UVA Health University Medical Center designated as Level 1 adult trauma center

The UVA Health University Medical Center has been redesignated as a Level 1 adult trauma center by the Virginia Department of Health.

Level 1 trauma centers offer the most comprehensive trauma care and research programs.

UVA Health UMC cares for thousands of patients each year from across Central and Western Virginia. Over the past four decades, more than 96 percent of injured patients who have been admitted to UVA Health’s trauma center have survived.

“We are fortunate to have a tremendous trauma team at University Medical Center that provides lifesaving care for patients across Virginia and beyond every day,” said Terrie Edwards, interim chief executive officer of UVA Health University Medical Center. “This designation from the Virginia Department of Health reflects their around-the-clock commitment to our patients.”

Along with board-certified trauma surgeons in general surgery and surgical critical care, the team features surgical specialists in neurosurgery, orthopedics, heart and chest, vascular, skull and face, plastic surgery, hand, obstetrics and gynecology, ear, nose and throat, urology and eyes.

The three-year designation follows an in-person site visit this fall from a five-person review team that included specialists in trauma surgery, emergency medicine and critical care nursing.

“For patients with serious injuries, our trauma team is a lifeline not just to survival but recovery,” said Kathy Baker, chief nursing officer of UVA Health University Medical Center. “They do incredible work on a 24/7 basis, and they have truly earned this recognition from the Virginia Department of Health.”

Additional Level 1 trauma centers in Virginia include Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, HCA Chippenham Hospital, Inova Fairfax Hospital, Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and VCU Health Systems.

Related stories

• Analysis: It won’t cost nearly as much for UVA to name a new president as you thought
• Spanberger announces BOV appointments at UVA, VMI, George Mason
• The MAGA exodus from UVA Board of Visitors has already begun
• AFP column on UVA president search fuels questions at Senate subcommittee hearing
• Vanishing act: How UVA’s presidential search missed what took us an hour to find
• UVA trying hard with the PR to sell new president Scott Beardsley
• The new guy, Scott Beardsley, may be the shortest-term UVA president ever