearest trauma center. In counties with a trauma center, the rate of Florida car accident fatalities is lower.

Improving access to trauma centers can help Florida spinal cord injury patients, brain injury patients, and other trauma patients. Currently, patients must sometimes travel long distances to reach a trauma center. For example, some trauma patients from Manatee County must travel to Tampa or St. Petersburg to access trauma facilities. Blake Medical Center hopes to have its trauma facility open by fall 2011. The center will have at least five specialists and surgeons skilled to handle pulmonary issues, pediatrics, cardiology, infectious disease, and other areas.

In addition to the Blake Medical Center, the new trauma network will also include Kendall Regional Medical Center, Lawnwood Regional Medical Center, Orange Park Medical Center, and Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point. Currently, Lawnwood Medical Center has a trauma center while the remaining facilities have applied for trauma center designation.

Trauma centers may help patients survive serious injuries because these facilities group specialists and surgeons who are able to respond quickly to trauma injuries. In order for a facility to receive trauma center designation, there must be several specialty surgeons at the facility as well as a head trauma surgeon. The facilities must also have on-call specialists that allow them to deal with a range of trauma injuries.

Full post as published by Florida Injury Lawyer Blog on December 07, 2010 (boomark / email).