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Trauma Surgery
Trauma Surgery
Trauma surgeons practice the last to be created subspecialty of general surgery. Comfortable at operating on most body parts and cavities, trauma surgeons carry on the tradition of military surgeons as depicted in the novel M*A*S*H. Trauma surgeons have a high success rate regarding the sickest of patients who have sustained life and limb-threatening injuries. Trauma surgeons have become specialists in Surgical Critical Care, burns, and Emergency Surgery, and have, in the process, created the new specialty of Acute Care Surgery.
It has been suggested that Traumatology be merged into this article or section.In many hospitals throughout the United States and Britain, trauma surgeons primarily stabilize patients and then transfer the patient to the appropriate department. For instance, a patient presenting to the emergency room with peripheral nervous system trauma would preferably be treated by a neurosurgeon. Likewise, patients with musculoskeletal problems would be treated by an orthopedic surgeon, oral/maxillofacial trauma by a maxillofacial surgeon, and heart trauma by a cardiovascular surgeon. As trauma surgery has increasingly become inoperative in nature, its popularity among medical students has fallen drastically. Trauma surgeons make life and death choices everyday.
Trauma Surgeons are physicians who have completed the typical five year general surgery residency and usually continue with a one to two year fellowship leading to additional board certification in Surgical Critical Care. It is important to note that one does not receive board certification in general surgery and trauma surgery (trauma surgery is not an option), but after the fellowship would be eligible to sit for additional qualifications in Surgical Critical Care. Karim Brohi keeps a database of some of the available fellowships in trauma and or surgical critical care on his website (https://www.trauma.org), an excellent reference for those interested in trauma. This site also links to many other websites on the topic of trauma. For information on what is involved in a trauma fellowship, please reference the book published by the American College of Surgeons (ACS) entitled Resources for Optimal Care of the Injured Patient. This book can be ordered off the web at https://www.facs.org in the publications section.
Trauma surgeons tend to work at night and are expected to make immediate, potentially life and death decisions while utterly exhausted. Some even have elective general surgery schedules after their on-call nights. I would suggest everyone interested in trauma read the following interviews, which include interviews with internationally known trauma surgeons such as Kenneth L. Mattox from Baylor and Norman McSwain from Tulane.
