Citation

Talving P, Teixeira PG, Barmparas G, Dubose J, Inaba K, Lam L, Demetriades D. World J. Surg. 2009; 33(11): 2469-2476.

Affiliation

LAC+USC Medical Center, Division of Trauma Surgery and Surgical Critical Care, University of Southern California, 1200 North State Street, IPT, Room C4E100, Los Angeles, CA, 90033, USA, peep.talving@karolinska.se.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00268-009-0185-1

PMID

19672650

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the method of transport after injury and survival among trauma patients admitted to a Level 1 trauma facility in Los Angeles, California. METHODS: The trauma registry of LAC+USC Medical Center was reviewed to identify all injured patients evacuated by emergency medical service (EMS) from the injury scene from 1998 to 2007. The study population was divided into those who were airlifted (HEMS) and those who were transported by ground emergency medical service (GEMS) with transportation time that exceeded 30 minutes (GEMS > 30 minutes). RESULTS: During the 10-year study period, 1,836 patients were airlifted (helicopters for emergency medical service (HEMS)) and 1,537 patients were ground transported (GEMS > 30 minutes). HEMS patients suffered more frequently a penetrating injury (19% vs. 11%, p < 0.001), presented more often hypotensive to the emergency department (4% vs. 1%, p < 0.001), had more frequently a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS)

Language: en