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WHEELING -- WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital was downgraded recently from a Level II to a Level IV trauma center, but the hospital's president and CEO said it is well into a plan to return to a Level II designation.
The downgrade came from the hospital's most recent survey with the American College of Surgeons, hospital president and CEO Douglass Harrison said in a letter to Wheeling Hospital's EMS partners. In a statement released Thursday night, Harrison said the survey was conducted in 2019.
"(A)ll of the gaps and deficiencies identified in it, including those in Ophthalmology; Ear, Nose, and Throat; Urology; and Plastic Surgery, have been filled or will be filled by Nov. 1," Harrison said. "We've made tremendous strides in the trauma program since then, and we will continue to do so."
According to the American Trauma Society, hospital trauma centers are rated from Level I to Level V, with Level I being the most advanced. With Wheeling Hospital's previous designation at Level II, it could initiate definitive care for all injured patients.
It could provide 24-hour immediate coverage by general surgeons, as well as coverage by the specialties of orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology and critical care.
At Level IV, a hospital trauma center has demonstrated an ability to provide advanced trauma life support prior to transfer of patients to a higher level trauma center. It provides evaluation, stabilization, and diagnostic capabilities for injured patients.
In his letter to EMS partners, Harrison outlined the steps the hospital was taking to return to Level II status. Effective Nov. 1, Dr. Howard Shackelford will become the trauma program's new medical director. He will report directly to Dr. Alison Wilson, who oversees the Level I Trauma and Critical Care Program at J.W. Ruby Memorial Hospital with WVU Medicine.
Wilson, Harrison said, sits on the West Virginia State Trauma Board and is a national surveyor with the American College of Surgeons.
Stephanie Isaly, RN, will be the program director and also report directly to Wilson.
Wheeling Hospital will create a trauma service to be staffed daily from 7 a.m.-7 p.m., in-house by board certified surgeons. After hours (7 p.m.- 7 a.m.) will be staffed through an on-call program with response times to any trauma within 15 minutes.
Daily rounding of patients on the trauma service will be provided by a physician, trauma physician assistant, and trauma nurse to assure proper care and treatment plans are adhered to. Daily consultative service will be provided by the trauma team at Ruby Memorial for any complicated patient, and real-time transfer protocols will be implemented should a patient need a higher level of care.
Most of the deficiencies noted in the ACS survey, Harrison said, were related to gaps in medical coverage. The hospital has filled those gaps, he added, by recruiting new physicians.
Harrison said there is no need to bypass Wheeling Hospital for trauma services.
"From a trauma perspective, nothing changes; we will still be accepting trauma patients," Harrison said. "We will be resurveyed before June 2022."
In that next survey, the hospital hopes to return to a Level II designation.