Desert Regional Medical Center earns level 1 trauma designation, first in Coachella Valley

Desert Regional Medical Center has "leveled up": It has been designated as a level 1 trauma center by Riverside County Emergency Medical Services Agency, becoming the first hospital in the Coachella Valley to reach the achievement.

As a level 1 trauma center, the Palm Springs hospital is capable of providing total care for every aspect of injury – from prevention through rehabilitation, according to the American Trauma Society. Dr. Paul Wisniewski, medical director of trauma services, said Desert Regional is not only focused on handling the most critical patients who come through the door, but is also involved in academic research and training of future surgeons and doctors.

"The important part is for the residents and community to realize they have an all-encompassing center that not only has an academic focus, adding to the current literature, but also can handle all of the needs of the community," Wisniewski said. "Patients no longer need to leave the community to get trauma care. Everything can happen right here in the Coachella Valley."

A number of specialties are available to treat trauma patients at the hospital, including orthopedics, neurosurgery, obstetrics/gynecology surgery, vascular surgery and urology. The hospital does not take pediatric trauma or burn patients, but they can be stabilized at Desert Regional before being transferred to an appropriate center. Pediatric cases would be transferred to Riverside University Health System - Medical Center in Moreno Valley or Loma Linda University Children's Hospital, while burn patients would go to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, Wisniewski said.

Desert Regional previously held a level 2 trauma designation. It now joins two other hospitals in Riverside County at the highest level, Riverside Community and Riverside University Health System - Medical Center.

The Palm Springs health care facility was first recognized as a trauma center in 1980 and sees patients from the San Gorgonio pass area to the Arizona border and beyond. Over the years, the need for care has grown tremendously. In 2018, the hospital saw approximately 2,200 trauma visits, while in 2022 it grew to 4,807 trauma arrivals.

About six years ago, the Desert Care Network, which consists of Desert Regional, JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio and Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree, started to look at how to better serve the community by acting as a network, explained CEO Michele Finney. The decision was made to "hub-and-spoke" clinical services, like trauma, meaning Desert Regional would become a hub for the most intensive medical services, while other campuses would offer more limited ones.

"I believe part of the attraction to creating that network was our ability to be the higher level of care, but keeping care as local as possible," Finney said. "(The other hospitals) know that we have their back. If they have a trauma that is beyond their capability, then it is a warm handoff over to Desert Regional."

As a result of the upward movement, Desert Regional has added new teaching and academic research programs aimed toward advancing innovation in trauma care. In July, the hospital will launch a new general surgery residency program and bring in six residents (three year one post-graduates and three year two post-graduates). When the five-year program reaches its full capacity, it will have 15 residents (three per post-graduate year).

Like several hospitals around the country, Desert Regional has been impacted by staffing levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. In January, nurses from the hospital rallied to bring more awareness to staffing and safety concerns they say they've experienced, from not having enough staff members to nurses caring for too many patients during their shifts.

Now, as a level 1 trauma center, staffing levels are even more crucial to make sure there are no gaps in coverage. Wisniewski said the various trauma specialties are staffed "24 hours a day, 365 days a year." He added that a second trauma orthopedic surgeon and two neurosurgeons were hired "so that we have the depth that we never have to go on trauma diversion." There are also 13 trauma surgeons on staff and two critical care surgery fellows.

"The staff have really gotten behind the trauma program, the hospital," Wisniewski said. "All of the specialties and all the ancillary services have really pulled together and said, 'This is a commitment we're making to the Coachella Valley so that they have the care that all the residents there need and, frankly, deserve.' It's becoming a growing area that they deserve to have the care in their neighborhood."

Finney added that recruitment and retention of staff is a "very large focus" at Desert Regional. Leaders have been working with schools to attract grads to the area, have held hiring events and job fairs and opened more clinical rotation opportunities.

"When you have individuals doing clinical rotations at your facility and they get to know you, they get to know the health of the environment, they get to have some friends, they start feeling part of the area, the tendency or likelihood that they're going to say that's where I want to go work is higher," she said.

JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio, Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree and Eisenhower Health in Rancho Mirage are level 4 trauma centers. Under that designation, those facilities can provide evaluation, stabilization, diagnostics and advanced trauma life support prior to transferring patients to a higher level trauma center. Finney said there are plans to advance JFK Memorial and Hi-Desert Medical Center to level 3 trauma centers.

Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Desert Regional Medical Center earns level 1 trauma designation