The Dr. Norman E. McSwain Jr. Trauma Center is the only Level 1 Trauma Center in southern Louisiana and serves the greater metropolitan area of New Orleans, including the surrounding eleven parishes. The Trauma Center has five state-of-the-art bays, including one designed specifically for pediatric patients. We care for over 3,000 trauma patients annually, approximately 30% of which is penetrating trauma.

Our residents staff the head of the bed for every trauma activation and are responsible for performing the initial assessment, rapidly identifying and treating life-threatening injuries as well as managing all traumatic airways. Critical procedures, such as cricothyroidotomies, chest tubes, thoracotomies and pericardiocenteses, are divided evenly between the EM and Surgery residents based on the day of the week, but be assured that there are plenty of procedures to go around. In 2018, we performed over 130 chest tubes and 21 thoracotomies. We are grateful to have an excellent relationship with our Trauma Service, whom we work with very closely to provide outstanding patient care to the critically injured.

Furthermore, we proudly collaborate with several community violence prevention programs such as Stop the Bleed and Cure Violence, a 24/7 hospital response team that provides immediate and longitudinal support to victims and their families with the goal of reducing repeat acts of violence and mitigating retaliation.