Division of Trauma & Surgical Critical Care

Bellevue

The Bellevue Trauma & Shock Unit is one of the oldest trauma programs in the country. The first hospital based ambulance service in the world was established at Bellevue in 1869 by Dr. Edward L. Dalton, who sent his horse and buggy teams racing to every nearby disaster.

Today, Bellevue is a Level 1 regional trauma center, spinal cord injury center, and limb re-plantation center. Each floor of the 22 floor New Bellevue building encompasses 1 1/2 acres of space. The separate resuscitation rooms for both adult and pediatric trauma are located within feet of the CT scanner. The Operating Suites floor includes 16 operating rooms, Surgical Pathology, the Blood Bank and a Cardiac Catheterization area.

The Trauma Service consists of two dedicated surgical teams consisting of fellowship-trained trauma surgeons, surgical and emergency medicine residents, and rotating medical students. The service evaluates approximately 1,000 patients per year with an 80:20 blunt to penetrating trauma caseload. Critically-ill trauma patients are also cared for by the TRACC (Trauma Anesthesia Critical Care) team while in the intensive care unit. The TRACC team consists of surgery, anesthesia, and emergency medicine residents supervised by an attending surgical or anesthesia critical care physician.