UCI Health at 50: The evolution of trauma care in Orange County
Skilled, dedicated team delivers lifesaving care at one of the state’s busiest trauma centers
UCI Health emergency medicine physician Dr. Chris Fox led the development of the point-of-care ultrasound program, which enables the trauma center team to precisely and quickly diagnose life-threatening conditions that require immediate treatment.
When UCI Health purchased Orange County Medical Center in 1976, it was renamed UCI Medical Center and became the primary teaching hospital for the UC Irvine School of Medicine. Today, it is known as UCI Health — Orange.
At the time, there was no Level I adult trauma center in Orange County, let alone the mature trauma system that UCI Health has built as the only Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center for the entire county.
Such centers are equipped to provide the highest level of surgical care to save life or limb, with specialists available around the clock. This is in addition to leading research and training future clinicians.
“We like to say that UCI Health — Orange is the hospital that trauma built,” said Dr. Michael Lekawa, an emergency and trauma care surgeon and medical director of UCI Health Trauma and Critical Care Surgery Services for 30 years. “The health system has played a significant role in the evolution of trauma care throughout the region.”
The trauma program is one of the busiest in California, and advances care through education and research. Key to the success of the program are the highly trained physicians, nurses and staff who deliver lifesaving care for patients at Orange County’s only teaching hospital.
Early beginnings
In 1967, UCI Health — Orange became home to the first regional burn center west of the Mississippi. Surgeon Dr. Robert Bartlett joined the health system in 1970 as assistant director of surgical services and director of the UCI Health Regional Burn Center. It is now the county’s only American Burn Association-verified burn center to provide comprehensive treatment for burn injuries, complex wounds and burn scars for adults and children, along with support for recovery and reintegration into patient communities.
In 1981, the Orange County Supervisors approved Orange County’s trauma system where UCI Health — Orange was designated as one of the key hubs. In 1987, UCI Health — Orange became the first trauma center in California to be verified by the American College of Surgeons.
“Since the 1980s and 1990s, UCI Health has helped develop and leverage the latest research-based treatments to train thousands of trauma clinicians to save the lives of patients in Orange County and in the communities where UCI Health residents and fellows now practice,” says Lekawa. That continues to this day as UCI Health fulfills its critical role in the region.
The UCI Health trauma team has helped lead multiple national multicenter studies to improve clinical care for patients worldwide. Research efforts range from surgical stabilization of rib fractures to abdominal injuries, complex pelvic fractures, severe traumatic brain injuries and unique traumatic injuries such as morel lavallee lesions.
Innovative patient care
The dawn of a new century ushered in technological advances and innovative treatments that have advanced the quality and safety of patient care.
“Research conducted at UCI Health, coupled with advanced imaging, allows us to have a precise diagnosis in minutes,” said Dr. Jeffry Nahmias, chief of the Division of Trauma, Burns and Surgical Critical Care at UC Irvine School of Medicine and medical director of the surgical intensive care unit (SICU) at UCI Health — Orange.
One of those advances is point-of-care ultrasound. Instead of transferring a trauma patient to a separate location for an ultrasound, the machine is brought to the patient’s bedside. In a trauma center, this means the team can precisely and quickly diagnose life-threatening conditions that require immediate treatment.
The program’s development was led by Dr. Chris Fox, now the chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at UC Irvine School of Medicine. In the early 2000s, Fox became one of the first emergency medicine physicians to complete a fellowship in emergency ultrasound.
The trauma center treats nearly 7,000 trauma patients a year, with that number continuously increasing as the community grows. It is therefore no surprise that UCI Health is a national leader in trauma care.
Ultimately, Lekawa says that teamwork and a commitment to the mission of UCI Health — Discover. Teach. Heal. — drives the important and often lifesaving trauma care provided to the greater Orange County community.
Learn more about the 50th anniversary of UCI Health at ucihealth.org/50th.
About UCI Health
UCI Health is one of California’s largest academic health systems and the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. Established on July 1, 1976, UCI Health has grown into a 1,461-bed health system that includes UCI Health — Orange, UCI Health — Irvine, its newest facility, UCI Health — Irvine Rehabilitation Hospital, four Community Network hospitals and a growing network of ambulatory care centers across Orange and Los Angeles counties. As Orange County’s only academic health systems, UCI Health is home to the only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center based in the county, the region’s only American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, American College of Emergency Physicians Gold Level 1 Geriatric Emergency Department and a nationally recognized regional burn center verified by the American Burn Association. Powered by UC Irvine, UCI Health serves 5.6 million people across Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County through excellence in patient care, research and medical education. Follow UCI Health on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.