Here’s what happens at EIRMC if you are a trauma patient
Published at | Updated at
IDAHO FALLS — Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center is trying to decrease the number of fatal crashes on Idaho’s roads this summer by showing what happens in its trauma center.
Memorial Day weekend is the beginning of what law enforcement refer to as the “100 Deadliest Days.” Last year alone, 71 people died on Idaho’s roads, according to the Idaho Transportation Department. Now the hospital is looking to reduce the fatalities during these “100 Days of Trauma.”
RELATED | “100 Deadliest Days” begins Memorial Day weekend (2022)
Members of the media were given a “sneak peak” at hospital’s trauma response procedures on Wednesday morning. Hospital staff hopes that bringing awareness of just how much care goes into a trauma event will inspire people to be safer.
“We want to walk you through, essentially, what happens to a trauma patient,” said Dr. Michael Lemon, a trauma surgeon at EIRMC.
The scenario was based on a real event. The patient was an actor, but the types of injuries the original patient received and the actions the trauma team took were all real.
Why these 100 days?
“Yellowstone draws 4 to 5 million people per year,” Lemon told the group. “And so (Idaho Falls’) population rapidly goes up. School lets out, people pull out their motorcycles and ATVs and everything else that we Idahoans like to do to recreate. Unfortunately, everybody is not so safe in doing that.”
There are also more drivers on the roads, including teens who are still relatively new at driving and families on road trips, according to ITD.
As a Level II trauma center, EIRMC takes patients from as far away as Montana and Wyoming. It’s no surprise that is the hospital’s busiest time of the year. Lemon noted that EIRMC has already trained teams from surrounding area — including West Yellowstone — on traumatic injury response.
After the crash
A lot of crash patients are air-lifted to EIRMC via helicopter. In fact, the hospital’s helicopters were already busy bringing in new patients on Wednesday. If the paramedics in the helicopter report traumatic injuries to the hospital, the emergency room staff at EIRMC is set into action.
Almost a dozen people are ready to meet patients in the emergency room, including doctors, nurses, radiologists, lab personnel, pharmacists and at least one case manager.
During Wednesday’s walkthrough, the team members were all present. They introduced themselves and explained their individual tasks, but the sheer number of people that packed into the trauma bay was overwhelming. And all of them would respond for one patient.
Their job is to keep the person on the table alive. This case happened to involve a 14-year-old boy who’d had a motorcycle accident. The doctors remembered that he had come in with a crushed foot and severe burns, as well as pelvic and upper leg pain.
The only way to give patients a thorough head-to-toe exam, Lemon said, is by cutting the patient’s clothes off.
“Once we take everything off, we are able to appropriately evaluate what has happened to our patient,” he said. “We look at every square inch of their body because we don’t want to miss a traumatic injury.”
The trauma team establishes an airway, checks vitals (heat beat, blood pressure, etc.) and hooks up monitors. IV fluids and/or blood transfusions are also administered.
Time, we were told several times, is of the essence. While the folks in the trauma bay work, the group was told, operating rooms are preparing for surgery. Nurses are communicating injuries, medications and a list of other information to each other.
Surgery
By the time a victim is stabilized and taken up to an operating room, the surgical tools are already in place.
“You have to foresee or predict anything that could happen and already be prepared for it,” said pediatric anesthesiologist Dr. Luke Webb.
“Bits and pieces” of information help Sophie Weber, the lead surgical tech, to anticipate the patient’s and doctors’ needs.
“I have to think of every possible situation the surgeon is going to encounter and have all the supplies ready,” she said.
“We have a golden hour from time of injury. … If we see and can get care to that patient within that hour, we know their potential outcome and survivability is significantly higher,” Lemon said.
Wednesday’s “patient” had severe burns and crush injuries to his legs.
The operating room was equipped with rods to put through bones that were broken or shattered, a wide array of clamps and scissors and an X-ray machine right over the operating table so the team could take X-rays on the spot. There was even cadaver skin for dressing burns.
“I love it,” Weber said of her job as lead surgical tech while she rehydrated the skin and stretched it out. She was with the trauma program when it started, she said, and has enjoyed learning everything she can.
She said being able to respond so quickly and thoroughly takes a lot of sacrifice on the staff’s part.
“Just the huge sacrifice that goes into staffing, I don’t think the public really realizes,” she said.
It isn’t enough to have enough doctors and nurses — they also need to be highly-trained and skilled, she said. And they are “literally available, all the time.”
The dedicated team at EIRMC certainly hope they don’t see you during the 100 Deadliest Days. Lemon has these words of advice to help you stay out of their trauma bay:
“If we could convince everyone to wear a helmet, we probably wouldn’t see as much trauma. If we could convince everyone to wear a seat belt or a harness when they get in their car or their side-by-side, we wouldn’t see as much trauma.”
RELATED | How to help keep your kids safe this spring and summer