Recommendations For Uniform Reporting of Data following Major Trauma - The Utstein Style (An Initiative)
International Trauma Anaesthesia and Critical Care Society (ITACCS) Initiative

Cochairmen:
W.F. Dick
P.J.F. Baskett

Participants:
C. Grande (USA)
H. Delooz (Belgium)
W. Kloeck (South Africa)
C. Lackner (Germany)
M. Lipp (Germany)
W. Mauritz (Austria)
M. Nerlich (Germany)
J. Nicholl (UK)
J. Nolan (UK)
P. Oakley (UK)
M. Parr (UK/Australia)
Seekamp (Germany)
E. Soreide (Norway)
P.A. Steen (Norway)
Luc van Camp (Belgium)
B. Wolcke (Germany)
D. Yates (UK)


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The development of this document was made possible by generous contributions from: ITACCS-Baltimore(US); The Laerdal Foundation for Acute Care, Stavanger (Norway); and Pharmacia Upjohn-Brussels (Belgium) and Kalamazoo(US)

Major input has been received from: Dr. M. Moles(Hong Kong); Dr. C. McKenzie (Baltimore-US); and Prof. M. Birnbaum (Madison-US)

Further comments were received from: Dr. J.Alexander (US); Dr. St. Bidiali (Italy); Prof. E. Camporese (US); Dr. R. Chawla (India); Prof. E. Damir (Russia); Dr. M. Fitzgerald (Australia); E. Frischknecht-Christensen (Denmark); Dr. A. Langhelle (Norway); Dr. E. Rahardjo (Indonesia); Prof. D. Scheidegger (Switzerland); Dr. Ch. E. Smith (US); Dr. E. Tal-Or (Israel).

The document is published in collaboration with the following organisations: the European Society of Emergency Medicine (Leuven); the European Resuscitation Council (Antwerpen); the German College of Surgeons (München); the German Society of Trauma Surgery (Murnau-Germany); the Air Medical Physician Association (Salt Lake City, US); the German Interdisciplinary Association of Critical Care Medicine; and the German Society of Anaesthesiology.

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The document is to be jointly published in the following journals: 1) Trauma Care (ITACCS); 2) Resuscitation; 3) Prehospital and Disaster Medicine; 4) European Journal of Emergency Medicine; 5) Trauma and Emergency Medicine Journal (SA); 6) Emergency Medicine(Norway); 7) Acta Anaesthesiol.Scandinavica; 8) Journal of Trauma; 9) Annals of Emergency Medicine; 10) Academic Emergency Medicine; 11) Journal of Acute Prehospital Care; 12) JEUR; 13) NAEMPS; 14) Journal of Critical Illness; 15) Prehospital Emergency Care; and 16.German Journals: a) Anästhesist; b) Notfall und Rettungsmedizin; c) Unfallchirurg; and d) AINS; and 16) NN.

 

 

Abbreviations:
AHA = American Heart Association
AIS = abbreviated injury score
ALS = advanced life support
DNAR = do not attempt to resuscitate
DNS = do not resuscitate
EMS = emergency medical services
ERC = European Resuscitation Council
ICU = intensive care unit
ISS = Injury Severity Score
ITA = International Trauma Audit
ITACCS = International Trauma Anaesthesia and Critical Care Society
MTOS = Major Trauma Outcome Study
PACU = post anaesthesia care unit
RTS - Revised Trauma Score

Table of Contents:

Introduction and Background
Terms and Definitions
Factors Relating to the Circumstances of Injury
System Factors
Patient Factors
Assessment
Treatment

Outcome
Ethical Issues
Documentation / Methodology
Summary
References
Appendices

 

 

Introduction and Background

Basic and advanced care of trauma patients always has been an important aspect of prehospital and immediate in-hospital emergency medicine involving a broad spectrum of disciplines, specialties, and skills, generally delivered through Emergency Medical Services Systems that, however, may differ significantly in structure, resources, and operation. This complex background, at least in part, has hindered the development of a uniform pattern or set of criteria and definitions. Hitherto, this often has, rendered data incompatible with the consequence that differing systems or protocols of care cannot be evaluated readily or compared with acceptable validity; nor can they be incorporated into large-scale studies of epidemiological significance.

A similar situation has existed for other areas of emergency medicine, and resuscitation from cardiac arrest is a particularly important example. To address this particular problem, the European Resuscitation Council (ERC), the American Heart Association (AHA),the Australian Resuscitation Council, the Resuscitation Council of Southern Africa, and similar organisations in other continents, after intensive discussion and a series of consensus processes, have issued "Guidelines for Uniform Reporting of Data following Out-of-Hospital and In-Hospital Cardiac Arrest - the Utstein Style".1,2 Since then, studies from different centers have been published that facilitate valid comparison of data and systems on the basis of this uniform terminology and template.

In 1995, Spaite and his colleagues3 in the United States published a report from the Uniform Prehospital Emergency Medical Services Data Conference that defined the principles of data collection, setting out, among others, proposals that data be stratified into "Core" (essential) and "Optional" (Supplemental) information in an effort to provide useful information for improvement of THE quality of both care and research specifically in the prehospital arena.

In 1994, at its 7th Annual Symposium in Paris, a working group from the International Trauma Anaesthesia and Critical Care Society (ITACCS) agreed to design a system, based on the Utstein concept and template, but specifically targeted at uniform reporting of data following trauma.4 The project was not to be confined to capture of data only in the prehospital phase, but also would attempt to include early in-hospital management and, significantly, would incorporate data from outcome studies.

In 1996,during the 9th ITACCS Symposium in London, the working group met again and agreed that there now was an urgent need for a common terminology and reporting template to be developed to facilitate the acquisition, processing, audit, and analysis of data that would be both compatible and comparable.

Such a system should have the following features:

1) A structured reporting system based on an "Utstein-style-template" that would permit data and statistics on major trauma care to be compiled, to facilitate and validate independent or comparative audits of performance and quality of care;1,2,3

2) The recommendations and template would encompass both out-of-hospital and in-hospital trauma care;

3) The recommendations and template should further permit intra- and inter-system evaluation to improve the quality of delivered care and identification of the relative benefits of different systems and innovative initiatives; and

4) The template should facilitate further studies setting out to improve epidemiological understanding of trauma; for example, such studies might focus on the factors that determine survival.

In February 1998, the main ITACCS consensus project committee met in Mainz, Germany to produce a definitive draft of the document. Six initial small group( each with five members) meetings were followed by plenary debate. The six groups then prepared a component draft that was debated, developed, and refined within the group, following which the secretary of each group submitted their component draft to a small writing committee charged with the preparation of a pre-final composit draft document. This was finalised in May 1998,during the 11th ITACCS Annual Symposium in Vienna. Prior to and since that meeting, the document has received substantial input from additional researchers and clinicians from complementary disciplines and support from scientific organisations world wide.

Trauma Data Structure Development Using Object-Orientated Modelling

The data to be collected for trauma care inherently is complex. Different personnel who take part at different stages of trauma care, often have different requirements for data collection, yet there are inherent similarities that allow the development of a single unifying model. In the object-oriented approach, the patient can be regarded as an object with a unique identification number "travelling" through time (from the accident occurring) and space (location) with other generic object links such as attendants (personnel involved at different stages), observations (sensors), and interventions (effectors), as shown in the Figure 1. The advantage of this approach, used by software engineers, is that it may be employed analytically to develop the model. A flexible structure is developed not only for recording and analysing data, but also for shaping the way in which trauma care is conceptualised and the language used to describe it. Object-orientated concepts such as "object inheritance" can be incorporated to define and refine individual objects within the overall model.

The components of this model are incorporated into the various sections of the guidelines as listed:

1) Factors Relating to the Circumstances of Trauma;
2) System Factors;
3) Patient Factors;
4) Treatment and Outcome;
5) Ethical Issues; and
6) Documentation/Methodology

The document is structured along the lines essentially similar to the original Utstein Style Guidelines publication on "prehospital cardiac arrest".1 It includes a glossary of terms used in the prehospital and early hospital phase, and definitions, time points, and intervals. The document uses an almost identical scheme (Figure 2) for illustrating the different, overlapping time clocks - one for the patient, one for the dispatch centre, one for the ambulance, and finally, one for the hospital. Guidelines and where appropriate, definitions, are provided for clinical inputs, interventions, and outcomes that should be included in reports, and recommendations made for the description of emergency medical services systems, together with the variables for input, process, and outcome. These variables may be stratified into core (essential ) (prefixed with a "c"), or optional (supplemental) data (prefixed with an "o").

Definitions such as bystander, emergency personnel, etc., used in the document are identical to those used in the original Utstein template for cardiac arrest documents, and may be referred to in those publications.1,2

In trauma, the terminology corresponding to Basic Cardiac Life Support (BCLS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) should have been Basic Trauma Life Support (BTLS) and Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS). However, ATLS® is a trade mark held by the American College of Surgeons; therefore, the working group elected to use the more generic terms Basic Care (BC) and Advanced Care (AC).

As in the previous Utstein style documents, the term interval (event-to-event interval) replaces the term "time" or "down-time". Thus, the "call-to-response interval" denotes the period from receipt of the call by the emergency dispatcher to the moment the emergency response vehicle stops moving at the scene; however, in this document, the "call-to-patient-arrival" interval is utilised because it includes the period from "vehicle stops moving at the scene" until arrival of the crew "at patient side", a period which is not available for intervention, but which may prove to be time-critical.

In the section on outcome, particular attention has been paid to data on morbidity and disability. They are developed to provide greater detail than do the corresponding cardiac arrest documents. Proposals are made for scalar indices that investigators may use to quantify disability, quality of life, and other relevant parameters.

The structural and operational components of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are described in accordance with the original Utstein documents, i.e., the dispatch system and the first, second, and third tiers.

In contrast to the Utstein Templates used for pre- or in-hospital cardiac arrest, the working group decided for the present time, to use a semantic rather than a graphic approach to the protocol for actually recording data. In the future, however, when the document has been promulgated and discussed widely, the group may come forward with a graphical report form for trauma patients that may facilitate collection or processing of data.

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Terms and Definitions

The terminology proposed for use in trauma care have been defined to ensure clarity in documentation and reporting. They are listed in Appendix A. The terms include the definitions or terms that are used frequently in blunt and penetrating trauma such as "long bone", "major", "mixed", "combined", "multiple", "poly", and "predominant" trauma in an effort to ensure consistency in future reporting.

Certain terms such as "isolated trauma", "single system trauma", and "pattern of injury" may lead to confusion and are considered best to be avoided.

 

Factors Relating to the Circumstances of Injury

The factors relating to the circumstances of the injury include:

1. Type of injury;
2. Severity of the injury(ies);
3. Mechanism of the injury; and
4. The location of the injury

The details of each factor are listed in Appendix B.

 

1) Type of Injury

When more than one injury type is present, the predominant type, i.e., the type most responsible for mortality/morbidity will be assessed in the hospital at a time considered appropriate. Core data mandatorily must include data as to whether the trauma is blunt or penetrating. In general, all trauma is classified as blunt, including amputation, crush, laceration, and asphyxia with the exception of stab, spike, or missile injuries, which are classed as penetrating trauma.

2) Severity of Injury

Abbreviated Injury Score5 - The Abbreviated Injury Score (AIS) attempts to combine anatomical injury with physiological disability (see Appendix B). Anatomical regions of the body are listed by number in an agreed numbered sequence of 1-9. The degree of physiological disability also is listed by the numbers 0-6 indicating an increasing severity in relation to each anatomical area. This is core data. More than one score may apply; for example, a patient may have a chest injury that is severe, but not life-threatening (4.3), plus a head injury that is moderate (1.2), plus a lower limb injury which is severe, but not life-threatening (8.3)..

3. Mechanism of Injury

Core data include the basic mechanism of injury differentiating between transport, fall, interpersonal violence, deliberate self-harm, thermal contact, asphyxia, etc. Optional data include details within each of these major groups. For convenience, explosion, chemical, and radiation injuries may be included under thermal injury if it is the major mechanism of injury, or they may be included under asphyxia, if that is more appropriate.

4. Location of Injury

The place of injury is classed as optional data, but may be relevant especially in certain studies. Only the common places are listed; other places, e.g., on-board ship should be specified. Remote indicates a place not easily accessible by road or more than 100 km from any EMS base.(Distance is not the criterion, but time spent to overcome distance in relation to the golden hour)

 

System Factors 6,7

The EMS and Hospital System factors closely mirror those listed in the Utstein guidelines for reporting cardiac arrest. These are listed in Appendix C. The factors relate to features of the health-care system in the prehospital phase, during inter-hospital transfer, and at the receiving hospital. They include the basic features of each phase, the time points and time intervals, details of the personnel involved, and the level of care provided.

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Patient Factors

The basic factors will have been recorded under factors relating to the circumstances of injury. There are a number of factors that have been shown to influence trauma patient outcome. These include severity of injury, time-to-definitive care, the quality of the care provided, and patient factors. Patient factors that influence outcome (morbidity and mortality) are those factors that compromise physiological reserve. These include age, gender,and co-morbidity (also referred to as pre-existing disease). Details of the suggested data to be recorded are listed in Appendix D.

1) Age
The patient`s age or best approximation should be recorded in all cases. Age is a predictor of outcome from trauma 8-14 Mortality increases between the ages of 45 to 55 years for the same injury severity and is doubled above 75 years relative to 45 years. Trauma in the elderly population also is associated with an increased risk of complications, intensive care, and hospital stay.

Ages are grouped as: 1) 0-12 months; 2) 1-4 years; 3) 5-14 years; 4) 15-24 years; 5) 25-34 years; 6) 35-44 years; 7) 45-54 years; 8) 55-64 years; 9) 65-74 years; 10) 75-84 years; 11) ³ 85 years and older.

2) Gender
Gender should be recorded for all cases. The overall death rates from trauma for males is more than twice that of females.15-16 This ratio is increased further in intentional trauma and particularly in penetrating trauma. These higher rates reflect the greater involvement of males in trauma-associated with work, domestic, and recreational activities.

3) Dimensions
Height and weight often have to be estimated initially and are reported in m and kg.

4) Other
Where appropriate, the population should be defined, for example by ethnic groups, socio-economic classification or subgroups (e.g., driver, passenger, cyclist, pedestrian, interpersonal, etc.).

 

5) Co-Morbidity
Co-morbidity is an important predictor of outcome from trauma, but until recently has received little attention.17-23. Previous assessments of co-morbidity in trauma patients have used retrospective discharge diagnoses according to the International Classification of Disease (ICD 9 or 10) codes, a limited list of disease states as part of a trauma registry, or a severity of disease classification system.24 The functional/physiological limitations of the co-morbidity assessment as yet have not been clearly defined. An accurate description of all co-morbidity ideally should be included, but is likely to be difficult. In the absence of a reliable, simple assessment of co-morbidity, the four grading scales shown below should be used. It will allow an assessment of the impact of pre-existing disease on physiological reserve.

Grading Co-Morbidity (Ascribed to the American Society of Anesthesiologists(ASA))
1. Healthy (normal)
2. Systemic illness: non-limiting
3. Systemic illness: limiting normal activity
4. Systemic illness: constant threat to life
5. Intercurrent Medication

 

Assessment

It is recognised that resuscitation is the first priority, and that full assessment will not be performed before life-saving manoeuvres. Consequently, certain elements of assessment and resuscitation may be done simultaneous. It also is recognised that, at any instant, the physiological status is a summed expression of a dynamic process that is influenced by both inherent response and interventions. The documentation of the relation of these interventions to the assessment is crucial therefore, if the impact of various interventions is to be evaluated.

To allow meaningful interpretation and comparison, both anatomical and physiological assessments must be documented. The most commonly used scoring systems in current use are the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS),25,28,from which the Injury Severity Score (ISS)26,27 is derived, and the Revised Trauma Score (RTS)29 that is composed of the Glasgow Coma Scale,29,30 the systolic blood pressure, and the respiratory rate. The ISS and RTS allow TRISS methodology31 and comparison with the Major Trauma Outcome Study (MTOS).32,33

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Treatment

At present, there is controversy as to whether outcome for trauma patients is influenced for the better by the type of prehospital provider or even by the procedures performed.

Available studies have produced conflicting results.6,7,34-41 Some studies have suggested that Advanced Life Support procedures improve physiological variables but not outcome.40

Of greater concern would be if prehospital ALS procedures actually may be detrimental.42,43 As a result, the traditional concept of trauma management in the prehospital setting is increasingly questioned.44 These uncertainties underline the importance of accurate documentation of treatment and outcome. This will provide evidence for or against the efficacy of management systems and treatment interventions and regimes.3. 45

 

Outcome

Details of outcome are essential to any study (Appendix E). Whilst mortality rates are more easier collected, every effort should be made to collect information on morbidity.

Morbidity is defined as "all non-fatal" problems"

Impairment
¯
Disability
¯ ¯
reversible irreversible

It should also be stated if prevention of adverse factors was relevant: This prevention should be graded as: 1) probably; 2) possibly; and 3) definitely.

The following factors may be considered as surrogate measures of outcome: 1) Time in ICU; 2) Time in hospital; and 3) Costs

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Ethical Issues

Recommendations for reviewing, reporting, and conducting studies on trauma would be inappropriate without attention to the many ethical issues involved. These recommendations are not intended as new guidelines for managing trauma patients, although many of the issues are relevant to that activity. Many of the factors also pertain to patients with cardiac arrest, and these are described in the In-hospital resuscitation, Utstein-style paper.2 Quality trauma research must be conducted, because only scientific evaluation of trauma care unequivocally can benefit future patients. This research must be conducted, however, within an ethical framework, which may vary between countries and cultures, but the treatment of the individual patient always must have priority.

In trauma research it particularly is important to depersonalise all data as it generally is easier to connect a specific person to a trauma incident than to a disease process, especially in case reports.

Patient consent for trauma research

All studies should follow the Declaration of Helsinki, and must not be initiated until approved by the appropriate ethics committee. This usually implies that informed consent must be obtained from the patient if possible. This is problematic and presents a unique ethical challenge in trauma research.

Some patients will be unconscious, and so cannot consent at the time needed for inclusion in many studies. Surrogate permission from family members or legal guardian, is unacceptable in some countries,46,47 and rarely is available in the acute care situation in countries in which it is accepted.

Even in conscious patients, informed consent is problematic in the acute care setting.47,48 Informed consent implies that a competent patient must, to the best of a competent researcher's knowledge, have received and understood all the appropriate information. As the treatment of the patient has first priority, there frequently is not sufficient time to ensure quality informed consent in the management of patients with severe trauma.

All studies must comply with ethical principles. These can vary between nations, states, or local communities. In the United States, as an example, Federal regulations concerning informed consent resulted in a virtual halt in resuscitation research in the early 1990s. In response, the 1995 Coalition Conference of Acute Resuscitation and Critical Care researchers stated that research can and should be done in clinical circumstances where it was not feasible to obtain informed, prospective, or proxy consent for enrolment in a study protocol.49 The Coalition endorsed a new term - "appropriate incremental risk", which is defined as any potential risk specifically associated with participation in the research compared with risk of the natural consequences of the medical condition itself. Although patients indeed are vulnerable to research risks, they also are at risk of being denied potential beneficial therapy when no effective therapy currently exists. Therefore, recently the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has published a "final rule" allowing research to be performed in certain emergency situations without informed consent. It is not one of the requirements that the patient has to be unconscious, but that it is not feasible to obtain informed consent from the patient or a legal representative.

There are certain studies in which the act of asking for informed consent causes a bias in itself. This is covered in the Helsinki Declaration Section 11.5; thus if the physician thinks it is essential not to obtain informed consent, the specific reasons for this should be stated in the experimental protocol submission to the independent ethical committee.

 

Medical futility

There is no commonly accepted definition of medical futility. Hidden value judgments may be made by clinicians who declare futility. Some cases such as decapitation, incineration, drowning with bloating, hemicorporectomy, or rigor mortis will be considered futile by all. Other situations, such as prolonged submersion or exsanguination with asystole will require a statement of the time element required for defining futility in the specific study.

Qualitative futility is a term being used by some researchers implying survival with a quality of life well below the threshold considered minimal by general professional judgment. This is problematic without obtaining the wish of the patient, as it recently has been reported that there is relatively poor correlation between the evaluation of quality of life between physicians and the patients.50,53 Seckler et al54 and Suhl et al55 also have found poor or no correlation between patients and physicians or family members/surrogates concerning their wish for resuscitation.

 

Do not attempt resuscitation (DNAR), do not resuscitate (DNR)

The term DNAR/DNR is more difficult to apply in the trauma patient than in victims of cardiac arrest of cardiac origin. Resuscitation can involve more factors in trauma management such as fluid resuscitation,etc. In studies of trauma in which these terms are applied, it therefore is essential that they are defined, together with other possible codes for withholding or withdrawing treatment.

 

Deliberate self-inflicted harm

In studies involving patients, the information must be depersonalised and informed consent must be obtained. If the patient also refuses standard treatment, that should be noted. The rules for declaring the patient incompetent, and so allowing treatment, vary between countries, and also should be noted. This does not automatically permit the inclusion of the patient in a study without consent.

 

Information to police

The provision of patient information to police is mainly a patient management problem, but also can pertain to study data. Informed consent generally is required, but national or state rules for divulging information to the police without consent can apply. In some countries, the duty to protect the public from potential further damage weighs more heavily than does the patient's right to privacy, with national variations in the degree of damage potential required. In other circumstances, the police may acquire information by legal enforcement.

Information such as alcohol or drug blood levels obtained strictly as part of a study, should not be divulged to the treatment team without informed consent. If reported in a study, the process for obtaining such information should be described, as the routine testing in all motor vehicle accident patients in some countries in itself may give a different result from that taken for a specific indication.

 

Information to media

This is an important patient management problem, with no specific research aspects. It should be noted that in some countries the media are being used actively by researchers to inform the public that a certain acute care study is going on, in an attempt to pre-inform patients as part of the informed consent procedure.

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Care of relatives

Caring for relatives is an important part of trauma care. If this is to be studied, the rules of informed consent and depersonalised data apply.

 

Advance directives

With a patient who is incompetent because of injuries, the researcher should take due note of any advance directive. However, it is important to evaluate how likely it is to cover the patient's present wishes. Has the directive been made recently, and to what circumstances does it apply? Studies indicate that many patients change their opinion on what is an acceptable life situation when changes in their life situation actually occur.56,57 A death wish letter in the case of self-inflicted trauma, is not to be considered an advance directive.

While the wish of a conscious, sane person normally is respected, the incompetent patient usually is given the benefit of the doubt, and is treated in the absence of an adequate information process. In some cases, there is a tendency to comply with patient wishes "to the edge of the cliff" or until unconsciousness supervenes, and then treat. While it can be argued that as soon as a patient becomes unconscious, the doctor no longer can be sure of the patient's will because of the short period of contact in an acute care situation, this strategy, in most circumstances reduces the potential for a good outcome. In the end, it always comes down to the sound clinical judgment of senior and experienced doctors.

 

Pregnancy

Generally, it is accepted that the pregnant woman takes priority over the fetus. If treating the mother is considered futile and the fetus still is potentially viable (i.e., witnessed traumatic cardiac arrest), caesarean section becomes an option. In other circumstances, any heroic action is considered unethical.

 

Documentation/Methodology

Planning for data collection
Plans for collecting data on trauma patients should be drawn up prospectively. Full co-operation between prehospital and in-hospital personnel will minimise the possibility of omitting or duplicating relevant data. If the pre-hospital and in-hospital data can be linked with police, EMS, or population studies, they may provide a means for data verification and validation.

Data collection
Data collection can be done manually or it can be automated. Some manual techniques are partly automated by using some form of hand-held computer with which to record data. In the future, physiological telemetry is likely to become more widely available, and will allow continuous, automated collection of data in both the pre-hospital and in-hospital areas.

Manual collection
Real-time data collection is the ideal, but this will require the continual presence of a dedicated data collector. With the exception of well-funded research studies, this is unlikely to be practical in the prehospital phase.

A single data collection form for both pre-hospital and in-hospital phases may be seen as ideal, but most trauma systems will utilise two ore more forms. These need to be linked by a unique identifier, preferably a number. This will be supported by secondary identifiers, comprised of the name and time. Links are required between the pre-hospital, in-hospital forms, audit forms, and forms at any secondary or tertiary hospital to which the patient has been transferred.

Data may be abstracted from audio and/or video tape, but this often will be too labour intensive to use for routine audit. This technique, however, may be a valuable research tool.

Personnel in the control/dispatch centre may well be able to collect and record some of the relevant pre-hospital data.

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Data collection forms
With developing technology, in the future, the principle should be to avoid cumbersome forms. Data collection forms should be of simple digital, analogue, and "tick box" design where possible. The best format is to ask closed questions with "yes","no", "don't know", and "other" options. Multiple, colour-coded copies will allow the data to be distributed to appropriate personnel.

Data entry
The entry of data into a database may be performed manually or with optical readers. There should be regular quality checks to ensure data reliability and accuracy, and to eliminate bias. The gold standard for data entry is a validated, primary electronic system.

Electronic data collection

Electronic notepads will record the time and location (using GPS) automatically and continually. In addition, they have a manual capability, and in the future are likely to include voice recognition software. Bar code readers already are in use in hospitals. They may contribute to more efficient and accurate data collection. Data can be downloaded on-or off-line from monitors and from a variety of other patient care devices.

Training in data collection and entry

All data collectors and enterers should receive appropriate training. These personnel may be EMS staff, nurses, and/or doctors. Data validation is important. Intra-rater and inter-rater variation may be minimised with appropriate training.

Common database
If data collection is standardised, the data may be downloaded into a common database. This could be a national database, such as the Major Trauma Outcome Study (MTOS),32,33 or an international database that could be termed "the International Trauma Audit (ITA)".

Appropriate steps should be taken to ensure patient confidentiality; patient and hospital identifiers should be removed before data are downloaded into a common database outside of hospital.

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Summary

Basic and advanced care of trauma patients always has been an important aspect of prehospital and immediate in-hospital emergency medicine, involving a broad spectrum of disciplines, specialties, and skills delivered through Emergency Medical Services Systems which, however, may differ significantly in structure, resources, and operation. This complex background, at least in part, has hindered the development of a uniform pattern or set of criteria and definitions. This in turn, has rendered data incompatible, with the consequence that such differing systems or protocols of care readily cannot be evaluated or compared with acceptable validity.

Guided by previous consensus processes evolved by the ERC, the AHA, and other International Organisations represented in ILCOR - on Uniform Reporting of Data following Out-of-hospital and In-hospital Cardiac Arrest - the Utstein Style, an international working group of ITACCS has drafted a document, Recommendations for Uniform Reporting of Data following Major Trauma - the Utstein Style. The reporting system is based on the following considerations:

1) A structured reporting system based on an "Utstein style template" that would permit the compilation of data and statistics on major trauma care, facilitating and validating independent or comparative audit of performance, and quality of care (and enable groups to challenge performance statistics that did not take account of all relevant information);

2) The recommendations and template should encompass both out-of-hospital and in-hospital trauma care;

3) The recommendations and template should permit further intra- and inter-system evaluation to improve the quality of delivered care and identification of the relative benefits of different systems and innovative initiatives; and

4) The template should facilitate studies setting out to improve epidemiological understanding of trauma; for example, such studies might focus on the factors that determine survival.

The document is structured along the lines of the original Utstein Style Guidelines publication on "prehospital cardiac arrest". It includes a glossary of terms used in the prehospital and early hospital phase as definitions, time points, and time intervals. The document uses an almost identical scheme for illustrating the different process time clocks - one for the patient, one for the dispatch centre, one for the ambulance, and, finally, one for the hospital.

For clarity, data should be reported as core data (i.e., always obtained) and optional data (obtained under specific circumstances). In contrast to the graphic approach used for the Utstein template for pre- or in-hospital cardiac arrest, respectively, the present Template introduces, for the time being, at least, a number of terms and definitions and a semantic rather than a graphic report form.

The document includes the following sections:

I. Introduction and Background;

II. Trauma Data Structure Development -a general outline of the development of structured data using object-orientated modelling(which will be discussed in due course) and includes a set of explanatory illustrations;

III. Terms and Definitions - outlines terms and definitions in trauma care, describing different types of trauma (blunt, penetrating, long bone, major/combined, multiple/polytrauma and predominant trauma);

IV. Factors Relating to the Circumstances of the Injury - describes the following items:

a) Cause of injury (e.g.type of injury (blunt or penetrating), burns, cold, crush, laceration, amputation, radiation, multiple, etc;

b) Severity of Injury - e.g., prehospital basic abbreviated injury score developed by the working group. The score contains anatomical and physiological disability data, with the anatomical scale ranging ordinally from 1 = head to 9 = external; the physiological disability scale ranges ordinally from "0" to "unsurvivable";

c) Mechanism of injury - recording for transportation incidents etc; e.g., the type of impact, possible restraining devices,and deliberate self-harm; and

d) Demographics of injury - e.g., presentation of data concerning the location and other social information pertaining to the injury.

V. System Factors - defines the factors that may be structured, subdivided into pre-hospital, inter-hospital transfer, and trauma centre/receiving hospital factors or temporal consisting of dates, time points, and time intervals that are defined in accordance with the previous Utstein template on cardiac arrest. Trauma centre details focus on the trauma team, its composition, and its respective experience, the facilities available during the 24-hour period, and arrival data at different transit/treatment locations such as the operating room, PACU, ICU, discharge, etc;

VI. Patient factors - defines demographics such as age, gender, dimensions, and co-morbidity factors that may be most important for survival. Co-morbidity is graded ordinally from 1 = Healthy to 4 = Systemic illness: constant threat to life. Scores and scales for consistent quality assessment of trauma then are addressed, concentrating in particular on respiratory and cardiovascular function, temperature, blood gases, the anatomic assessment of injury and treatment modalities and details. The section concludes with a look at the present situation where conflicting results either confirm or refute not only the efficacy and effectiveness of prehospital ALS procedures but also any influence that such measures may exhibit as a rationale for evidence based medicine. These latter phenomena require further scientific evaluation in randomized, controlled studies, where possible.

VII. Outcome - addresses mortality (time, date, location of death, place, confirmation, cause of death, and adverse factors) and morbidity, defined as all non-fatal problems leading from impairment to disability and reversible and irreversible disability. A number of widely used outcome scales are discussed;

VIII. Ethical issues - dedicates special emphasis on patient consent to trauma research, on medical futility, DNAR and DNR directives, deliberate self-inflicted harm, care of relatives, and advanced directives; and

IX. Documentation - addresses methodology and technology, underlining the need for data collection to be planned. Details such as manual, automatic, and electronic data collection and entry, and data collection forms are outlined. It is emphasised that particularly all data collectors and enterers should receive appropriate training before being involved in the data collection process. It further is pointed out that the standardisation of data collection will allow downloading into a valid common database.

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References

1. Cummins RO, Chamberlain DA, Hazinski MF, Nadkarni V, Kloeck W, Kramer E, Becker L, Robertson C, Koster R, Zaritsky A, Bossaert L, Ornato JP, Callanan V, Allen M, Steen PA, Connolly B, Sanders A, Idris A, Cobbe S: Recommended Guidelines for uniform reporting of data from out of hospital cardiac arrest : The Utstein Style. Resuscitation 1991;22:1-26.

2. Cummins RO, Chamberlain DA, Hazinski MF, Nadkarni V, Kloeck W, Kramer E, Becker L, Robertson C, Koster R, Zaritsky A, Bossaert L, Ornato JP, Callanan V, Allan M, Steen P, Connolly B, Sanders A, Idris A, Cobbe S: Recommended guidelines for reviewing reporting and conducting research on in-hospital resuscitation: The in-hospital "Utstein Style". Resuscitation 1997:34;151-183.

3. Spaite DW: Uniform prehospital data elements and definitions: A report from the Uniform Prehospital Emergency Medical Services Data Conference. Ann Emerg Med 1995;25:525-534.

4. Dick WF: EMS-Organisation of Trauma Management: An International Overview. JEUR 1994:4;178-183.

5. Greenspan L, McLellan BA, Greig H ; Abbreviated injury scale and injury severity score:A scoring chart. J Trauma 1985;25:60-64.

6. Carli P: Prehospital intervention for trauma: Helpful or harmful? The European point of view. Curr Opin Crit Care 1998:4:407-411.

7. Pepe PE: Prehospital intervention in trauma: Helpful or harmful? The American point of view: Curr Opin Crit Care 1998:4;412-416.

8. Finelli FC, Jonsson J, Champion HR, Morelli S, Fouty WJ: A case control study for major trauma in geriatric patients. J Trauma 1989;29:541-548.

9. Oreskovich MR, Howard JD, Copass MK, Carrico CJ: Geriatric trauma: Injury patterns and outcome. J Trauma 1984;24: 565-572.

10. Champion HR, Copes WS, Buyer D, Flanagan ME, Bain L, Sacco WJ: Major trauma in geriatric patients. Am J Pub Health 1989;79:1278-1282.

11. Smith DB, Enderson BL, Maull KI: Trauma in the elderly: determinants of outcome. South Med J 1990;83:171-177.

12. Hannan EL, Mendeloff J, Farrell LS, Cayten CG, Murphy JG: Multivariate models for predicting survival of patients with trauma from low falls: The impact of gender and pre-existing conditions. J Trauma 1995;38:697-704.

13. Gubler KD, Davis R, Koepsell T, Soderberg R, Maier RV, Rivara FP: Long-term survival of elderly trauma patients. Arch Surg 1997;132:1010-1014.

14. Zietlow SP, Capizzi PJ, Bannon MP, Farnell MB: Multisystem geriatric trauma. J Trauma 1994;37:985-988.

15. Baker SP, O'Neill B, Karpf RS: Overview of injury mortality. In: Baker SP, O'Neill B, Karpf RS (eds). The Injury Factbook. Lexington Books: Lexington, MA 1984.

16. Evans L: Risk of fatality from physical trauma versus sex and age. J Trauma 1988;28: 368-378.

17. Morris JA, MacKenzie EJ, Damiano AM, Bass SM: Mortality in trauma patients: The interaction between host factors and severity. J Trauma 1990;30:1476-1482.

18. MacKenzie EJ, Morris JA, Edelstein SL: Effect of pre-existing disease on length of hospital stay in trauma patients. J Trauma 1989;29:757-764.

19. Milzman DP, Boulanger BR, Rodriguez A, et al: Pre-existing disease in the trauma patient: a predictor of fate independent of age and Injury Severity Score. J Trauma 1992;32:236-243.

20. Morris JA, MacKenzie EJ, Edelstein SL: Effect of pre-existing conditions on mortality in trauma patients. JAMA 1990;263:1942-1946.

21. Sacco WJ. Copes WS. Bain LW Jr. MacKenzie EJ. Frey CF. Hoyt DB. Weigelt JA. Champion HR: Effect of preinjury illness on trauma patient survival outcome. J Trauma 1993;35:538-542.

22. McMahon DJ, Schwab CW, Kauder D: Comorbidity and the elderly trauma patient. World Journal of Surgery 1996;20:1113-1119.

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24. Rutledge R, Hoyt DB, Eastman AB, Sise MJ, Velky TH, Canty T, Wachtel TH, Osler TM: Comparison of the ISS and ICD 9 diagnosis codes as predictors of outcome in injury: Analysis of 44,032 patients. J Trauma 1997; 477-481.

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26. Baker SP, O'Neill B, Haddon W, Long WB: The Injury Severity Score: A method for describing patients with multiple injuries and evaluating emergency care. J Trauma 1974;14:187-196.

27. Copes WS, Champion HR, Sacco WJ, et al: The injury severity score revisited. J Trauma 1988;28:69-77.

28. Champion HR, Sacco WJ, Copes WS, et al: A revision of the Trauma Score. J Trauma 1989;29:623-629.

29. Teasdale G, Jennett B: Assessment of coma and impaired consciousness: A practical scale. Lancet 1974;2:81-83.

30. Rutledge R, Lentz CW, Fakhry S, Hunt J: Appropriate use of the Glasgow Coma Scale in intubated patients: A linear regression prediction of the Glasgow Verbal Score from the Glasgow Eye and Motor Scores. J Trauma 1996:41;514-520.

31. Boyd CR, Tolson MA, Copes WS: Evaluating trauma care: the TRISS method. J Trauma 1987;27: 370-378.

32. Markle J, Cayton CG, Byrne DW, My F, Murphy JG: Comparison between TRISS and ASCOT methods in controlling for Injury Severity. J Trauma 1992:33;326-332.

33. Champion HR, Copes WS, Sacco WJ, Lawnick MM, et al: The Major Trauma Outcome Study: Establishing national norms for trauma care. J Trauma 1990;30;1356-1365.

34. Kaweski SM, Sise MJ, Virgilio RW. The effect of pre-hospital fluids on survival in trauma patients. J Trauma 1990;30:1215-1219.

35. Potter D, Goldstein G, Fung SC, Selig M: A controlled trial of prehospital advanced life support in trauma. Ann Emerg Med 1988;17: 582-588.

36. Sampalis JS, Boukas S, Lavoie A, Nikolis A, Frechette P, Brown R, Fleiszer D, Mulder D: Preventable death, evaluation of the appropriateness of the on-site trauma care provided by Urgences-Sante physicians. J Trauma 1995;39:1029-1035.

37. Sampalis JS, Lavoie A, Williams JI, Mulder DS, Kalina M: Impact of on-site care, prehospital time, and level of in-hospital care on survival in severely injured patients. J Trauma 1993;34:252-261.

38. Schmidt U, Frame SB, Nerlich ML, Rowe DW, Enderson BL, Maull KI, Tscherne H: On-scene helicopter transport of patients with multiple injuries - comparison of a German and an American system. J Trauma 1992;33:548-555.

39. Smith JP, Bodai BL, Hill AS, Frey CF: Prehospital stabilisation of critically injured patients: A failed concept. J Trauma 1985;25:65-70.

40. Cayten CG, Murphy JG, Stahl WM: Basic life support versus advanced life support for injured patients with an injury severity score of 10 or more. J Trauma 1993;35: 460-467.

41. Bissel RA, Eslinger DG, Zimmerman L: The efficacy of advanced life support: A review of the literature. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 1998;13:69-79.

42. Sayre MR, Sakles JC, Mistler AF, Evans JL, Kramer AT, Pancioli AM: Field trial of endotracheal intubation by basic EMTs. Ann Emerg Med 1998;31:228-233.

43. Nicholl J,Hughes S,Dixon S,Turner J,Yates D: The costs and benefits of paramedic skills in prehospital trauma care. Health Technol Assessment 1998;17:i-iv:1-72.

44. Spaite DW: Intubation by basic EMTs: Lifesaving advance or catastrophic complication. Ann Emerg Med 1998;31:276-277.

45. Hoyt DB [Au-need at least three authors] et al: An evaluation of provider-related and disease-related morbidity in a level 1 university trauma service: directions for quality improvement. J Trauma 1992;33:586-601.

46. Dybvik T, Strand T, Steen PA: Buffer therapy during out-of-hospital cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Resuscitation 1995;29:89-95.

47. Naess A-C, Foerde R. Steen PA: Patient autonomy in emergency medicine (submitted to The Journal of Clinical Ethics).

48. Iserson KV, Sanders AB, Mathieu DR, Buchanan AE: Ethics in Emergency Medicine. Williams & Wilkins: Baltimore and London. 1986.

49. Biros MH, Lewis RJ, Olson CM. Runge FW, Cummins RO, Fost N: Informed consent in emergency research. Consensus statement from the Coalition Conference of Acute Resuscitation and Critical Care Researchers. JAMA 1995;273;1283-1287.

50. de Vos R: Quality of life after cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Resuscitation 1997;35;231-236.

51. Hsu JW, Madsen CD, Callahan MI: Quality of life and formal functional testing of survivors of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest correlates poorly with traditional neurologic outcome scales. Ann Emerg Med 1996;28;597-605.

52. Jurkovic G, Mopck C, MacKenzie E, Burgess A, Cushing B, deLateur B, MacAndrew, Morris J, Swiontkowski M: The sickness impact profile as a tool to evaluate functional outcome in trauma patients. J Trauma 1995;39:625-629.

53. Le Gall JR: Scoring systems and prognostic indices. Curr Opin Anesthesiol 1994;7:166-168.

54. Seckler AB, Meier DE, Mulvihill M, Paris BEC: Substituted judgement. How accurate are proxy predictions? Ann Intern Med 1991;115.92-95.

55. Suhl J, Simons P, Reedy T, Garrick T: Myth of substituted judgement. Arch Intern Med 1994;154;90-96.

56. Llewellyn-Thomas HA, Sutherland HJ, Thiel EC: Do patients' evaluations of future health state change when they actually enter that state? Medical Care 1993;31:1002-1012.

57. Emanuel LL, Emanuel EJ, Stoeckle JD, Hummel LR, Barry MJ. Advance directives; stability of patients' treatment choices. Arch Int Med 1994;154;209-217.

 

 

 

 

APPENDIX A: Terms and Definitions: INJURIES Related to TRAUMA 

TERM

BLUNT INJURY


PENETRATING INJURY

LONG BONE INJURY

 

MAJOR INJURY

 

 

 

 

 

 


MIXED/COMBINED TRAUMA

MULTIPLE TRAUMA


POLYTRAUMA


PREDOMINANT TRAUMA

DEFINITION/COMMENTS

Non-penetrating, but including crush, laceration, amputation and asphyxia

Bullet, knife, or spike

Fracture/dislocation of femur, tibia, humerus, ulna, radius, fibula


ISS > 15, Comprising At least 1 severe life-threatening regional injury
OR

At least 2 severe non-life-threatening regional injuries
OR

At least 1 severe non-life-threatening plus at least two injuries of moderate severity

NB: These are based on nine regions of the body (see Appendix B)

Trauma with more than one mechanism of injury

Injury to one(1) body cavity (head, thorax, abdomen)

PLUS Two(2) long -bone and/or pelvic fractures
OR Injury to two(2) body cavities

Injury to one body part of severity >2 (can include up to one other injury with severity <2)

 

 

 

TERMS TO BE AVOIDED:
Isolated Trauma
Pattern of Injury
Single System Trauma
Triage

The comparative assessment of the individual patient, i.e., their needs and priorities in relation to:

1) Vital functions
2) Concomitant injuries
3) Age + comorbidity
4) Circumstances of the event

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APPENDIX B: FACTORS RELATING TO THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE INJURY

(Check ALL that apply; fill-in blanks as applicable; FULL CAPS INDICATE NO RESPONSE ELEMENT)

 

 

B1. TYPE OF INJURY (check ALL that apply)
co B1.1 Blunt
co B1.2 Penetrating

oo B1.3 Burn
oo B1.4 Cold
oo B1.5 Asphyxia
oo B1.6 Other (specify)_____________________________________
oo B1.7 Other (specify)_____________________________________
oo B1.8 Other (specify)_____________________________________
oo B1.9 Crush
oo B1.10 Laceration
oo B1.11 Amputation
oo B1.12 Radiation
oo B1.13 Multiple
oo B1.14 Other (specify)_____________________________________
oo B1.15 Other (specify)_____________________________________
oo B1.16 Other (specify)_____________________________________

cB2. SEVERITY OF INJURY

ANATOMICAL
(pick ALL that apply)

PHYSIOLOGICAL DISABILITY
(Select ONE most appropriate)

o B2.1 Head
o B2.2 Face
o B2.3 Neck
o B2.4 Chest
o B2.5 Abdomen
o B2.6 Spine
o B2.7 Upper limb
o B2.8 Lower limb (incl. pelvis)
o B2.9 External

o B2.10 None
o B2.11 Minor
o B2.12 Moderate
o B2.13 Severe, NOT Life-Threatening
o B2.14 Severe, Life-Threatening
o B2.15 Critical
o B2.16 Unsurvivable

B3. MECHANISM OF INJURY
cB3.1 TRANSPORT
o o B3.1 Motor Vehicle (car or truck)
o o B3.2 Motor cycle
o o B3.3 Cycle
o o B3.4 Train
o o B3.5 Airplane
o o B3.6 Boat
o o B3.7 Other (specify) ______________________________
o o B3.10 Occupant or Rider
o o B3.11 Pedestrian

o POSITION IN VEHICLE (select ONE most appropriate)
o o B3.12 Passenger
o o B3.13 Front
o o B3.14 Rear
o o B3.15 Driver/Pilot
o o B3.16 Position in Train/Plane/Boat
o o B3.17 ____________Seat Number
o o B3.20 Other (specify) ______________________________

o TYPE OF IMPACT (select ALL appropriate)
o o B3.30 Head-on
o o B3.31 Rear-end
o o B3.32 Side
o o B3.33 Roll-over
o o B3.34 Ejection
o o B3.35 Entrapment
o o B3.40 Other (specify) ______________________________

o VEHICLE DEFORMITY (select ALL appropriate)
o o B3.50 Front
o o B3.51 Rear
o o B3.52 Side
o o B3.53 Roof
o o B3.60 Other (specify) ______________________________

o RESTRAINING DEVICES (select ALL appropriate)
o o B3.70 Seat Belt
o o B3.71 Air Bags
o o B3.72 Helmet
o o B3.80 Other (specify) ______________________________

cB3.2 FALL (fill-in blanks)
oo B3.100 Height ______________metres
oo B3.101 Landing Surface __________________________

cB3.3 INTERPERSONNAL VIOLENCE (select MOST appropriate)
oo B3.110 Blunt
oo B3.111 Stab
oo B3.112 Bullet
oo B3.113 Spike
oo B3.119 Other (specify) ______________________________

cB3.4 o B3.120 DELIBERATE SELF-HARM (select MOST appropriate)
oo B3.121 Blunt
oo B3.122 Stab
oo B3.123 Bullet
oo B3.124 Spike
oo B3.125 Fall
oo B3.126 Laceration
oo B3.127 Substance abuse
oo B3.129 Other (specify) ______________________________

cB3.5 o B3.130 ASPHYXIA (select ALL appropriate)
oo B3.131 Physical
oo B3.132 Hanging
oo B3.133 Strangulation
oo B3.134 Explosion
oo B3.135 Thermal
oo B3.136 Chemical
oo B3.137 Radiation
oo B3.138 Near-Drowning
oo B3.139 Foreign Body
oo B3.140 Other (specify) ______________________________

B3.6 OTHER
oo B3.150 Electrocution

oB4. LOCATION OF INCIDENT (select ONE most appropriate)
oo B4.1 Home
oo B4.2 Work
oo B4.3 Public Area
oo B4.4 Street/Road
oo B4.5 School
oo B4.6 Sports
oo B4.7 Industrial
oo B4.8 Farming
oo B4.9 Other (specify) ______________________________

(select ONE MOST appropriate)
oo B4.10 Urban
oo B4.11 Rural
oo B4.12 Remote
oo B4.19 Other (specify) ______________________________

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APPENDIX C: SYSTEM FACTORS
(Check ALL that apply; fill-in blanks as applicable; FULL CAPS INDICATE NO RESPONSE ELEMENT)

C1. PREHOSPITAL FACTORS
C1.1. INCIDENT
(fill-in blanks)
co C1.1 Date (day/month/year)______________________
co C1.2 Time of occurrence _________________________hours
co C1.3 Time of discovery __________________________hours
co C1.4 Discovery by:_______________________________

BYSTANDER CARE (Check ALL applicable)
co C1.5 Lay person
co C1.6 Physician/Doctor
co C1.7 Nurse
co C1.8 Technician
co C1.9 Other (specify)_______________________________________________

C1.2. CALL FOR ASSISTANCE
EMERGENCY TELEPHONE NUMBERS
(Check ALL applicable)
co C1.10 National
co C1.11 Regional
co C1.12 Local
co C1.13 Dedicated to EMS
co C1.14 Other (specify)_____________________________________________

DISPATCHER (Check ALL applicable)
co C1.15 Protocols used
co C1.16 National
co C1.17 Specific trauma training
co C1.18 Authority in Decision-making
co C1.19 Pre-arrival instructions given
co C1.20 Call handed/transmitted to (specify)______________________________

C1.3. EMS RESPONSE
CREW (check ALL appropriate)
TECHNICIAN
co C1.21 Basic life support
co C1.22 Advance life support
co C1.23 Nurse trained in trauma care
co C1.24 Nurse NOT trained in trauma care
co C1.25 Physician trained in trauma care
co C1.26 Physician NOT trained in trauma care

VEHICLE (Check MOST applicable)
co C1.27 Ground
co C1.28 Air
co C1.29 Sea

TYPE OF CARE (select ONE)
co C1.30 Basic (non-invasive)
co C1.31 Advanced (invasive)

DISTANCES (fill-in blanks)
oo C1.40 _________km to base hospital
oo C1.41 _________km hospital 1 to hospital 2

C2. DATE/TIME-POINTS/TIME INTERVALS
C2.1 Incident
(Fill in time using 24 hour clock)
c o C2.1_________h: Time of Occurrence
c o C2.2_________h: Time of Recognition
c o C2.3_________h: Time bystander care initiated
c o C2.4_________h: Time of EMS care initiated
c o C2.5_________h: Time Call for Assistance received
c o C2.6_________h: Time Call for Assistance processed
c o C2.7_________h: Time of Dispatch
c o C2.8_________h: Time Vehicle moves
c o C2.9_________h: Time Vehicle Arrives on Scene
c o C2.10 ________h: Time Arrival at Patient
c o C2.11 ________h: Time Scene interval (assessment/treatment)
c o C2.12 ________h: Time Vehicle departs from Scene
c o C2.13 ________h: Time Vehicle Arrival at trauma (emergency treatment) facility
oo C2.14 ________h: Time of Diversion from destination hospital

C3. INTERHOSPITAL TRANSFER FACTORS
C3.1. INDICATIONS
(select one)
c o C3.1 Usual Facilities NOT Available
c o C3.2 Special Facilities NOT Available
c o C3.3 Others (specify) ________________________________________________

C3.2. DATE/TIME-POINTS/TIME INTERVALS (Fill in time using 24 hour clock)
c o C3.4 _________h: Time Referral Call received
c o C3.5 _________h: Time Transfer Accepted
c o C3.6 _________h: Time Departed from fixed-monitoring-environment bed> stretcher
c o C3.7 _________h: Initiation of transfer (vehicle moves)
c o C3.8 _________h: Time Arrival at Fixed-monitoring-environment (stretcherà bed)

C3.3. c o C3.9 Emergency (check ONLY if "yes")

C3.4 EMS RESPONSE (check ALL appropriate)
CREW
co C3.10 Basic life support
co C3.11 Advance life support
co C3.12 Nurse trained in trauma care
co C3.13 Nurse NOT trained in trauma care
co C3.14 Physician trained in trauma care
co C3.15 Physician NOT trained in trauma care

VEHICLE
co C3.16 Ground
co C3.17 Air
co C3.18 Sea

TYPE OF CARE
co C3.19 Basic (non-invasive)
co C3.20 Advanced (invasive)

DISTANCES
oo C3.21 _________km to base hospital
oo C3.22 _________km hospital 1 to hospital 2

C4. TRAUMA CENTER/RECEIVING HOSPITAL (IN-HOSPITAL) FACTORS
C4.1. TRAUMA TEAM
(check ALL appropriate)
c o C4.1 Designated Trauma Team
c o C4.2 Designated Trauma Protocol
c o C4.3 Advance warning
c o C4.4 Trauma alert - one tier (whole team responded)
c o C4.5 Multiple tier (only certain members respond)

oTRAUMA TEAM MEMBERS (enter number of personnel available in each category and check all applicable boxes for each positive response)

 

NUMBER

SPECIALLY TRAUMA TRAINED

TRAUMA TEAM COORDINATOR

oEmergency Physician

C4.6

C4.7

C4.8

oTrauma Surgeon

C4.9

C4.10

C4.11

oAnaesthetist

C4.12

C4.13

C4.14

oNeurosurgeon

C4.15

C4.16

C4.17

oRadiologist

C4.18

C4.19

C4.20

oOther Physician

C4.21

C4.22

C4.23

oNurse

C4.24

C4.25

C4.26

oTechnician

C4.27

C4.28

C4.29

oParamedic

C4.30

C4.31

C4.32

 
C4.2 FACILITIES AVAILABLE (24 HOURS/DAY)
(check ALL applicable)
oo C4.40 Blood bank
oo C4.41 CT scan
oo C4.42 Cardiothoracic surgery
oo C4.43 Neurosurgery
oo C4.44 Laboratory
oo C4.45 Designated Audit System

C4.3. DATE/TIME-POINTS/TIME INTERVALS (enter TIMES using 24 hour clock)
co C4.50_________h: Arrival at Facility
co C4.51_________h: Arrival of 1st (responsible) Physician
oo C4.52_________h: 1st x-rays (initiation)
oo C4.53_________h: 1st Ultrasound (initiation)
oo C4.54_________h: 1st CT (initiation)
oo C4.55_________h: Specify________________________________
oo C4.56_________h: Left Emergency Department
co C4.56_________h: Arrival Operating Room
oo C4.57_________h: Skin incision
oo C4.58_________h: Skin closure
oo C4.59_________h: Arrival Post-Anaesthesia Care Unit
co C4.60_________h: Arrival ICU
co C4.61_________Date of Discharge ICU (day/month/year)
oo C4.62_________Date of Discharge from Hospital (day/month/year)
oo C4.63_________Date Discharge from in-hospital Rehabilitation (day/month/year)
oo C4.64_________Date Return to Work (day/month/year)

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APPENDIX D: PATIENT ASSESSMENTS AND INTERVENTIONS
D1. PATIENT ASSESSMENTS
co
D1.1 Anatomic Assessments using the Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS 90) which allows computation of Injury Severity Score_____________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
oo D1.2. Data from Autopsy (also see Outcomes)_______________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

D1.3. TIME INTERVALS (as a minimum) (enter times in hours or fractions thereof)
co D1.3_________h: Scene
co D1.4_________h: Emergency room
co D1.5_________h: Operating room
co D1.6_________h: Intensive Care Unit
co D1.7_________h: Ward

D1.4. TIMES AND VALUES OF 1ST RECORDING OF: (fill in blanks as appropriate; use 24 hour clock for times; insert first values obtained for each variable)
co D1.8_________h: Glasgow Coma Scale Score (assessed prior to administration of drugs)
co D1.9_________Eye movement
co D1.10________Ventilation
co D1.11________Movement

co D1.12________h: Respiratory Function
co D1.13 Assisted
co D1.14_________Rate/minute
oo D1.15_________End-tidal CO2

co D1.16_________h: Heart Rate
co D1.17_________Rate/minute
oo D1.18_________h: ECG
oo D1.19 (interpretation)___________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

co D1.20_____________h Blood pressure
co D1.21 Method___________________________________________
co D1.22 _________Systolic
co D1.23 _________Diastolic
co D1.24 Unable to obtain)

co D1.25_________h: Pulse oximetry
co D1.26 _________SaO2
co D1.27 Unable to obtain

co D1.28_________h: Temperature
co D1.29 _________ºC
co D1.30 Method_______________________________________________

oo D1.31 _________h: Blood Gases
oo D1.32 _________pH (units)
oo D1.33 _________pCO2
oo D1.34 _________pO2
oo D1.35 _________Base Deficit

oo D1.36_________h: Electrolytes
oo D1.37 _________Sodium
oo D1.38 _________Potassium
oo D1.39 _________Chloride
oo D1.40 _________CO2

co D1.41_________h: Hemoglobin/Hematocrit
co D1.42 _________Hemoglobin (g/dL)
co D1.43 _________Hematocrit (%)

oo D1.44_________h: Blood Sugar
oo D1.45 _________ (g/dL)

(Enter name of measure used)
oo D1.46_________h: Other
oo D1.47 _________Measure
oo D1.48 _________Value
oo D1.49_________h: Other
oo D1.50 _________Measure
oo D1.51 _________Value
oo D1.52_________h: Other
oo D1.53 _________Measure
oo D1.54 _________Value
oo D1.56_________h: Other
oo D1.57 _________Measure
oo D1.58 _________Value
oo D1.59_________h: Other
oo D1.60 _________Measure
oo D1.61 _________Value

(Enter times of occurrence as applicable)
co D1.80_________h: Cardiac Arrest (Prehospital)
co D1.81_____________h: Cardiac Arrest (In-hospital)
co D1.82_________h: Respiratory Arrest (Prehospital)
c o D1.83_________h: Respiratory Arrest (In-hospital)

oo D1.90 Autopsy findings:_______________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

cD2. TREATMENT (Check as applicable AND times when possible)

Therapy

Prehospital

ER

OR

ICU

Ward

OXYGEN

///////////////////////

///////////////

////////////////////

//////////////////

//////////

Method

D2.1

D2.2

D2.3

D2.4

D2.5

Concentration

D2.6

D2.7

D2.8

D2.9

D2.10

IMMOBILISATION

///////////////////////

///////////////

////////////////////

//////////////////

//////////

Cervical collar

D2.11

D2.12

D2.13

D2.14

D2.15

Vacuum mattress

D2.16

D2.17

D2.18

D2.19

D2.20

Spine Board

D2.21

D2.22

D2.23

D2.24

D2.25

Other

D2.26

D2.27

D2.28

D2.29

D2.30

AIRWAY ADJUNCTS

///////////////////////

///////////////

////////////////////

//////////////////

//////////

COPA

D2.31

D2.32

D2.33

D2.34

D2.35

NPA

D2.36

D2.37

D2.38

D2.39

D2.40

LMA

D2.41

D2.42

D2.43

D2.44

D2.45

Combitube

D2.46

D2.47

D2.48

D2.49

D2.50

Oral Tracheal Tube

D2.51

D2.52

D2.53

D2.54

D2.55

Surgical

D2.56

D2.57

D2.58

D2.59

D2.60

Nasal Tracheal Tube

D2.61

D2.62

D2.63

D2.64

D2.65

VENTILATION

///////////////////////

///////////////

////////////////////

//////////////////

//////////

Spontaneous

D2.66

D2.67

D2.78

D2.69

D2.70

Manual

D2.71

D2.72

D2.73

D2.74

D2.75

Mechanical

D2.76

D2.77

D2.78

D2.79

D2.80

Chest decompression

///////////////////////

///////////////

////////////////////

//////////////////

//////////

Needle

D2.81

D2.82

D2.83

D2.84

D2.85

Tube

D2.86

D2.87

D2.88

D2.89

D2.90

HAEMORRHAGE CONTROL

D2.91

D2.92

D2.93

D2.94

D2.95

IV ACCESS

///////////////////////

///////////////

////////////////////

//////////////////

//////////

Attempts (n)

D2.96

D2.97

D2.98

D2.99

D2.100

Successful

D2.101

D2.102

D2.103

D2.104

D2.105

Number

D2.106

D2.107

D2.108

D2.109

D2.110

IO ACCESS

///////////////////////

///////////////

////////////////////

//////////////////

//////////

Attempts (n)

D2.111

D2.112

D2.113

D2.114

D2.115

Successful

D2.116

D2.117

D2.118

D2.119

D2.120

Number

D2.121

D2.122

D2.123

D2.124

D2.125

IV FLUIDS

///////////////////////

///////////////

////////////////////

//////////////////

//////////

Type

D2.126

D2.127

D2.128

D2.129

D2.130

Volume infused

D2.131

D2.132

D2.133

D2.134

D2.135

Infusion time

D2.136

D2.137

D2.138

D2.139

D2.140

Number lines

D2.141

D2.142

D2.143

D2.144

D2.145

Central Access

D2.146

D2.147

D2.148

D2.149

D2.150

High flow sets

D2.151

D2.152

D2.153

D2.154

D2.155

PSAG USED

D2.156

D2.157

D2.158

D2.159

D2.160

SURGICAL INTERVENTIONS Defined by setting and procedure

///////////////////////

///////////////

////////////////////

//////////////////

//////////

 

D2.161

D2.162

D2.163

D2.164

D2.165

 

D2.166

D2.167

D2.168

D2.169

D2.170

 

D2.171

D2.172

D2.173

D2.174

D2.175

 

D2.176

D2.177

D2.178

D2.179

D2.180

OTHER INTERVENTIONS

///////////////////////

///////////////

////////////////////

//////////////////

//////////

DPL

D2.181

D2.182

D2.183

D2.184

D2.185

Pericardiocentesis

D2.186

D2.187

D2.188

D2.189

D2.190

Intercostal drain

D2.191

D2.192

D2.193

D2.194

D2.195

 

D2.196

D2.197

D2.198

D2.199

D2.200

CPR

///////////////////////

///////////////

////////////////////

//////////////////

//////////

Closed-chest

D2.201

D2.202

D2.203

D2.204

D2.205

Open-chest

D2.206

D2.207

D2.208

D2.209

D2.210

Min. invasive open-chest

D2.211

D2.212

D2.213

D2.214

D2.215

 

cDRUG INFORMATION (Insert drug name in appropriate box)

Therapy

Prehospital

ER

OR

ICU

Ward

Drug

D2.301

D2.302

D2.303

D2.304

D2.305

Time

D2.306

D2.307

D2.308

D2.309

D2.310

Dose

D2.311

D2.312

D2.313

D2.314

D2.315

Drug

D2.316

D2.317

D2.318

D2.319

D2.320

Time

D2.321

D2.322

D2.323

D2.324

D2.325

Dose

D2.326

D2.327

D2.328

D2.329

D2.330

Drug

D2.431

D2.432

D2.433

D2.434

D2.435

Time

D2.436

D2.437

D2.438

D2.439

D2.440

Dose

D2.441

D2.442

D2.443

D2.444

D2.445

Drug

D2.446

D2.447

D2.448

D2.449

D2.450

Time

D2.451

D2.452

D2.453

D2.454

D2.455

Dose

D2.457

D2.457

D2.458

D2.459

D2.460

Drug

D2.461

D2.462

D2.463

D2.464

D2.465

Time

D2.466

D2.467

D2.468

D2.469

D2.470

Dose

D2.471

D2.472

D2.473

D2.474

D2.475

Drug

D2.476

D2.477

D2.478

D2.479

D2.480

Time

D2.481

D2.482

D2.483

D2.484

D2.485

Dose

D2.486

D2.487

D2.488

D2.489

D2.490

Drug

D2.491

D2.492

D2.493

D2.494

D2.495

Time

D2.496

D2.497

D2.498

D2.499

D2.500

Dose

D2.501

D2.502

D2.503

D2.504

D2.505

Drug

D2.506

D2.507

D2.508

D2.509

D2.510

Time

D2.511

D2.512

D2.513

D2.514

D2.515

Dose

D2.516

D2.517

D2.518

D2.519

D2.520

Drug

D2.521

D2.522

D2.523

D2.524

D2.525

Time

D2.526

D2.527

D2.528

D2.529

D2.540

Dose

D2.541

D2.542

D2.543

D2.544

D2.545

Drug

D2.546

D2.547

D2.548

D2.549

D2.550

Time

D2.551

D2.552

D2.553

D2.554

D2.555

Dose

D2.556

D2.557

D2.558

D2.559

D2.560

Drug

D2.561

D2.562

D2.563

D2.564

D2.565

Time

D2.566

D2.567

D2.568

D2.569

D2.570

Dose

D2.571

D2.572

D2.573

D2.574

D2.575

Drug

D2.576

D2.577

D2.578

D2.579

D2.580

Time

D2.581

D2.582

D2.583

D2.584

D2.585

Dose

D2.586

D2.587

D2.588

D2.589

D2.590

Drug

D2.591

D2.592

D2.593

D2.594

D2.595

Time

D2.596

D2.597

D2.598

D2.599

D2.600

Dose

D2.601

D2.602

D2.603

D2.604

D2.605

MORE

D2.606

D2.607

D2.608

D2.609

D2.610

 

D3. COMPLICATIONS (specific when possible)

Therapy

Prehospital

ER

OR

ICU

Ward

cOxygen

D3.001

D3.002

D3.003

D3.004

D3.005

cImmobilisation

D3.006

D3.007

D3.008

D3.009

D3.010

cAirway management

D3.011

D3.012

D3.013

D3.014

D3.015

cVentilation

D3.016

D3.017

D3.018

D3.019

D3.020

cHaemorrhage control

D3.021

D3.022

D3.023

D3.024

D3.025

cIV Access

D3.026

D3.027

D3.028

D3.029

D3.030

oIO Access

D3.031

D3.032

D3.033

D3.034

D3.035

cIV Fluids

D3.036

D3.037

D3.038

D3.039

D3.040

cSurgical intervention

D3.041

D3.042

D3.043

D3.044

D3.045

oOther interventions

D3.046

D3.047

D3.048

D3.049

D3.050

cDrugs

D3.051

D3.052

D3.053

D3.054

D3.055

cCPR

D3.056

D3.057

D3.058

D3.059

D3.060

D3.100: Specify from above: __________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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APPENDIX E: OUTCOME DETAILS
cE1. MORTALITY
(Trauma death defined as death within 30 days of the incident)
co E1.1 Alive (skip to E2)
co E1.2 _________ Date of death (day/month/year)
co E1.3 _________h Time of death

c E1.1. LOCATION OF DEATH (check MOST appropriate)
o E1.4 Found dead
o E1.5 Died at scene
o E1.6 Dead on arrival at hospital
o E1.7 Died in hospital
o E1.8 Died after discharge from hospital

c E1.2. TIME OF DEATH
c
o E1.9 _________ Date of clinical death (day/month/year)
c o E1.10_________h Time of clinical death
c o E1.11 _________ Date of declaration of death (day/month/year)
c o E1.12_________h Time of declaration death

E1.3. CPR
c
o E1.13 CPR Withheld
c o E1.14 CPR Withdrawn
c o E1.15 Treatment Withdrawn
c o E1.16 Cause of Death_____________________________________________

c o E1.17 AUTOPSY
c o E1.18 Details ____________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

c E1.4. ADVERSE FACTORS (possibly responsible for Fatal Outcome)

 

Date (day/month/year)

Time (h)

Airway problems

E1.19

E1.20

Ventilatory problems

E1.21

E1.22

Circulatory problems

E1.23

E1.24

Infection (MoSF: severity score)

E1.25

E1.26

Co-morbid conditions

//////////////////////////////////

///////////////////////////////////////

E1.27

E1.28

E1.29

E1.30

E1.31

E1.32

E1.33

E1.34

E1.35

Other management

////////////////////////////////

///////////////////////////////////

E1.36

E1.37

E1.38

E1.39

E1.40

E1.41

Age

E1.45

 

 

c E1.5. OTHER MEASURES OF OUTCOME
c
o E1.50_________days in ICU
c o E1.51_________days in Hospital
c o E1.52_________Cost

c E2. QUALITY OF LIFE / MORBIDITY

 

Pre-Incident

Discharge
Ward

Discharge
Rehab

Discharge
Hospital

3 mos

6 mos

12 mos

Scale used

E2.01

E2.02

E2.03

E2.04

E2.05

E2.06

E2.07

Score

E2.08

E2.09

E2.10

E2.11

E2.12

E2.13

E2.14

Scale used

E2.15

E2.16

E2.17

E2.18

E2.19

E2.20

E2.21

Score

E2.22

E2.23

E2.24

E2.25

E2.26

E2.27

E2.28

 

c FUNCTIONAL STATUS (check ALL that apply)
o E2.50 Back to work
o E2.51__________________(day/month/year)
o E2.52 Old job
o E2.53 Reduced capacity
o E2.54 ________% reduction
o E2.55 Patient's Opinion________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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