A regional study on primary trauma diversion in Hong Kong

Abstract

Background: Primary trauma diversion (PTD) allows ambulance crews to transport severely injured patients directly to trauma centres. It has been launched in Kowloon Central Cluster (KCC) of Hospital Authority, Hong Kong since 2006. Objective: The study investigated the performance of PTD with a view to provide relevant information for further development. The compliance with PTD, under-triage and over-triage were the major outcomes measurement. Patients' characteristics and their clinical information were also described. Method: This was a retrospective descriptive study. We reviewed and analyzed the data in our hospital trauma registry during the study period between 1st July 2006 and 30th June 2009. Result: One hundred and sixty-three trauma patients were diverted to our trauma centre during the study period. The mean Injury Severity Score was 11.72 with 90 of them being classified as severely injured. We found that 47 and 73 patients were under and over triage respectively. About 74% eligible trauma patients were diverted to the trauma centre according to PTD criteria. Conclusion: Although the initial experience of PTD in KCC is satisfactory, more severely injured patients will benefit from our trauma centre service by improving the under-triage rate. We also foresee a better compliance with trauma diversion in the future.