%0 Journal Article
%T Patients Referred to a Norwegian Trauma Centre: effect of transfer distance on injury patterns, use of resources and outcomes
%A Thomas Kristiansen
%A Hans M Lossius
%A Kjetil S£¿reide
%A Petter A Steen
%A Christine Gaarder
%A P£¿l A N£¿ss
%J Journal of Trauma Management & Outcomes
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1752-2897-5-9
%X Patients included in the OUH trauma registry from 2001 to 2008 were included in the study. Demographic, injury, management and outcome data were abstracted. Patients were grouped according to transfer distance: ¡Ü20 km, 21-100 km and > 100 km.Of the 7.353 included patients, 5.803 were admitted directly, and 1.550 were transferred. The number of transfers per year increased, and there was no reduction in injury severity during the study period. Seventy-six per cent of the transferred patients were severely injured. With greater transfer distances, injury severity increased, and there were larger proportions of traffic injuries, polytrauma and hypotensive patients. With shorter distances, patients were older, and head injuries and injuries after falls were more common. The shorter transfers less often activated the trauma team: ¡Ü20 km -34%; 21-100 km -51%; > 100 km -61%, compared to 92% of all directly admitted patients. The mortality for all transferred patients was 11%, but was unequally distributed according to transfer distance.This study shows heterogeneous characteristics and high injury severity among interhospital transfers. The rate of trauma team assessment was low and should be further examined. The mortality differences should be interpreted with caution as patients were in different phases of management. The descriptive characteristics outlined may be employed in the development of triage protocols and transfer guidelines.The formalisation of trauma management has been associated with increased survival for injured patients, and trauma systems implementation is gaining momentum [1-5]. An important concept of trauma systems is to triage the most severely injured patients to a regional trauma centre, while patients not requiring this level of resources are managed at the nearest acute care hospital [6]. This necessitates effective prehospital triage and interhospital transfer; thus, these processes are key quality indicators of the trauma system [7,8].Few Eu
%K Injury
%K Trauma System
%K Interhospital Transfer
%K Norway
%U http://www.traumamanagement.org/content/5/1/9