Citation

Al-Naami MY, Al-Faki AA, Sadik AA. Injury 2003; 34(11): 857-861.

Affiliation

Department of Surgery, King Saud University, Asir Central Hospital, Abha, Saudi Arabia. alnaami@netscape.net

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

14580821

Abstract

Trauma auditing is important for monitoring the process of trauma care and outcome prediction. This pilot study was conducted to evaluate quality improvement (QI) data following a mass casualty event and discuss its impact on the trauma care process and outcome. A pre-designed trauma quality improvement data set was used for all 103 injured patients admitted to Asir Central Hospital, Saudi Arabia, who were involved in a single motor vehicle crash. Most of the trauma management variations from norms occurred during the initial assessment and resuscitation phase of care, and these had the greatest impact on morbidity and mortality. Trauma management variations throughout all phases of care were associated with 10% and 9% incidence of preventable morbidity and mortality, respectively. Efforts including rigorous educational programs should be made to stress the initial assessment and resuscitation phase of care. Successful regionalized trauma care systems involving quality improvement programs report significant reduction in morbidity and mortality rates from trauma.