Abstract
Objective: To evaluate the management of severe trauma in intensive care, high dependency and general surgical wards of Victorian hospitals. Design: Retrospective case review by multidisciplinary committees. Subjects: The first 256 people who died from road traffic accidents who were alive on the arrival of emergency services between 1 July 1992 and 30 June 1994. Main outcome measures: (1) Severity of injury according to clinical diagnosis, autopsy findings and recognised trauma-scoring methods; (2) errors in management, identified as contributing or not contributing to the cause of death, and categorised as 'management', 'system', 'diagnostic' or 'technique' errors. Results: Most patients (61%) were admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU), and 19.5% were admitted to high dependency or general surgical wards. Of 2187 errors of care identified, 11.8% occurred in ICU and 6.7% in wards, with the remainder occurring during the earlier phases of care. Most errors were classified as management errors (82% of ICU errors and 88% of ward errors). Fifty-two per cent of ICU errors and 71% of ward errors were judged to contribute to the patient's death. Conclusions: A significant number of errors of trauma management occur in the intensive care and general surgical ward. Improvement in late trauma care may reduce the number of preventable trauma deaths.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 416-419 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Medical Journal of Australia |
| Volume | 170 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| Publication status | Published - 3 May 1999 |
Cite this
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Management of severe trauma in intensive care units and surgical wards. / Duke, Graeme J.; Morley, Peter T.; Cooper, D. James; McDermott, Francis T.; Cordner, Stephen M.; Tremayne, Ann B.
In: Medical Journal of Australia, Vol. 170, No. 9, 03.05.1999, p. 416-419.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Management of severe trauma in intensive care units and surgical wards
AU - Duke, Graeme J.
AU - Morley, Peter T.
AU - Cooper, D. James
AU - McDermott, Francis T.
AU - Cordner, Stephen M.
AU - Tremayne, Ann B.
PY - 1999/5/3
Y1 - 1999/5/3
N2 - Objective: To evaluate the management of severe trauma in intensive care, high dependency and general surgical wards of Victorian hospitals. Design: Retrospective case review by multidisciplinary committees. Subjects: The first 256 people who died from road traffic accidents who were alive on the arrival of emergency services between 1 July 1992 and 30 June 1994. Main outcome measures: (1) Severity of injury according to clinical diagnosis, autopsy findings and recognised trauma-scoring methods; (2) errors in management, identified as contributing or not contributing to the cause of death, and categorised as 'management', 'system', 'diagnostic' or 'technique' errors. Results: Most patients (61%) were admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU), and 19.5% were admitted to high dependency or general surgical wards. Of 2187 errors of care identified, 11.8% occurred in ICU and 6.7% in wards, with the remainder occurring during the earlier phases of care. Most errors were classified as management errors (82% of ICU errors and 88% of ward errors). Fifty-two per cent of ICU errors and 71% of ward errors were judged to contribute to the patient's death. Conclusions: A significant number of errors of trauma management occur in the intensive care and general surgical ward. Improvement in late trauma care may reduce the number of preventable trauma deaths.
AB - Objective: To evaluate the management of severe trauma in intensive care, high dependency and general surgical wards of Victorian hospitals. Design: Retrospective case review by multidisciplinary committees. Subjects: The first 256 people who died from road traffic accidents who were alive on the arrival of emergency services between 1 July 1992 and 30 June 1994. Main outcome measures: (1) Severity of injury according to clinical diagnosis, autopsy findings and recognised trauma-scoring methods; (2) errors in management, identified as contributing or not contributing to the cause of death, and categorised as 'management', 'system', 'diagnostic' or 'technique' errors. Results: Most patients (61%) were admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU), and 19.5% were admitted to high dependency or general surgical wards. Of 2187 errors of care identified, 11.8% occurred in ICU and 6.7% in wards, with the remainder occurring during the earlier phases of care. Most errors were classified as management errors (82% of ICU errors and 88% of ward errors). Fifty-two per cent of ICU errors and 71% of ward errors were judged to contribute to the patient's death. Conclusions: A significant number of errors of trauma management occur in the intensive care and general surgical ward. Improvement in late trauma care may reduce the number of preventable trauma deaths.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0033519193&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
VL - 170
SP - 416
EP - 419
JO - Medical Journal of Australia
JF - Medical Journal of Australia
SN - 0025-729X
IS - 9
ER -