Citation

Hunt RC. Prehosp. Emerg. Care 1999; 3(1): 70-73.

Affiliation

Department of Emergency Medicine, East Carolina University School of Medicine, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, National Association of EMS Physicians, Publisher Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9921745

Abstract

Mechanism-of-injury data are frequently unavailable to the emergency physician. Furthermore, their value as a triage tool has recently been challenged. Motor vehicle crash patients have fewer external signs of injury, and commonly "look fine and feel fine" because of improvements in vehicle design, increased use of restraints, and airbag deployments. Yet forces involved in the crash may overcome all efforts at protecting the occupant, resulting in occult life-threatening injuries. Without data about the crash, physicians are blinded to violent crash forces that are ultimately transferred to the patient. Information technologies, such as on-scene photography by EMTs, automated collision notification systems, and telemedicine applications, may be used to deliver real-time crash information to aid the emergency physician in caring for these patients. Beyond improving patient care for any given encounter in emergency practice, collecting and evaluating these data will expand our knowledge about how to care for future motor vehicle crash patients.

Language: en