TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1997//
TI  - Field trauma triage: combining mechanism of injury with the prehospital index for an improved trauma triage tool
JO  - Journal of trauma
A1  - Preshaw, R. M.
A1  - Kortbeek, John B.
A1  - Bond, R. J.
SP  - 283
EP  - 287
VL  - 43
IS  - 2
N2  - BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to combine a physiologic triage score (prehospital index, PHI) with criteria regarding mechanism of injury (MOI) to increase the efficacy of trauma triage. The specific question being asked was: will the combined score improve the sensitivity and specificity over that of the individual scores? METHODS: In this prospective study, 3,147 injury patients (all adults > or = 14 years) were reviewed. Each patient received a PHI score and a MOI score in the field, which were compared with their Injury Severity Score (ISS) at separation. An ISS > or = 16 was defined as major trauma. RESULTS: PHI alone had a sensitivity of 41%, MOI alone had a sensitivity of 73%, whereas the combined PHI/MOI score had a sensitivity of 78%. All three had similar specificities. These findings were statistically significant (p < or = 0.001). CONCLUSION: The combined PHI/MOI score was better at identifying those patients with ISS scores > or = 16 compared with the PHI and MOI scores alone. Although this permitted superior triage (and minimized overtriage), the combined score did not identify all major trauma patients.
LA  - 
SN  - 0022-5282
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -