3 Months of Trauma Enough Training?

[Snelgrave]

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This is a tie-breaker in my ROL, and I know trauma is overrated in general.

One program I encountered surprised me with how much I liked them. They are a very busy urban ED with very sick, complicated patients. However, it's located in a relatively safe neighborhood not near a highway. For trauma, they send you away for 2 months to a very busy adult trauma center and then another for 1 month for pediatric trauma. The residents claim this is enough, but I have my doubts. I'm sure that after 2 months of intense trauma, I will be very skilled, but what happens when I don't see a GSW or MVA for another year and a half? The rest of the program seems very solid.

Thoughts?

 

[LadyGrey]

Good question. I've been wondering the same about places on my list that send you out for trauma but are otherwise solid. I'm curious if the place you're talking about is the one I'm considering (your description makes me think it is), but I can understand if you'd rather keep this general.

 

[deleted109597]

Trauma =
Primary survey + any needed interventions +
Secondary survey + any needed interventions

It's all cookbook. It's not like you're the one performing the bowel anastamoses or anything.

 

[Aloha Kid]

2 Months Tops and you'll be saying ENOUGH, ENOUGH!!!

 

[nycqqe]

Yeah if a trauma patient, GSW, MVA, whatever, comes in critical, decompensating, in shock, you pretty much know what caused it and it's pretty brainless. But in a patient with no signs of trauma, dying in front of you, that's where the fun is, when everything including trauma is in your differential and you gotta work that patient the hell up. That's what you really want to learn to do well in residency, instead of wasting too much time on trauma cookbook.

 

[GeneralVeers]

Yeah if a trauma patient, GSW, MVA, whatever, comes in critical, decompensating, in shock, you pretty much know what caused it and it's pretty brainless. But in a patient with no signs of trauma, dying in front of you, that's where the fun is, when everything including trauma is in your differential and you gotta work that patient the hell up. That's what you really want to learn to do well in residency, instead of wasting too much time on trauma cookbook.

I had 4 months of Trauma total........that was more than enough.

2 months of Trauma should be enough. After all you're not training to be a trauma surgeon. Learning the trauma algorithm shouldn't take more than 4-5 patients.

 

[deleted6669]

and you will get atls every 4 yrs as a refresher....at 850 bucks/course....
I did 5 weeks at medstar/wa d.c. on the trauma team and would have liked more, but probably not more than another 5 weeks....

 

[jendc08]

I'm almost done (thankfully) with my first month of trauma and wish I never had to do it again!! It's PAINFUL and usually not very exciting even though I'm at a pretty busy level 1 center. I just wish I didnt have to do it 2 more times...VOMIT!😡

 

[bartleby]

Three months on a trauma "service" is enough. Managing trauma is somewhat algorithmic, but the diagnostic component (when you don't automatically pan-scan everyone, something you will not be doing if you find yourself working in a community ED) involves doing a good job of risk stratifying your patients by mechanism.

Ideally, your main ED site should see ongoing trauma rather than being confined solely to medical patients, though.

Unless you really work in a place where you see no trauma and truly need a refresher, after your initial ATLS certification, there is little to be gained by repeating this course if you are a residency trained EM physician with current board certification.

 

[Station51]

I think I know which program the OP is talking. If it is the same one I know (I rotated there), that particular ED sees next to no trauma since it's sandwiched in between two level-I trauma centers. I would have my doubts too. We have residents from other programs come to our hospital for trauma experience as well. Visiting residents' experiences seem to vary because no one can predict how much bad trauma rolls in month to month and what kind of (if any) procedures they'll be doing considering our EM residents and surgical colleagues seem to have priority.

By the way, 3 months of trauma should be enough. I just like my trauma experience dispersed throughout the year because what comes in during the winter seems to be somewhat different than what comes in during the summer (at least around here).

 

[deleted6669]

Unless you really work in a place where you see no trauma and truly need a refresher, after your initial ATLS certification, there is little to be gained by repeating this course if you are a residency trained EM physician with current board certification.

I work at a busy ( around 110k pts/yr) trauma ctr.
all the docs and pa's are required to keep atls/acls/pals current at all times.