Trauma triage in western Sydney: results of a pilot study.
A pilot study of the effectiveness of prehospital triage of trauma patients was carried out in a western Sydney between February and July 1988. Triage guidelines were developed to identify seriously injured persons at the incident site who might warrant admission to a Level 3 Trauma Service Hospital (Trauma Centre), as part of the NSW Department of Health trauma services plan. The study results were based on 64% of ambulance trauma transports for which a triage decision was provided. Of trauma transports studied, 3.7% had injuries serious enough to warrant admission to Level 3 Trauma Service Hospital. Ambulance officers correctly triaged 77% of these cases in the field. However, 62% of trauma transports triaged 'severe' or 'critical' did not have injuries serious enough to warrant admission to a Level 3 Trauma Service Hospital. Nevertheless, the triage guidelines compared favourably with similar instruments used elsewhere. Based on the performance of the triage guidelines it was concluded that the introduction of a regionalized trauma service in metropolitan NSW with local bypass is possible.
Lyle
D M
DM
Department of Public Health, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Thomson
P C
PC
Coulon
L A
LA
Berry
G
G
Kim
C M
CM
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000628:therapy*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015397:Program Evaluation; D014218:Triage / Q000458:organization & administration*