Can we Keep Trauma in ED Obs?

Short Answer: No

Long Answer:

At St. Joseph Hospital we do not provide ongoing care for acute traumatic injuries. This includes the ED Observation unit. If a patient has a traumatic injury, and that traumatic injury needs no further evaluation (e.g. can be discharged home) but has an non-trauma related reason to stay in ED Observation. An example might be a patient with syncope, who broke a wrist, the wrist is splinted and fine outpatient followup, but the syncope needs overnight tele / echo).

Example: Patient with multiple falls, workup here shows a likely chronic subdural hematoma. ED Doc calls DG, they recommend no surgical intervention and repeat CT in 8 hours.

Can we keep it? No, this is a repeat evaluation, if the patient needs any repeat evaluation they must be transferred to a Trauma III or higher.

Alternate Example: Patient with multiple falls, workup here with a chronic subdural, ED Doc calls DG, they have seen this subdural before, and no further imaging or workup is recommended.

Can we keep it? Yes