Prehospital care - scoop and run or stay and play?
Improved training and expertise has enabled emergency medical personnel to provide advanced levels of care at the scene of trauma. While this could be expected to improve the outcome from major injury, current data does not support this. Indeed, prehospital interventions beyond the BLS level have not been shown to be effective and in many cases have proven to be detrimental to patient outcome. It is better to "scoop and run" than "stay and play". Current data relates to the urban environment where transport times to trauma centres are short and where it appears better to simply rapidly transport the patient to hospital than attempt major interventions at the scene. There may be more need for advanced techniques in the rural environment or where transport times are prolonged and certainly a need for more studies into subsets of patients who may benefit from interventions in the field.
Smith
R Malcolm
RM
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston MA, USA 02114, USA. rmsmith@partners.org
Conn
Alasdair K T
AK
D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians / Q000592:standards; D004638:Emergency Treatment / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D013997:Time Factors; D014187:Transportation of Patients; D014481:United States; D014504:Urban Health