The impact of prehospital management of trauma patients on outcome of ICU treatment at Emergency center CC "Vojvodina" - one - year experience
Impact of prehospital treatment of traumatized patients on treatment outcome in intensive care unit at Emergency center Clinical center of Vojvodina-one year experience Introduction: Trauma is the leading cause of death in 1-44 years old population. Recommendations of prehospital treatment of injured patients rely on the speed of response and transport to referent trauma center, where the patient will be adequately treated. Aim: The aim of our study was to investigate the impact of prehospital treatment and characteristics of patients before admission of patients to Emergency center-Clinical center of Vojvodina on survival of these patients in intensive care unit of Emergency center in order to improve the treatment and outcome of these patients. Material and methods: 209 patients who were treated in intensive care unit after the initial resuscitation in Emergency center-Clinical center of Vojvodina were included in our study. Data were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 software. Differences between groups of patients were assessed by Mann-Whitney U test. Categorical variables were compared using chi-square test. Statistical significance (p) was set at a value of 0.05. Results; Patients with worse outcome were significantly older than patients who had good outcome (49.4?18.5 vs. 63?14.7, p<0.05). Patients with manifestations of hypovolemic shock, respiratory distress and with GCS=8 on admission to Emergency center also had significantly worse outcome. Patients who had been intubated before admission to Emergency center had significantly better outcome in comparison to patients who did not have secured airway (p<0.05). However the placement of venous accessin prehospital setting did not impact survival significantly. Patients who were initially treated in regional hospitals had venous access and airway placement significantly in higher percent than patients treated by emergency medical service. Conclusion: While there is no strong evidence to support the benefits of airway and venous access management in injured patients in prehospital setting, our results suggest that these interventions can be beneficial if the transport to referent trauma center is long and if they are completed by educated medical staff.