Trauma centers, whether they are stand-alone facilities or a part of a hospital or other healthcare facility, play key roles in ensuring that people get proper healthcare when there is a man-made or natural disaster (Premier, 2012. Because trauma centers are so vital, they have to become well-established in the community (Trunkey & Potter, 2006). That can allow them to be prepared for almost anything, and they can work with the community once a disaster has occurred. This reduces the number of casualties from a disaster as much as possible, but no trauma center will be perfect or will be prepared to handle any eventuality. There is always room for improvement. Studies have shown that many of the trauma centers throughout the country are really not adequately prepared for a major disaster (Premier, 2012). That lack of preparedness will cost lives, but the funding is not available for new and better equipment at the trauma centers. Additionally, these centers are often short on staff because the pay can be low and the hours are long (Trunkey & Potter, 2006). Despite the uphill battle that will need to be fought, it is clear that trauma centers must be improved in order to save the largest number of lives during and after a major disaster. Trauma centers must improve their readiness, and emergency management in general must improve its effectiveness. Neither of these will be easy tasks, but they are vital to the protection of citizens when a natural or man-made disaster occurs. While unrealistic to assume there will be no loss of life, there are many ways to make trauma centers and emergency management more effective so that fewer people perish when something goes wrong or Mother Nature decides to bring the U.S. something like Katrina again. Planning for that particular storm was poor, and it resulted in many deaths that could have been avoided. Changes to emergency management and trauma centers can keep that from taking place again.

The conceptual framework for this study will be operations research. Operations research is a sub-field...

It allows the researcher to apply advanced analytical methods to a problem (Pidd, 2003). The theory is that using this method will allow the researcher to make better decisions about what should be done in a particular scenario. That can allow the researcher of the current study to show the expected outcomes of various changes to emergency management and trauma facilities. By addressing the research this way, scenarios can be addressed, and either accepted or rejected. It is a way of making scientific predictions, and can help the researcher determine the best possible outcome depending on what is done in order to make changes in the area of study.
Operations research creates a strong foundation for this study because it is focused on the different options that can be addressed (Hillier & Lieberman, 2005). That is exactly what emergency management needs - to look at the options that are available and realistic, and to choose the option that will be the best one for the future. It is not always easy to determine which option is best, but once several are presented and can be analyzed, making a choice becomes much more likely. Additionally, it is more likely that the right choice (or at least an acceptable choice) will be made. That is a very important distinction to consider. Anyone can make a choice, but without all the evidence it is possible that the choice will be one that will be regrettable in the future. Using operations research is one of the best ways to focus on the various choices that are available in a scientific, analytical, and prescribed manner (Hillier & Lieberman, 2005; Pidd, 2003). By doing that, emergency management and trauma centers will be able to make changes that save more lives. Since that is what they are in business to do, the can only see improvement.

The research does not generate a new theory, but it does expand on the current theory and work to improve and confirm that theory. In other…