Disagreement between transport team and ED staff regarding the prehospital assessment of air medically evacuated scene patients
Abstract
Study objective
To determine the rate of disagreement in assessment of significant illness or injury between air medical transport team assessment and emergency department (ED) diagnosis in patients transferred from the scene of an incident to the ED.
Methods
Retrospective analysis was performed on 84 patients transported by medical flight teams from an accident scene to an ED.
Results
Results show transport team assessment concurred with ED diagnosis 96.7% of the time; most of the differences in assessment were overassessments by the transport team. Assessment differences occurred most often for abdominal injuries and least often for head injuries. Underassessment occurred most often for spinal cord injuries.
Conclusions
Despite the numerous difficulties involved in patient assessment, data show that the transport teams accurately evaluated patients in most instances. Disagreements in assessment of injury/illness most often were overassessments.
aDepartment of Emergency Medicine, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA
bCharlottesville-Albemarle Rescue Squad, Charlottesville, VA
cPegasus Aeromedical Flight Operations, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA
Address for correspondence: William J. Brady, MD, PO Box 800699, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA 22908
ABSTRACT