Acute Care Surgical Services

The Division of Acute Care Surgical Services, formerly Division of Trauma, Critical Care & Emergency Surgery, continues to receive verification from the American College of Surgeons as a Level 1 trauma center. VCU Medical is the first and longest-standing, state-designated trauma center in Virginia. It is also the only comprehensive Level I adult, pediatric and burn trauma center in the region. 

The recognition is awarded to hospitals that demonstrate their ability to provide the highest quality of care for all injured patients. As a verified trauma center, VCU Medical Center offers 24-hour, on-site acute care surgical specialists, dedicated critical care OR facilities with round-the-clock access to laboratory services and coordinated interdisciplinary specialties including cardiac surgery, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, anesthesiology, and radiology.

Patient Experience

The Division consists of ten full-time trauma surgeons, two intensivists, a nurse-manager/trauma coordinator, two trauma registrar nurses, trauma social workers, and two trauma researchers. The Acute Care Surgical Services Division works in close collaboration with the Department of Emergency Medicine.

The 865-bed VCU Medical Center is a regional referral center for the state and is the only comprehensive Level I adult, pediatric and burn trauma center in the region. The center offers nearly 200 specialty areas, many of national and international note. The 28-bed Surgical Trauma Intensive Care Unit specializes in patients with trauma and surgical critical care.

For more information or to make an appointment, call (804) 828-7748.

About the Center for Trauma & Critical Care Education

The Center for Trauma and Critical Care Education was founded in 1981 to improve EMS education particularly as it pertains to the management of the trauma patient. Thus began the first Paramedic Program in Central Virginia and the only program at that time which was affiliated with a University-based Medical Center.

CTCCE provides required credentialing for all house staff, community providers, and 1st responders and is fully equipped and staffed to be a major provider of life support education offering courses such as:

• Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS),
• Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS),
• Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS),
• Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS),
• Advanced Trauma Care for Nurses (ATCN)
• Basic Life Support (BLS)

Under the direction of Jay Gould, RN, EMT-P, the Center also has Paramedic Program Director, Kenneth Williams, MDiv, BS, EMT-P.

Michel Aboutanos, MD, MPH, FACS, Chair, Division of Acute Care Surgical Services, serves as the Medical Director.

To learn more about the Center for Trauma and Critical Care Education, or to register for one of our courses, please visit www.ctcce.vcu.ed.