Clinical Programs

Critical Care Services 

The faculty from the Division of Acute Care Surgery lead three separate Intensive Care Units: Shock/Trauma ICU, Cardiovascular ICU, and Medical ICU at RWJ Somerset. All three services are run by a large multi-disciplinary team consisting of dedicated Advanced Practice Providers, critical care trained nursing staff, respiratory therapists, pharmacists, nutritionists, infection prevention, chaplains, palliative care, physical and occupational therapists, speech therapists, case managers, and social workers and the learners.  

Ongoing educational efforts on the Critical Care Service are directed towards the RWJ medical students, residents from the Departments of Surgery, Anesthesia, and Emergency Medicine, fellows in Surgical Critical Care and Pulmonary Critical Care who rotate in the SICU, fellows in Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and fellows in Advanced Practice Provider Critical Care Fellowship.

The Surgical ICU takes care of patients from trauma, emergency general surgery, surgical oncology, colorectal surgery, general surgery, transplant surgery, ENT, and other non-cardiac surgical patients. The unit operates with multiple evidence-based protocols that were designed to improve patient care, improve communications within the provider teams, and provide consistency in practice patterns amongst all the intensivists. These protocols include Ventilator Management and Weaning, Communication, Nutrition, GI Prophylaxis, Venous thromboembolism Prophylaxis, Sepsis, Traumatic Brain Injury, Sedation.


Trauma
 

The Trauma Program is one of the three pillars in the Division of Acute Care Surgery. Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital is an American College of Surgeons verified Level 1 Trauma Center. Faculty in the Division are all board-certified, and fellowship-trained and provide 24/7/365 coverage of the Level 1 Trauma Center. Over the past several years, the trauma program has undergone dramatic growth, caring for over 3600 injured patients annually. Dedicated outreach and education to local and regional Emergency Medical Services and referring hospitals is responsible for the increase in the utilization of the Trauma Center. 

The RWJUH Level 1 Trauma Center is a mature trauma system with standardized patient care methods such as multidisciplinary hemorrhage control in Hybrid OR, surgical fixation of rib fractures, direct peritoneal resuscitation, ROTEM-guided resuscitation, and more. The System is also supported by a full complement of the Performance Improvement Director, a Coordinator, and 5 dedicated Registrars.  

Patient care is provided by a true collaborative multidisciplinary team involving advanced practice providers, fellows, residents, and students, led by the ACS faculty, PM&R, social workers, case managers, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and palliative care.  

Emergency General Surgery 

The Emergency General Surgery Program is another pillar in the Division of Acute Care Surgery. In keeping with our dedication to caring for all patients with life-threatening surgical disease, our surgeons tackle complex emergent pathologies in hernia, foregut, hepatobiliary-pancreas, oncologic, soft tissue, vascular, and more! The ACS faculty collaborate closely with various surgical specialists in these cases. The Emergency General Surgery service performs over 1000 major operative cases yearly. The volume is growing every year.  

The service also has a developing Quality/Performance Improvement Review Program. We strive to be an American College of Surgeons Emergency General Surgery Verified Program in the next few years.