Detroit Receiving Hospital has First Virtual Site Visit by American College of Surgeons
ACS Conducts Virtual Site Visit in Response to COVID-19
Madonna R. Walters, MS, RN – Pres., MTC
Henry Ford Allegiance Health – Jackson, MI.
Detroit Receiving Hospital in Detroit recently underwent their Level 1 Trauma Center re-verification site visit in a virtual format. Many centers have been dealing with site visit delays due to COVID-19, and it was Detroit Receiving’s trauma leadership who requested this format. They became the nation’s first ACS trauma center to have their entire site visit conducted remotely. ACS Regent Steven D. Wexner, MD, FACS interviewed Anna Ledgerwood, MD, FACS and Charles Lucas, MD, FACS from Detroit Receiving. The interview is available at this link: https://youtu.be/9SHvdPExbGw. Drs. Lucas and Ledgerwood are both professors of surgery at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, and Dr. Ledgerwood is the Trauma Medical Director at Detroit Receiving. In the interview on YouTube, they discuss the key elements of the experience, including issues of privacy, confidentiality, and accessibility of patient files during their virtual visit and navigating the hospital to show the site surveyors the facility’s resources. Dr. Lucas predicts that virtual site visits will become the predominant mode of review in the future. Dr. Ledgerwood added that she is a strong believer that site visits should not be postponed beyond three years, as hospitals can undergo significant changes over a 3-year period.
