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Level 1: Associated with a teaching hospital, must have trauma surgeon & specialties (neuro, ortho, etc.) in-house 24 hours a day. With all the residents all over the place, usually not a problem.
Level 2: Trauma Surgeon & all specialties on-call, available within 15 minutes. No residents all over the place, so trauma surgeon & specialties must be called in. ER doctor runs the trauma until trauma surgeon gets there.
Level 3: Not all specialties available. For example- most level 3's I've worked at, they were level 3 and not level 2 because they didn't have 24 hour/7day a week neurosurgery coverage.
The acuity of patients seen at each type of facility usually has no bearing on their level. If there is a level 1 facility in a city, then obviously, most traumas will go there. But, if there is only a level 2 or 3 in a city, then they will receive ALL traumas. For example, I have worked at level 2's & 3's where there was no other trauma center for 75 miles- in those cases, we would get all traumas in the area. But right now, I am at a level 3, in a city that has 3 other level 1 trauma centers, so we do not get ANY traumas....
