[Pro general hospital]

Trauma operative systems were created in United States to optimize polytrauma patients' treatment. These systems include prehospital polytrauma care. They determine hospital requirements to treat this kind of patients, standardize physicians' training and implement hospital registries. Initially, this system was applied only in monographic centers. However, trauma services of General Hospitals that fulfill the requirements were authorized progressively by the American Surgery Academy to fulfill this function. This is the model followed in Europe at present. Accreditation requires the qualification of the stay, with specific health care resources and a detailed trauma program. The director is responsible for organizing the creation of the trauma teams, operating 24h, for teaching, protocols and guides and the coordination of pre-hospital emergency groups. In Spain, there is an extensive network of tertiary hospitals that have trauma programs and their consequent accreditation could make it possible to take advantage of their existing resources. An accreditation system should be elaborated in order to homogenize professional training in trauma emergencies and to create a National Polytraumatic Registry. The high level of technology of these hospitals and of their human resources that include all the medical, surgical specialties and central services provide an added value. Care to the trauma patients is complex and multidisciplinary. Thus, we believe that General Hospitals, within a traumas program, are the best setting to offer it with excellent conditions.