Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune (NMCCL) has earned reverification as a Level III Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons’ Committee on Trauma (ACS).

The ACS Verification, Review, and Consultation Program helps hospitals to evaluate and improve trauma care by providing an objective, external review of a trauma center’s resources and performance in program features such as readiness, resources, patient and care among other components.

“The certification or verification is good for three years, and it’s a pretty rigorous process that examines all the standards set by the American College of Surgeons, which is the governing body of trauma centers in the United States,” said Cmdr. Ryan Schutt, trauma medical director for NMMCL. “Receiving the verification means that NMCCL is meeting the metrics that ACS considers the gold standard for how to run a trauma system in the United States.”

Since the original designation as a Level III Trauma Center in 2018, making NMCCL the first Navy military treatment facility in the nation to provide trauma care to a local community, NMCCL continues to make positive contributions in the military and civilian communities. Since last verification cycle in 2022, the NMCCL Trauma Center has recorded more than 5,000 trauma activations, receiving patients from Onslow County and five adjacent counties.

“If you look at when we first became a verified in 2018, I think probably two-thirds of our trauma [cases] were coming from on base. Then, as our system has grown and we’ve kind of gained the trust of the public and the [Emergency Medical Service] systems; that’s basically flipped where now probably over 70% of our trauma cases come from off base.”

ACS Trauma Quality Programs aim to improve quality of care for the patient by setting standards that define the structures and processes of care, measuring patient outcomes through risk-adjusted benchmarking, promoting best practices, and adhering to performance improvement principles.

To receive certification, NMCCL has to adhere to the Committee on Trauma’s standards for measuring trauma center success like risk-adjusted benchmarking, promotion of best practices, and adherence to improvement principles.

ACS also looks at the development and implementation of programs that support injury prevention and ensure optimal patient outcomes across the continuum of care. For The NMCCL Trauma Center, the impact on the non-Department of Defense community is not just in trauma patient care but trauma and injury prevention.

“On base we are talking to Marines about weapons safety, vehicle safety, motorcycle safety, and drinking and driving,” said Schutt. “Off base, we do events like Stop the Bleed campaigns, which is teaching the public how to use tourniquets, car seat safety for new and expectant mothers and fall prevention for the elderly.”

Since the trauma center’s inception, trauma nurses and corpsmen have instructed more than 8600 community members on Stop the Bleed techniques.

Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune has provided more than 80 years of dedicated, passionate care for warfighters and beneficiaries at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.