announced its re-designation as a Level I Trauma center for adults today.
The designation reaffirms the original Level I designation the hospital received in 2009. Every three years the center goes through a stringent re-designation test by
Brackenridge CEO and President Greg Hartman says the designation does not drastically change the facility鈥檚 services, but increases its capabilities.
鈥淲ell, we had Level 2 Trauma [before 2009], so a lot of the services that are available now were available then,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut what we didn鈥檛 have were some of the real cutting edge and unique things for this community- things that you had to go to San Antonio, Houston or Dallas for.鈥�
He says one of the differences is the wider variety of staff that must be on-call 24/7.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a unique kind of facility where the best of the best are always available for really serious injuries as well as a whole lot of different calamities you may find yourself in,鈥� he says.
Hartman also recognized the additional costs of the staff needed to keep the hospital designation.
鈥淏eing a Level 1 Trauma is an extremely expensive venture. It鈥檚 something you have to do and a community like this needs one, but it really is very expensive,鈥� he says. He said Seton Healthcare and several donors pledged to make the hospital a Level 1 center.
, who also attended the re-designation ceremony this morning, says the extra staff and added expenditures were only part of what the hospital needed to achieve the re-designation.
鈥淚t also means that we have achieved some level of proficiency in medical education and academic medicine because you can鈥檛 achieve a Level 1 status without that,鈥� he said. Watson said the designation would make the possibility of bringing a medical school to Austin easier.
This designation is valid until 2015.
