AUSTIN, Texas - (March 19,
2008) - The Seton Family of Hospitals and the Austin-Travis
County EMS System are introducing a new way of delivering
trauma patients by EMS to Dell Children's Medical Center of
Central Texas and University Medical Center at
Brackenridge.
It's called "Hot Offload". The goal: to ensure the delivery of
badly injured patients to the appropriate hospital to receive
the complex care needed.
According to Dr. Pat Crocker, Chief of Emergency Medicine, Dell
Children's Medical Center, "Our primary mission is the delivery
of the highest quality of patient care. In order to accomplish
this, children must be at Dell Children's Medical Center and
adults at University Medical Center Brackenridge."
Critical trauma care is all about time and getting the trauma
patients to the most appropriate hospital in the shortest
amount of time. When Dell Children's Medical Center of Central
Texas opened on June 30, 2007, the standard of care for
pediatric trauma patients in our community changed to a new
higher level. Coincidently, with that change, UMC Brackenridge
remains committed to offering complex adult care for trauma
patients, and no longer to the pediatric population. Now, when
seriously injured, parents and children will go to different
specialty hospitals.
"When an adult and a child must be transported in the same
ambulance, EMS will offloaded the most seriously injured
patient first, then immediately transport the other patient to
the second hospital." said Austin-Travis County EMS System
Medical Director Ed Racht. "This is a great next step in
developing an even stronger Trauma System to take care of our
community. We're fortunate to have such a strong and committed
relationship between the EMS System and the Hospital community.
We can effectively get our most injured patients to the highest
level of care in the region more rapidly and effectively. What
we've collectively developed here can become a model for other
state-wide systems."
Seton and Austin/Travis County EMS are sensitive to the
separation of families, especially during something as sudden
and frightening as a sudden traumatic event. To facilitate the
separation of parents and children a real time bedside video
link has been established between Dell Children's and UMC
Brackenridge so that families can see and talk to each other,
the next best thing to being together.
Seton is proud to have four hospitals – the only hospitals in Central Texas - that have earned the