young girl closeup for pediatric trauma campaign with text overlay

Level I Pediatric Trauma Center

Little Lives. Big Futures. Extraordinary Care.

We have decades of experience caring for children and adolescents with traumatic injuries. We are verified as a Level I Adult & Pediatric Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons (ACS), and with them rank among the best among their TQUIP scoring system. This verification—the highest possible—recognizes our distinctive expertise in caring for critically ill and injured children. In 1989, we became Minnesota's first Level I Trauma Center for both adults and children. Since then, we have continued a strong tradition of providing state-of-the-art trauma care to all of our patients, including the youngest and most vulnerable.

In national benchmark studies, Hennepin Healthcare's Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center outcomes prove to be among the best in the nation. 

When an accident or injury happens, we want children to have the very best care. As a Level I Pediatric Trauma Center, Hennepin Healthcare has everything in place and ready to care for seriously injured children - from the time of injury through rehabilitation. This high level of preparation can significantly increase a seriously injured patient’s chances of survival and optimal recovery.

When it comes to pediatric trauma care, our medical specialists work as a unified team to assess and manage the needs of children and adolescents. We provide:

  • Prompt availability of physicians from varying specialties: orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, plastic surgery, anesthesiology, emergency medicine, radiology, oral and maxillofacial surgery, pediatric critical care
  • 24-hour in-house coverage by general surgeons
  • A pediatric operating room that is always available
  • Priority status for pediatric lab work and radiology
  • Experienced, highly trained pediatric trauma nursing staff and trauma nurse clinicians
Pediatric Trauma Outcomes
Child Life Program
Pediatric Brain Injury Program

Pediatric subspecialties include:

  • Orthopedic trauma
  • Brain Injury
  • Infectious disease
  • Neurology
  • Asthma
  • Surgery
  • Pulmonary
  • Urology
  • Dermatology
  • Cardiology
  • Growth and nutrition
  • Plastic surgery
  • Psychiatry and psychology

Patients have access to pediatric physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology.

We have child life specialists, as well as a trauma social worker and pediatric social worker.

In addition:

We provide low-dose radiology treatment, which includes techniques, programs and practices to ensure the best image quality while reducing radiation to the child and delivering only what's needed to get a clear image. This often results in being able to reduce the patients' exposure by one-half or even down to one-tenth of would normally be used.

The Hennepin Healthcare Traumatic Brain Injury Center and the Pediatric Brain Injury Program are nationally recognized for expertise in care for children with a mild concussion to severe brain injury and their Return to Learn (school) program.

Our Burn Center is a national leader with a 17-bed inpatient unit and a therapy outpatient clinic.

Hennepin Healthcare is a leader in trauma care, trauma education and injury prevention. Our pediatric trauma outcomes are among the best in the nation, as are our outcomes from our PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit).

small boy in emergency room with nurse with stethoscope
Provider emergency department at computer
pediatric emergency department waiting room boy with parents