Trauma
UChicago Medicine began providing Level 1 Adult Trauma Care on May 1, 2018, nearly 30 years after discontinuing the program. Together with its Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center at Comer Children’s Hospital and its Burn and Complex Wound Center, UChicago Medicine is able to provide the community a comprehensive system of care to treat the full range of trauma injuries in patients of all ages. The institution is also home to University of Chicago Medicine Aeromedical Network (UCAN), which provides helicopter transportation from the scene of an emergency to our Hyde Park campus or between hospitals within a 200-mile radius.
PGY-1 Role
As a PGY-1 EM resident you spend two 1-month blocks on the Trauma Surgery service. Along with colleagues from general and subspecialty surgery, we work as interns on the trauma team. Responsibilities include responding to every Level 1 and Level 2 trauma activation in the ED, during which we conduct the Primary and Secondary surveys, perform the eFAST exam, and do or assist on any necessary procedures ranging from chest tubes to thoracotomies. EM residents are not asked to go to the OR, but may choose to in-order to do more procedures.
PGY-2 and PGY-3 Role
The senior ED residents are responsible for the airway during all trauma activations. The intubation experience of the intern year allows 2nd and 3rd years to step up to the challenges presented by the trauma airway. During their trauma shifts, these residents also continue to see other patients in the ED, learning to integrate trauma resuscitation into their normal workflow.