The night float team of Amy Christie, PGY5, Trey Keadle, PGY3, and Cecil Brown, PGY1, admitted 15 severely injured patients in a single Tuesday night, March 22. Thirteen came from a single vehicle crash involving a van in Monroe County north of Macon. Two others were transfers from other hospitals unrelated to the crash. Leon Sykes, Associate Professor and Associate Program Director, Surgical Critical Care, led clinical care and coordinated emergency department triage.
Among the victims from Monroe County were two patients with mangled upper limbs, one completely amputated, one with facial trauma requiring an emergency tracheotomy, and one with a tension pneumothorax. Eight were admitted to the surgical trauma intensive care unit. Dr Christie reviewed the individual cases and the overall system of care at the Trauma Morbidity and Mortality Conference the following Tuesday morning. Drs Christie, Keadle, and Brown were recognized by the Department and MCCG for their teamwork under disaster conditions with awards from the MCCG Celebrating Excellence program, which recognizes exemplary patient care.