Ethical imperatives in staffing and managing a trauma intensive care unit

As U.S. trauma surgery evolves to embrace the concept and practice of acute care surgery, the organization and management structure of the intensive care unit must also grow to reflect new challenges and imperatives faced by trauma surgeons. Key issues to be explored in light of acute care surgery include the role of the traumatologist/intensivist in the intensive care unit, as opposed to the traumatologist without specific critical care training, and a potentially expanded role for nonsurgical intensivists as the critical care time available for trauma/intensivists wanes due to increased surgical and non-critical care patient volume. Each of these changes to the practice of trauma/surgical critical care and acute care surgery are evaluated in light of the primacy of appropriately trained intensivists in the critical care unit. The ethics of providing the best care possible is interrogated in light of different service models in both the university and community settings. The roles of residents, fellows, and midlevel practitioners in supporting the goal of the intensivist and the critical care team is similarly explored. A recommendation for an ethical organizational and management structure is presented.