How would you summarize level 2?

There can be a wide variety in level 2 ER's. In a large city where there are multiple large hospitals with a Level 1 center available, the level 2 will obviously not get the traumas but may be more inclined to get a lot of sick medical patients, have a stroke center, or tout themselves the "heart center". In a smaller town, like where I am now, there is not another decent sized hospital within 100+ mountain miles, so our level 2 serves as a level 1. We get traumas flown from all over western NC. north Ga. and sometimes Tenn. We have 2 helicopters, 76 total ER beds (between 2 hospitals across the street from each other), and almost 1000 inpatient beds.

We are always busy and full, but have lots of staff and support. We get everything from pimples on noses to gunshot wounds and motor vehicle crashes. People come from all over the country to wreck the motorcycles on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and we get them!

We do have trauma surgeons in house, neurosurgery on call, etc. but I think the big difference in our level 2 and a level 1 is teaching (and politics). We do have a residency program in OB and family medicine but it is not a full teaching facility.

Good luck to you.

I have worked both and to be honest it's all about the designation factors and basically it comes down to the cash!

I agree with the people who have already replied. I would also like to add that while the level I trauma centers generally receive all the "bad" trauma, level II's have a tendency to get "surprise" traumas (GSW dropped off after banging on the ambulance bay door and then driving off... stabbings that walk into the waiting room/triage), and...

I was talking with a friend who works at a level I literally across the street from the level II I work at. She said "Trauma here is so easy, because when we get a trauma you have a mass of people in the room -- at least 1-2 ED docs, a couple residents, a couple med students, and then a couple nurses and a tech... we really don't get to do a whole lot." As opposed to the norm when I get a trauma? 1 ED doc, 2-4 nurses, and a tech. I think we (level II RN's) tend to have to do more? But don't get as many "fun" (challenging/unique) traumas. Which is OK... there are pro's and con's as far as the desire to work at one or the other.

The main difference between a Level I and a Level II is that a Level I has a Neurosurgeon in house 24/7 whereas a level II they are on call. I used to work in Trauma Services and that was the biggest difference of the two. The hospital has to be verified on levels and then every few years be reverified and maintain the standards set forth. I work in a level II trauma center (65 bed ED) and we get it all. We do sometimes transfer to Level I, like open book pelvic fractures, ect. It depends on the doc and the facility. If it's a bad burn victim we transfer to a Level I trauma center who has a specialty burn unit. Hope that helps.