Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford Re-verified as a Level I Trauma Center

PALO ALTO, Calif.—Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford have been re-verified as a Level I adult and pediatric trauma center through May 2022 by the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma (ACS). Level I verification is the highest possible ranking for trauma centers and recognizes the hospitals’ dedication to providing the best possible care for all injured patients.

Stanford Health Care/Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford is one of only five ACS-verified Level I pediatric trauma centers in California, and receives pediatric trauma patients from the California-Oregon border to as far south as Bakersfield. It is the only Level I Pediatric Trauma Center located on the San Francisco Peninsula. Stanford Health Care became a trauma center in 1986, and has been recognized as a Level I trauma center for more than 20 years.

To be verified as a Level I trauma center, hospitals must provide a full spectrum of care to address the needs of all injured patients, from admission through rehabilitation. The Verification Review Committee, an ad hoc committee of the Committee on Trauma of the American College of Surgeons (ACS), conducts onsite reviews of trauma center facilities to determine verification. Level I trauma centers provide access to the following:

• Coordinated, timely  response from all necessary specialty medical staff
• 24-hour availability of trauma surgeons and emergency medicine doctors, including pediatric surgeons
• Operating rooms that are equipped and ready at all times
• Neurosurgical and neurological care for severely injured patients
• Orthopedic care for severely injured patients
• Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for the special needs of children with serious illness or injury
• In-hospital anesthesiologists

“Stanford is proud to be recognized as the singular and most comprehensive Level I adult and Level I pediatric trauma resource on the Peninsula,” said David Spain, MD, chief of trauma and critical care surgery at Stanford Health Care and professor of surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine. “The many departments and caregivers within Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford have worked closely to seamlessly address the needs of all our patients. The ACS re-verification reflects our ongoing commitment to leading-edge, patient-centered care.”

Collectively, Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford see approximately 2,870 trauma patients per year, with 63 percent of those patients requiring hospital admission — the most admissions of any trauma center in the county.

“Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford provides unparalleled specialty care, which allows us to quickly and safely deliver the best possible treatment for traumatically injured children,” said Stephanie Chao, MD, pediatric trauma medical director at Stanford Children’s Health and assistant professor of pediatric surgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine. “Together with Stanford Health Care we are honored to be recognized as a Level I trauma center by the American College of Surgeons for the continuous, 24/7 emergency care we provide the Bay Area.”

The ACS is a scientific and educational association of surgeons founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical education and practice and to improve the care of the surgical patient. The College has more than 72,000 members and it is the largest association of surgeons in the world.