• Robert M Madayag, Erica Sercy, Gina M Berg, Kaysie L Banton, Matthew Carrick, Mark Lieser, Allen Tanner, and David Bar-Or.
• Trauma Services Department, St Anthony Hospital & Medical Campus, Lakewood, Colorado, USA.
• Trauma Surg Acute Care Open. 2021 Jan 1; 6 (1): e000692.

IntroductionThe COVID-19 pandemic has had major effects on hospitals' ability to perform scientific research while providing patient care and minimizing virus exposure and spread. Many non-COVID-19 research has been halted, and funding has been diverted to COVID-19 research and away from other areas.MethodsA 28-question survey was administered to all level 1 trauma centers in the USA that included questions about how the pandemic affected the trauma centers' ability to fulfill the volume and research requirements of level 1 verification by the American College of Surgeons (ACS).ResultsThe survey had a 29% response rate (40/137 successful invitations). Over half of respondents (52%) reported reduced trauma admissions during the pandemic, and 7% reported that their admissions dropped below the volume required for level 1 verification. Many centers diverted resources from research during the pandemic (44%), halted ongoing consenting studies (33%), and had difficulty fulfilling research requirements because of competing clinical priorities (40%).DiscussionResults of this study show a need for flexibility in the ACS verification process during the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially including reduction of the required admissions and/or research publication volumes.Level Of EvidenceLevel IV, cross-sectional study.© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

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