Trauma ICUs Are Good Investment

Trauma ICUs Are Good Investment

Trauma-specific intensive care units (ICUs) result in better patient outcomes and reduced costs and hospital stays for trauma patients, according to a study by UAB researchers. Details of the study -- the first to evaluate the benefits of trauma ICUs -- were published recently in The American Surgeon journal. "In many hospitals, critically ill trauma patients are admitted to a general purpose surgical ICU," says Gerald McGwin, Ph.D., assistant professor with the departments of epidemiology and surgery at UAB. "Our study showed that trauma patients did far better when admitted to a 'closed' trauma-specific ICU -- one with individual patient rooms managed by surgeons, nurses and other professionals highly trained in trauma critical care."

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