title: On-scene medical decision making and overtriage.
abstract: This study examined whether a hospital-based helicopter trauma service led to 'overtriage' of patients back to the multispecialty base hospital. All accident-site triage decisions made during 1991 were studied. Seven of the 574 decisions (1.2 per cent) led to inappropriate movement of the patient to a specialist centre. Twenty-six decisions (4.5 per cent) were based on mechanism of injury alone and the possibility of overtriage by this method is discussed. A trained doctor can select the correct destination for a patient with trauma without inappropriately using the base hospital in preference to local centres.
authors.affiliation: Helicopter Emergency Medical Service, Royal London Hospital Trust, UK.
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Coats
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: F W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Cross
mesh_terms: D017732:Air Ambulances; D003657:Decision Making; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D004739:England; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D014187:Transportation of Patients; D014218:Triage / Q000592:standards*