Prehospital Trauma Care

ABSTRACT The global human population is spread all over the world, but cities, towns, and large villages have dense concentrations of human inhabitation. The inhabitants of cities and towns do have easy and satisfactory access for the management of traumatized patients. However, trauma victims in remote and distant regions, generally, do not have ambulance services or treatment centers nearby to deal effectively with injuries. Even on highways, at accident sites, the injured may succumb to the injuries due to delay in rescue and nonavailability of vital basic life support compounded by delay in transportation of the patient to appropriate hospital or dedicated trauma center. Other factors which add to mortality are nonavailability of trained and experienced personnel at the accident site, inadequate and improper resuscitation during transportation, and referral to a hospital ill-equipped to treat traumatized patients. Trauma is the leading cause of death for patients in their first four decades of life. Prehospital trauma care to save life has not received the necessary attention in developing world due to diverse reasons, including lack of trained staff, inadequate funding, lack of awareness, ignorance, lack of will, and unpredictability of occurrence of accidents. Trauma management remains neglected in third world countries; however, the developed countries have made continuous efforts to save lives of traumatized patients by systematized prehospital care at the site of accident, rescue, and extrication of victims, rendering lifesaving resuscitation on the spot and quick and safe evacuation of the patients to trauma centers by surface and air ambulances depending upon the terrain and distance of the site of occurrence from hospital with continuous monitoring of the patient onboard. Prehospital trauma care needs focused attention to evolve a system and institutions which would impart care to the wounded inclusive of rescue, resuscitation, stabilization of vital parameters, and safe transportation to a dedicated hospital to save life and prevent morbidity. How to cite this article Sharma SM. Prehospital Trauma Care. Int J Adv Integ Med Sci 2016;1(4):158-163.