Mobile surgical transport team

The "golden hour" of trauma is based on the principle that severely injured patients are more likely to survive with rapid, appropriate resuscitation and treatment. An inequality exists between sophisticated urban trauma centers and rural/community hospitals in their efforts and abilities to treat severely injured patients. A level I trauma center developed a unique program in an attempt to equalize this inequality--a mobile surgical transport team (MSTT). This article explains the origin of the MSTT, how and why the MSTT is activated, and the roles and responsibility of MSTT members. To further explain the MSTT, two contrasting case studies on trauma patients are presented.