“It’s like opening a Christmas gift when the report comes out,” said Amy Brammer, MSN, RN, TCRN, TNS, CEN, CAISS, CSTR, NHDP‑BC, referring to the bi‑annual benchmark report on trauma centers from the American College of Surgeons which ranked Kaiser Permanente’s Vacaville Trauma Center at a green diamond level – the highest quality ranking from the organization for Risk‑Adjusted Major Hospital Events in the all patients cohort indicating Vacaville is in the top 10% of the 528 trauma centers benchmarked.
“We work so hard, to see the results it’s exciting for us,” said Brammer, who serves as the Trauma Program Director.
Kaiser Permanente Vacaville is the designated Level II trauma center for Solano County. “The Trauma Center is truly the whole hospital,” explained Brammer. “All our teams are involved and come together to move mountains to ensure our patients receive top notch care.”
Describing the trauma response team akin to a NASCAR pit crew, where a team of multidisciplinary colleague’s race to the emergency department when they hear a trauma activation paged overhead. In 2023, they heard that call over 392 times, responding to patients with traumatic injuries ranging from car, bike and jet‑ski accidents to victims of violence, such as stabbings.
The team’s clinical expertise extends into the community. For example, they hold Stop the Bleed trainings to educate first responders and other community members how to control emergency bleeding after an accident or assault. There is currently a KP regional initiative to get all KP medical centers Stop the Bleed.
Stop the Bleed was among five projects the Vacaville team shared poster presentations on at the American College of Surgeons Trauma Quality Improvement Program Annual Conference. Other projects included mental health screenings of trauma patients, Teddy Bear Disaster Triage Training for local firefighters, performance improvement project on ICU bounce backs, and Trauma Resuscitation simulation training.
“I am so proud of the team for their dedication to members and patients they treat in the facility, and the commitment to our communities they demonstrate through injury prevention, outreach and trauma education,” added Brammer.