Trauma is unquestionably an important aspect of medicine in the United States. Unfortunately, time and monies have not been utilized efficiently in developing methods of appropriate care. The establishment of Regional Trauma Centers is a viable and constructive way of efficiently delivering expert care to the trauma victim. The Regional Trauma Center at University Hospital in San Diego was primarily developed and designed utilizing nursing input. The Nurse Coordinator and Clinical Head Nurse played a primary role in planning the unit. As a result, it has proved to be a workable and efficient facility supplied with modern and sophisticated equipment. These modern tools of medicine are employed as a step toward freeing the nurse and physician for patient care, and they serve as a basis for ongoing research. The unit is staffed on a one-to-one nurse-patient ratio. This gives the patient the advantage of having 24-hour care provided by nurses who have had specialized training. Continuing education is necessary in this unit and is provided both at the bedside and in formal classes. Being a major referral center, the Regional Trauma Center must have means to transport critical patients. A Mobile Intensive Care Unit equipped with necessary life-support systems and accompanied by a physician responds to calls from outlying hospitals. In order to examine the effectiveness of our Regional Trauma Center, a trauma registry was initiated. It has shown the generalized pattern of trauma and has provided a data base upon which further research may be based.