ACCURACY OF TRAUMA TRIAGE AND IMPACT ON CARE IN THE EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT

Abstract

This thesis is aimed at examining the influence of over and undertriage rates of the trauma team as well as the timing of the involvement of the trauma team in the patient’s care on quality indicators. I hypothesize that early trauma team involvement will decrease the time to definitive care thus decreasing patient time in the emergency department without a treatment plan established. I conducted a retrospective medical record review focusing on quality indicators and variables in the care of trauma patients in the emergency department. I compared over and undertriage rates and timing of trauma team activation for trauma patients. I found that prehospital trauma team activation improves performance indicators in the emergency department. This research suggests that pre-hospital trauma team activation should be considered the standard of care for all patients meeting pre-hospital field triage criteria for major trauma.