R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center
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| Location: | 22 S. Greene St., Baltimore, MD. |
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| Opened: | 1961 |
| Quick History: | Serves over 7,000 patients a year, opened in 1961 as part of the University of Maryland Medical Center. Renamed in honor of founder Dr. R Adams Cowley in 1989. A new free-standing eight story trauma center opened in 1989 and is connected to the UMMC main hospital building adjacent to the emergency department. |
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[edit] R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center
The R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center was the first facility in the world to treat shock. Shock Trauma was founded by R Adams Cowley, who is considered the father of trauma medicine.
[edit] Early years
While serving in the United States Army in France immediatedly following World War II, Cowley found that many severe injuries could be stabilized if the patient could be transported to a military hospital, where a surgeon was present, within one hour of the initial injury. Mr. Cowley coined the phrase Golden Hour to describe this crucial period of time. Mr. Cowley lobbied the legislature in Maryland to purchase helicopters for the transport of trauma patients. When the Maryland legislature denied his request due the cost of helicopters, Mr. Cowley was able to convince the State of Maryland to purchase helicoptors by agreeing to share them with the Maryland State Police. Today every major trauma center in the United States employs helicopters to transport trauma patients to the hospital.
During the early years of trauma center, R Adams Cowley fought with the medical community to change the policy of "nearest hospital first" which was prevelant at the time. In the early 1970s, first responders would take all patients to the nearest hospital emergency room. The flaw to this system was the nearest hospital was usually not capable of treating severe trauma. In 1975 a young prosecutor named Dutch Ruppersberger was involved in a near fatal automobile accident and his life was saved after being transported directly to Shock Trauma (not the nearest hospital). Mr. Ruppersberger ran for public office in part to advocate the trauma facility. The "nearest hospital first" was eventually abandoned and emercency medical systems across the United States now follow the model first advocated by Shock Trauma.
[edit] Modern Facilities
Today Shock Trauma houses over 100 inpatient beds dedicated to emergency surgery, resuscitation, intensive care, and acute surgical care. The facility boasts a dedicated resuscitation area in excess of 12 beds. The Trauma Resuscitation Unit, or "TRU" is located on the building's second floor. Helicopters and ambulances bring injured patients directly to the TRU for emergent treatment and stabilization. Specialized trauma teams comprised of trauma surgeons, trauma fellows, surgical residents, emergency medicine residents, students, nurses, and technicians stand ready to receive victims 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. The helipad at Shock Trauma can accommodate several medevac helicopters at a time and has direct elevator access to the resuscitation area several stories below.
Adjacent to the TRU is a vast array of equipment and facilities that are immediately available to the patient in extremis. Shock Trauma has six dedicated operating suites in addition to two multislice CT scanners, an angiography suite, and digital plain film capability. The inpatient wards of the Shock Trauma center consist of specialized intensive care units, intermediate care units, and regular surgical floor beds. Intensive care at Shock Trauma is a multidisciplinary endeavor; the facility boasts dedicated beds for victims of multisystem and neurosurgical trauma.
Shock Trauma trains physicians and medical personnel from locations overseas and throughout the United States. The facility hosts emergency medicine residents from the Johns Hopkins University and medical schools in Canada. Resident physicians from the department of emergency medicine at the University of Maryland are present on every trauma team. Shock Trauma receives over 7500 admissions per year and provides its residents with intensive training in the evaluation and management of both blunt and penetrating injury.
Shock Trauma's educational mission extends beyond the training of future physicians. The facility hosts members of the United States Armed Forces in addition to providing education for local emergency medical service providers.
