title: Vital signs during and following ambulance transfer.
abstract: The aim of this study was to compare vital signs of minimally injured and moderately injured patients during ambulance transport and subsequent emergency department (ED) assessment. We carried out a retrospective chart review. Patients were divided into two groups: minimally injured patients with neck pain (group 1) and moderately injured patients with a closed ankle or wrist fracture (group 2). The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare vital signs within groups during transport and ED assessment. Groups 1 and 2 included 90 and 118 patients, respectively. In group 1, systolic blood pressure was significantly lower (P=0.001, median difference 8 mmHg) and heart rate was significantly higher (P<0.01, median difference 3 beats/min) during transport than during ED assessment. There was no significant difference in respiratory rate in group 1 or any of the vital signs in group 2. We conclude that transport anxiety has minimal effect on vital signs. In trauma, clinicians should exclude tissue injury before attributing increased systolic blood pressure or heart rate to anxiety.
authors.affiliation: aDivision of Emergency Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa bDepartment of Emergency, Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, UK.
authors.forename: Stevan R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Bruijns
authors.forename: Henry R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Guly
authors.forename: Lee A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Wallis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000552:Ambulances / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D064386:Ankle Fractures; D001794:Blood Pressure; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000503:physiopathology; D056152:Respiratory Rate; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055986:Vital Signs; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014954:Wrist Injuries / Q000503:physiopathology