THE NATURE OF PREHOSPITAL MEDICAL INTERVENTIONS DELIVERED TO TRAUMATIC PATIENTS IN TABRIZ

Appropriateness and Nature of clinical decisions and medical interventions in
trauma management is one of the most important concepts in prehospital trauma care systems.
Therefore, this study aimed to determine the nature of prehospital medical interventions delivered to
traumatic patients in Tabriz.
Materials & Methods: In this descriptive study, the records of all traumatic patients activated EMS and
led to a prehospital mission, investigated in 2014. A six-part checklist consisted of patients’
characteristics, mechanism of injury, type of trauma, level of consciousness, medical interventions,
physician consult and coordination with the hospital were used for collecting data. Descriptive and
inferential statistics were applied to the data by SPSS v.13 software.
Results: A total of 5614 out of 37002 registered missions during a year were related to trauma injuries.
Traffic accidents (72.9%) were the most common cause of trauma and blunt trauma (85.6%) were the
most common type of trauma among injured patients. Although 92/46%of traumas were related to head
and neck trauma and multiple trauma, the cervical collar has been merely used for 11.5 percent of them.
Also, 93% of the trauma missions led to the transfer of patients to the hospital while in 99.43% of them,
no coordination was done between prehospital emergency medical services and hospitals’ A&E
departments.
Conclusion: According to study results, despite the high percentage of trauma to the head and neck and
multiple trauma, the cervical collar and long back board has been merely used for a few traumatic
patients which is unacceptable and indicates the necessity of organizing prehospital trauma care courses
and workshops for emergency medical technicians. Also, regarding the lack of coordination between
prehospital and hospital facilities, it seems that a much more robust and organized structure is required
in Iranian healthcare system.