County panel calls for trauma system

Dan Kulin

Wednesday, June 16, 2004 | 11:11 a.m.

A Clark County Health Board subcommittee on Tuesday endorsed recommendations from a task force that call for creating a trauma system and asking the state for the power to control trauma care matters in the county.

The recommendations now go to the full Health Board, which next meets June 24.

The subcommittee, which is comprised of members of the Health Board, also wants to review the task force's recommendations on what to do about offers from Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and St. Rose Dominican Hospital to open new trauma centers. This step will probably delay the Health Board's further consideration of those offers until late July.

Members of the task force, formally called the Health District's Trauma System Assessment Citizen's Task Force, could make their recommendations on offers from the two hospitals during their June 22 meeting. Some members said this would still be in time for those recommendations to be presented to the Health Board on June 24.

Dr. Jim Christensen, a board member also on the subcommittee, said there is no rush to make a decision now.

"No. 1 we are not broken. What we are doing is a performance improvement. Speed is not the issue here," he said.

The recommended trauma system, expected to be discussed by the board on June 24, would operate under the authority of the Health Board, and would be led by an advisory committee with some staff members to assist with evaluating and coordinating trauma care. The local leaders could also be responsible for deciding what hospitals become designated trauma centers, if state officials agree to transfer that power to the county.

Now, Sunrise is asking to be made a Level II trauma center, and St. Rose is offering to run a Level III trauma center at its Siena Campus in Henderson.

Level I and II trauma centers have trauma doctors in the hospital around the clock, whereas at a Level III trauma center the trauma doctors are on call.

University Medical Center's Level I trauma center is the only center in Southern Nevada, and Sunrise officials have said the area would be better prepared for a terrorist attack or other mass-casualty event if there was at least a backup trauma center.

On average, states build one trauma center for every 500,000 residents. Clark County's population is more than 1.6 million.

But UMC officials say their trauma center is two or three times the size of a typical trauma center, which is usually part of a hospital emergency room. The UMC trauma center is in a separate building.