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June 8, 2020

Texas Children’s is excited to announce that the trauma centers at Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands have been designated Level IV trauma centers by the Department of State Health Services.

“This is a tremendous accomplishment that will officially put our community hospitals on the map in terms of places trauma patients can go to receive care,” said Dr. Sohail Shah, West Campus’ chief surgical officer. “It’s a move that will ensure patients receive the right care, at the right place at the right time.”

Dr. Jeffrey Shilt, chief of community surgery, agreed, and said this tremendous effort really highlighted the collaboration between both community campuses and Texas Children’s Hospital Medical Center Campus leadership.

“Every planning meeting was the epitome of system coordination between the departments of nursing, surgery, emergency medicine, and the executives,” Shilt said. “We had a goal in mind and everyone came together to accomplish it for the greater good of our patients and their families.”

A Level IV trauma center is capable of stabilizing any trauma patient it receives, handling onsite single-system orthopedic injuries and superficial lacerations. More complex cases are stabilized and then transferred to a higher level trauma center such as our Level I trauma center in the Medical Center.

The Level IV designation sends a clear signal to first responders that our community hospitals are equipped to handle such trauma patients. West Campus and The Woodlands have been caring for such patients since the hospitals opened their doors, however the designation formalizes that process and holds the centers to certain quality and process improvement standards.

Preparation for the designation process took a little over a year and was a collaborative effort between Nursing, the Department of Surgery, Emergency Medicine and leaders at the community hospitals. During the designation process, trauma medical directors and nursing coordinators were named at each campus.

Dr. Ruben Rodriquez is the trauma medical director in The Woodlands and Shah serves as the trauma medical director, in addition to his role as chief surgical officer, at West Campus. Julie Hollan is the trauma nursing coordinator in The Woodlands and John Coley is the trauma nursing coordinator at West Campus.

“Trauma care demands committed teamwork, beginning in the Emergency Center with the physicians and staff playing a critical role in receiving trauma patients and working with the surgeons in managing their care,” said Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria, medical director of our Level I Trauma Center at Texas Children’s Hospital Medical Center Campus. “The teams at West Campus and The Woodlands are equipped and ready to serve our Greater Houston community in this very important way.”