List Archives

Sat Oct 30 19:00:36 BST 2004

We have a direct to OR program here in Portland that even beats Ken's 43
seconds!  We have 4 rooms 50 feet from the ambulance entrance.  One of which
has dedicated cardiac bypass/ECMO capability.  Protocols are designed so
that pts meeting certain criteria come straight to the waiting team of 1
anesthesiologist, 1 attending trauma surgeon, either 2 Trauma PA's or 1 R3
and 1 Trauma PA, 1 RT, Full OR RN team, 2 Trauma response RNs, 2 Xray techs,
and 1-2 CT techs.  Time from door to knife has been as fast as 2-3 minutes!
This capability has saved many lives over the years and should be more than
a "nice to have" as the Gold Book suggests.

We only do median sternotomies for trauma because the exposure to R chest,
hilum, etc is more favorable.  All of our general surgeons perform median
sternotomies very well, and fast I might add.

Brian Granvall, PA-C
Trauma Services
Legacy Emanuel Hospital
2801 N Gantenbein Ave, MOB 130
Portland, OR 97227
http://www.legacyhealth.org/healthcare/trauma/

List Archives

For your convenience, find the Trauma List Archive Below

ED Thoracotomy vs. Median Sternotomy