Misdiagnosed Injuries in the Prehospital Trauma Care: Better Training needs to be Implemented
ABSTRACT Background It is not always that prehospital trauma life support (PHTLS) principles are applied to daily practice. Lack of training to health care providers and a high amount of patients overwhelming the system capacity may let malpractice behavior to happen. It is the aim of this study to assess injuries misdiagnosed by prehospital trauma care in a capital city in southern Brazil. Study design A prospective observational non-controlled study with 174 random trauma cases that were brought to a level 1 trauma center in the city of Curitiba, between May 28th and June 10th 2006. We analyzed data registered in the prehospital rescue team form. The including criteria were all patients delivered to the trauma center by ambulances. The excluding criteria were patients not transported by ambulances and those without the proper form filled out. Statistical analysis was performed using the Chi-square for discrete, and the students’ t-test for continuous variables. Results Of the 174 patients who met the including criteria, 75% were men with a mean age of 27-year-old. Of the 11 injuries to the neck identified in the Hospital evaluation, eight were missed by the prehospital care (OR 0.26 CI 95% 0.07-0.94). Also, only 7/20 injuries to the back were identified by the PHTLS team (OR 0.32 CI 95% 0.13-0.78). Similarly, only 6/26 injuries to the chest (OR 0.20 CI 95% 0.08-0.50), 4/15 to the abdomen (OR 0.24 CI 95% 0.08-0.76), 4/16 to the pelvis (OR 0.23 CI 95% 0.07-0.70), 13/33 to the upper body (OR 0.34 CI 95% 0.17- 0.68),7/39 to the lower body (OR 0.14 CI 95% 0.06-0.33) and 17/55 (OR 0.23 CI 95% 0.12-0.42) were correctly identified in the prehospital scenario. Conclusion Although it is known PHTLS principles, which save lives when applied in practice, further training and remarks to its importance is needed to fully implement efficient trauma systems. Electronic data collection shall make checklists consistently filled out, so that patient care will be improved. How to cite this article Abreu-Reis P, Nasr A, Tomasich FS, Collaco I. Misdiagnosed Injuries in the Prehospital Trauma Care: Better Training needs to be Implemented. Panam J Trauma Crit Care Emerg Surg 2014;3(3):93-96.