The pediatric trauma center

The types of facilities providing care to injured children vary greatly. Some have organized, planned, and functioning Pediatric Trauma Units with all the appropriate personnel, equipment, and facilities needed to provide whatever is needed. Other institutions have done no planning, have no trained personnel, and are, in short, ill prepared to provide any type of care. The resources needed to provide optimum care to the injured child are described for two types of facilities--the Regional Pediatric Trauma Center (RPTC), which provides the most comprehensive of pediatric trauma services, and the Trauma Center with Pediatric Commitment (TCPC), which is the type of institution at which the majority of pediatric trauma care is rendered.