On-scene times for trauma patients in West Yorkshire

Abstract

Objectives - To assess whether length of time on-scene in patients with major injury was associated with severity of injury or with abnormal on-scene physiology. Methods - A retrospective analysis of a convenience sample of patients in whom prehospital on-scene times were entered onto the regional major trauma database. On-scene times of patients were analysed to assess whether ultimate injury severity score or on-scene physiology measurements affected times. This was undertaken by examining subgroups of patients with similar injury severity or physiological measurements by Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney testing and comparing 95% confidence intervals of the mean on-scene times. Results - The mean on-scene time for 111 non-entrapped patients was 26 minutes (95% confidence interval 23.5 to 28.6). Patients with injury severity score of > 15, with a Glasgow coma scale of < 13, and with an abnormal pulse spent significantly less time on-scene than less severely injured or physiologically deranged patients. Conclusions - Paramedics have the ability to recognise patients with severe injury and reduce on-scene times. On-scene times were consistently long throughout all subgroups of major trauma patients.