Brenner Children’s Hospital Reverified as Level I Pediatric Trauma Center

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – May 1, 2017 – Brenner Children’s Hospital, the pediatric arm of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, received verification as a Level I pediatric trauma center by the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

Brenner Children’s is one of only 51 Level I pediatric trauma centers in the country. It became the first Level I pediatric trauma center in the state in 2011 and has consistently maintained its verification ever since. The current verification covers the hospital through January 7, 2020.

Achieving verification means that Brenner Children’s has voluntarily met the highest level of criteria that improve the standard of care by the Verification Review Committee, a subcommittee of the Committee on Trauma of the ACS.

“This verification recognizes the dedication of many people to provide the most advanced, up-to-date and highest quality of patient- and family-centered care for an injured child,” said John K. Petty, M.D., pediatric surgeon and trauma program director, Wake Forest Baptist. “This type of treatment involves collaboration and coordination by a number of professionals from surgeons to nurses to the EMS transport teams. It takes all to provide the high level of care a Level I pediatric trauma center provides.”

A 2006 national study that included six hospitals in North Carolina found that the overall risk of death is 25 percent lower when care for traumatic injuries is provided at trauma centers, compared to hospitals without trauma centers.

Brenner Children’s is the only Level I pediatric trauma center in our region and one of only three in the state.

Through supporting research and educational programs, the Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma at Wake Forest Baptist provides support and direction to the effort to maintain Level I status as a pediatric trauma center.

“This verification reaffirms the collaborative efforts of the Childress Institute with children’s hospitals across the country like Brenner Children’s to discover and share the best ways to prevent and treat severe injuries in children,” said Robert J. Gfeller, M.B.A., executive director, Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma.

A Level I pediatric trauma center verification means the hospital has physicians on staff 24/7 who are certified and highly skilled to provide pediatric trauma care in the areas of pediatric surgery, orthopaedic surgery, neurosurgery, pediatric critical care and pediatric emergency medicine.

To receive verification, each hospital has an on-site review by a team of experienced site reviewers, who use a standard criteria developed by the ACS to evaluate the hospital.

SOURCE: Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center