Trauma Surgery

Trauma Surgery is a specialty dedicated to the care of the individual who has been injured, whatever the mechanism. The complexity in trauma surgery arises from the multi-system nature of traumatic injury: the key to excellent care is timely recognition of all injuries sustained and prioritization of those injuries to optimize patient care. The initial care of the trauma patient follows guidelines set forth in the Advanced Trauma Life Support course, established by the American College of Surgeons to improve outcomes of traumatically injured patients.

"The ATLS has its origins in the United States in 1976, when an orthopaedic surgeon, piloting a light aircraft, crashed his plane into a field in Nebraska. His wife was killed instantly and three of his four children received critical injuries.. He was appalled enough at the haphazard treatment of his children that he was to change the face of trauma care throughout the world. Various Medical, EMS and Nursing groups within the Nebraska region began to collate a set of protocols for the management of such patients. These were then taken up and modified by the American College of Surgeons and published as the ATLS in 1980. The original publication has since been updated and revised several times, the latest being the 1997 edition."

-- excerpted from www.trauma.org

Rochester General Hospital has a dedicated surgeon available in-house 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to respond whenever the services of the trauma surgery department are needed.

Chief of Surgery: Ralph Doerr, MD
Office phone  (585) 922-4518
Office fax  (585) 922-3950

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