title: Comparison of motor vehicle damage documentation in emergency medical services run reports compared with photographic documentation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether emergency medical services (EMS) run reports adequately document vehicle damage when compared with vehicle photographs by using a traffic accident scoring system.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective study consisting of three phases: photographing motor vehicle collisions and collecting their respective EMS run reports, traffic accident damage score development, and comparison of photographs to the run reports by emergency medical technicians using the traffic accident damage score.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected in North Carolina and Ohio from motor vehicle crashes to which nine different EMS squads responded during a three-year period.
  
  
  METHODS
  EMS squads ranged from basic to paramedic levels of training.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three emergency medical technicians were unable to determine the area of vehicle damage in 48% and the severity of damage in 61% of the EMS run reports. In contrast, there were no instances in which all three emergency medical technicians were unable to determine both area and severity of damage from the photographs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most EMS run reports do not document vehicle damage adequately.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, East Carolina University School of Medicine, Greenville, North Carolina.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Hunt
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Cline
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Krohmer
authors.forename: J B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: McCabe
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Whitley
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D003625:Data Collection; D004282:Documentation; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D006801:Humans; D009657:North Carolina; D009820:Ohio; D010781:Photography; D011446:Prospective Studies