The Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation (PTSF) has elevated the accreditation status of Lancaster General Hospital to a Level 1 Trauma Center—the highest level of Trauma Center accreditation in Pennsylvania. The elevation is effective immediately.
Trauma centers offer 24-hour availability of a team of specially trained health-care providers with expertise in the care of severely injured patients. Traumatic injuries commonly occur as the result of falls, motor vehicle crashes and assaults.
The PTSF grants accreditation to Pennsylvania trauma centers at four levels. Level I trauma centers provide the highest degree of resources, offering a full spectrum of medical specialists, as well as trauma research and surgical residency programs.
“As a Level I Trauma Center, Lancaster General Hospital is continuously prepared to treat patients with the most serious life-threatening and disabling injuries,” said Jan Bergen, President and CEO, LG Health. “Lancaster General Health is proud to provide the highest level of trauma care close to home for patients in our community.”
LGH is the only Level I trauma center in Lancaster County and the second such center in the University of Pennsylvania Health System. Penn Medicine’s Level 1 Trauma Center at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia—which first opened at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 1989 and moved to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in 2015—is among the world’s leaders in care of critically injured patients, with a long history of setting new standards of care when every second counts.
Lancaster General Hospital had been serving our community as a Level II Trauma Center since 1986. Level II centers offer the same high level of trauma care but do not require research and residency programs or certain subspecialists.
For many years, Lancaster General Hospital met all of the conditions for becoming a Level I Trauma Center, with the exception of a trauma surgical residency program. LGH established a surgical residency program in July 2019.
Lancaster General Hospital is one of the busiest trauma centers in the region, seeing more than 2,800 trauma patients in 2019. A large majority of these patients were injured as the result of a fall or motor vehicle crash. Over the last 10 years, the LGH Trauma program has seen a 44 percent increase in volume.
“Lancaster General Hospital’s accreditation as a Level I Trauma Center will offer important benefits for our patients and the community, including enhanced surgical outcomes and patient experience, as well an even stronger collaboration with trauma experts within the Penn Medicine system,“ said Eric Bradburn, DO, Medical Director, Trauma. “Level I accreditation also will further strengthen our efforts to recruit and retain the most highly skilled trauma providers. ”
Providing high-level trauma care requires a team approach involving departments throughout the hospital. Trauma surgeons, neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, cardiac surgeons, radiologists and nurses all have specialized training and expertise.
In addition to having a trauma surgeon in the hospital 24 hours a day, an operating room readiness team is on standby around the clock. LGH’s trauma OR is dedicated solely to trauma patients and is equipped with the most advanced tools for delivering high-quality emergency care the moment it is needed.
The Pavilion for Advanced Care at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center is home to Penn Medicine’s Level 1 Trauma Center in Philadelphia. The facility is a 178,000 square-foot, acute-care building, featuring the latest technology and 24/7, in-house surgeon coverage. The center provides enhanced capacity to house all multidisciplinary experts that may need to be pulled in for trauma care. The trauma surgical intensive care unit in 2015 received the Society of Critical Care Medicine's Design Award, recognizing exceptional functionality of ICU design as well as the humanitarian delivery of critical care to its patients.
About Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health
Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health, a member of the University of Pennsylvania Health System (Penn Medicine), is a 786-licensed bed not-for-profit health system with a comprehensive network of care encompassing Lancaster General Hospital (LGH), Women & Babies Hospital, Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital (in partnership with Kindred Healthcare) and the Lancaster Behavioral Health Hospital (in partnership with Universal Health Services). Its membership in Penn Medicine brings together the strengths of a world-renowned, not-for-profit academic medical center and a nationally recognized, not-for-profit community healthcare system.
Outpatient services are provided at Downtown and Suburban pavilions, along with additional outpatient centers and Express and Urgent Care locations throughout the region. Lancaster General Health Physicians is a network of more than 625 physicians and advanced practice professionals across primary care and medical and surgical specialties, at more than 50 offices throughout the region.
MEDIA CONTACT:
John Lines
john.lines@pennmedicine.upenn.edu