CAUSE OF TEMPORARY CLOSURE OF AN INNER-CITY TRAUMA CENTER

The number of trauma admissions, types of injury, and reasons for temp orary closure were studied. Trauma patients admitted numbered 1120 in 1991, 989 in 1992, and 1164 in 1993; blunt trauma accounted for 77 per cent, 74 percent, and 80 percent, whereas penetrating trauma accounted for 23 percent, 26 percent, and 20 percent of the admissions by year, respectively. A mean of 81 percent of the blunt trauma studies were f or head injuries. The trauma center closed for a total of 260 hours in 1991, 211 hours in 1992, and 240 hours during 1993. Of the total hour s closed, the unavailability of computed tomography (CT) scanning due to mechanical reasons was the leading cause for closure, accounting fo r 59 percent of hours closed. Other reasons for closure included opera ting (OR) unavailability (33%), acute care beds full (3.4%), blood ban k stock shortage (1.4%), insufficient OR nursing teams (0.6%), unavail ability of anesthesiologists (0.5%), unavailability of surgical team ( 1.4%), and hospital water problems (1.4%). It is concluded that design ated major trauma centers may need two available CT scanners if they h ave a greater than 75 percent blunt trauma admission rate, or greater than 500 blunt trauma patient admissions.