Tampa General Hospital Receives Grant for Military Doctors to Treat Trauma Patients

The Mission Zero program provides funding to ensure medical readiness by integrating military care providers into civilian trauma centers. 

TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Filling a critical need for people suffering from serious injuries, Tampa General Hospital (TGH) is launching a Military Civilian Partnership for the Trauma Readiness Grant, also known as the Mission Zero program.

Awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the $80,000 federal grant will be used to fund military doctors to provide trauma care at the academic medical center.

"This is a win for everyone, especially the patient,'' said Dr. Geoffrey Douglas, assistant professor in the Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Department of Surgery, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. "As a former U.S. Air Force general surgeon, I had the privilege of participating in military-civilian partnerships while on active duty. Our patients benefited from the knowledge we brought back from the battlefield and as surgeons we were able to maintain our skills between deployments. Civilian trauma centers provide a unique environment for military surgeons to maintain deployment readiness because of the higher acuity and larger volume than they would see at most military treatment facilities in the U.S." 

The goal of Mission Zero is to support and build military-civilian partnerships that will improve the nation's response to public health and medical emergencies. At the same time, it will provide combat casualty doctors and nurses with additional experience in treating severely injured trauma patients. The grant will defray the administrative costs that Tampa General incurs and will be used to train and integrate military trauma care providers into the hospital.

"It's another part of Tampa General's ongoing effort to be among the top hospitals in the country,'' said Michele Moran, senior director of Emergency Services at Tampa General. "This provides us the best of both military and civilian care, and in one place. Trauma patients will benefit from the convergence of their expertise.''

The grant will help advance Tampa General's efforts as West Central Florida's only American College of Surgeons-verified Level I Trauma Center and a regional tertiary academic medical safety net hospital. Tampa General also is the primary teaching affiliate of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and an American Burn Association-verified burn center.

In 2021, Tampa General treated nearly 3,000 trauma patients, including 747 who were transferred from other facilities within its trauma system and required a higher level of specialized care. 

Tampa General is designated by the Florida Department of Health Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program. As a tertiary/quintenary academic medical center with more than 1,700 medical staff members, TGH offers military personnel access to world-class physicians in every specialty and specialized training, including that at the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS), a modern facility housing high-fidelity simulators, mannequins, cadaver, and an animated training curriculum.

In 2016, the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released a report showing that one in four military trauma deaths and one in five civilian trauma deaths could be prevented if advances in trauma care reach all injured patients. The report concluded that military and civilian integration is critical to saving lives both on the battlefield and at home, preserving the hard-won lessons of war, and maintaining the nation's readiness and homeland security.

"By embedding active-duty surgeons within our trauma center, we can prepare military personnel for deployment and strengthen our military-civilian partnerships,'' said Dr. Thomas Herron, assistant professor in the Division of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, Department of Surgery, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and medical director of Trauma, Tampa General. "It's our duty to provide a comprehensive training experience for our military, and an honor to continue our support through the Mission Zero grant.''

Tampa General Hospital, a 1,040-bed, not-for-profit, academic medical center, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region's only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News & World Report's 2022-23 Best Hospitals, and is tied as the third highest-ranked hospital in Florida, with seven specialties ranking among the best programs in the United States. Tampa General Hospital has been designated as a model of excellence by the 2022 Fortune/Merative 100 Top Hospitals list. The academic medical center's commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by two prestigious Forbes magazine rankings – first nationally in the 2022 America's Best Employers for Women and sixth out of 100 Florida companies in the 2022 America's Best Employers by State. Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal year 2021, provided a net community benefit worth more than $224.5 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education, and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It is one of the nation's busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With six medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center, and its 32-bed Neuroscience, Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital's footprint includes 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Brandon Healthplex, TGH Virtual Health, and 21 TGH Imaging powered by Tower outpatient radiology centers throughout Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Palm Beach counties. Tampa Bay area residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics, and they can even receive home visits in select areas through TGH Urgent Care at Home, powered by Fast Track. As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is the first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that provides real-time situational awareness to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.

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SOURCE Tampa General Hospital