title: Success Rate of Pre-hospital Emergency Medical Service Personnel in Implementing Pre Hospital Trauma Life Support Guidelines on Traffic Accident Victims.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Road traffic injuries are responsible for a vast number of trauma-related deaths in middle- and low-income countries. Pre-hospital emergency medical service (PHEMS) provides care and transports the injured patients from the scene of accident to the destined hospital. The PHEMS providers and paramedics were recently trained in the Pre Hospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) guidelines to improve the outcome of trauma patients in developing countries. We decided to carry out a study on the success rate of PHEMS personnel in implementing PHTLS guidelines at the scene of trauma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Severe trauma patients who had been transferred to the emergency department were included in the study. Evaluations included transfer time, airway management, spinal immobilization, external bleeding management, intravenous (IV) line access, and fluid therapy. All evaluations were performed by an expert emergency physician in the emergency department.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean response time was 17.87±9.1 minutes. The PHEMS personnel immobilized cervical spine in 60.4% of patients, out of whom 16.7% were not properly immobilized. Out of 99 (98%) cases of established IV line access by the PHEMS providers, 57% were satisfactory. Fluid therapy, which was carried out in 99 (98%) patients by the PHEMS personnel, was appropriate in 92% of the cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PHEMS personnel need more education and supervising to provide services according to PHTLS guidelines.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Sina Hospital, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Changiz
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gholipour
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Samad Shams
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Vahdati
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehdi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Notash
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Seyed Hassan
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Miri
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Rouzbeh Rajaei
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Ghafouri
keywords: Pre-hospital emergency medical service; pre hospital trauma life support; trauma