Trauma Surgery: Discipline in Crisis
Throughout the past quarter century, there have been slow but dramatic changes in the nature and practice of trauma surgery, and this field increasingly faces potent economic, logistic, political, and workforce challenges. Patients and emergency physicians have much to lose by this budding crisis in our partner discipline. This article reviews the specific issues confronting trauma surgery, their historical context, and the potential directions available to this discipline. Implications of these issues for emergency physicians and for trauma care overall are discussed.
Funding and support: By Annals policy, all authors are required to disclose any and all commercial, financial, and other relationships in any way related to the subject of this article that might create any potential conflict of interest. The author has stated that no such relationships exist. See the Manuscript Submission Agreement in this issue for examples of specific conflicts covered by this statement.
Supervising editors: Judd E. Hollander, MD; Michael L. Callaham, MD
Drs. Hollander and Callaham were the supervising editors on this article. Dr. Green did not participate in the editorial review or decision to publish this article.
Reprints not available from the author.
Publication dates: Available online September 11, 2008.
PII: S0196-0644(08)00615-X
doi:10.1016/j.annemergmed.2008.03.023
© 2008 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
