Trauma: Life in the ER

San Francisco General is the only level one trauma center in the city. The ER is almost always on total divert, meaning ambulances must take all new patients to other area hospitals. Only the critically injured remain, and it's still standing room only.

Within an hour of Portland, Oregon, one can ski Mount Hood, surf the Oregon Coast or sail the Columbia River Gorge. Alcohol and recklessness, however, can turn sport into nightmare, and the staff of Legacy Emanuel Hospital must pick up the pieces.

Pittsburgh is ranked the safest US city, but this doesn't count the injuries that people inflict upon each other and themselves. The Allegheny General's trauma team is pushed to its limit with head injuries, brain surgery and a horse attack.

At the Level One Trauma Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, most patients arrive with multiple life-threatening injuries. The trauma team's first job is to prioritize their care and address the most immediate damage.

Crisis is the mode of operation at the University of Texas San Antonio Hospital. A family is injured in a minivan roll-over, an elderly rancher is trampled by a bull, and one of the trauma team's own is stuck by a needle filled with a patient's blood.

Savannah's raucous St. Patrick's Day celebration increases the workload for emergency doctors at Memorial Health when a 1,500-pound beam falls on a construction worker. Also, a car crash victim needs an arm amputated, and a man is slashed in a scuffle.

Though gruff and weary on the outside, the trauma team at Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland, Oregon, has a deep love and dedication for their work. When patients need it the most, their skill and humor can heal almost any wound.

Meet the ethnically diverse staff of San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center. SF General is a teaching hospital, and the attending physicians do double duty as they take care of their patients while teaching students and residents.

Many people who leave Pittsburgh return for the rivers, fields and charm of the city. Pittsburgh's Allegheny General Hospital is the city's finest level one trauma center, and the staff does its best to treat every patient like family.