Our Mission

University of Utah Level I Trauma Center: Compassion, Quality, & Innovation

Our Level I trauma center is nationally accredited by the American College of Surgeons, which sets the highest standards for care of the injured.

Our Mission

We strive to:

• Demonstrate caring and to provide quality care to our patients and their families.
• Advance trauma care through committed translational and outcomes research.
• Provide community outreach in injury prevention strategies.
• Continue to provide guidance and education to improve the system of trauma care for our region.

All our attending faculty who provide care to our trauma patients are board certified in general surgery as well as surgical critical care, ensuring our patients are treated by physicians with the greatest experience in managing the most serious injuries.

We are proud to have a dedicated team of nurses, physical and occupational therapists, social workers, and aftercare facilitators to help our patients and families cope with the most stressful situations. Their efforts help our patients navigate through the complex care programs they need so patients can enjoy the best recovery possible.

Education & Outreach

Education and outreach are important to our center. We collaborate with our local and regional emergency medical response units to make the care of the injured seamless - from the scene of injury to recovery.

Improving Quality & Patient Care

At our core, providing quality, unwavering care day or night is an absolute. Our center participates in a national trauma quality improvement program that allows us to track our performance relative to other centers across the country. From this we know that we consistently provide high quality care relative to other centers across the country, and we use this metric to constantly improve the care of our patients.

Emergency Service

The University of Utah Health Acute Care Surgery Service is committed to meeting both urgent and emerging general surgery needs across the spectrum of acute surgical illness. Our service is staffed with surgeons and operating teams equipped to provide acute general surgery patients with a timely surgical assessment and operative management 24 hours a day.

Faculty

Our faculty are dedicated to meeting the acute surgical needs of not only the University of Utah Health Science Center hospitals, but also the needs of patients who are referred from across the Mountain West, including Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, and Colorado. Our well-calibrated team of acute care surgeons, surgical residents, and advance practice clinicians provide care to acutely ill patients across the continuum of care - from diagnosis to post-operative follow-up.

Our team coordinates closely with all specialist care offered at the University of Utah to ensure best care for our patients.

Commitment to Excellence

We are proud of our commitment to excellent patient care and the health sciences center's mission of excellence in education and research. We are committed to continuously improving the care and education we provide.

A dedicated acute care surgery service allows our division to develop evidence-based care for acutely ill surgical patients, which decreases variability in treatment and cost of care and ultimately leads to improved patient outcomes and increased value of care.