• Lauri Handolin, Ari Leppäniemi, Fiona Lecky, Omar Bouamra, Piia Hienonen, Satu Tirkkonen, Karin Pihlström, David Yates, and Eero Hirvensalo.
• Department of Orthopedics and Traumatalogy, University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. lauri.handolin@hus.fi.
• Eur J Trauma Emerg S. 2008 Dec 1;34(6):570-6.

AbstractThe outcome performance of the adult patients trauma care in Helsinki University Hospital was compared with a sample of English hospitals. This was a first time such an audit on trauma care was conducted in Finland. Helsinki University Hospital submitted the Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN, UK) data of adult trauma patients during 1 year period (from 1 September 2004 to 31 August 2005). Patients younger than 16 years were excluded. The outcome performance was assessed by TARN prediction model using the TARN database as reference. There were total of 1,717 patients in Helsinki and 16,774 patients in English hospitals fulfilling the study inclusion criteria, and 1,635 (95.2% of total) eligible patients in Helsinki and 15,269 (91.0% of total) in England were used for analysis. The patients were older and the mean ISS was higher in Helsinki (mean ISS in Helsinki 14 vs. 11 in England). The standardized W statistic (a measure of survival variation from the expected mean, per 100 patients) was + 3.0 (confidence intervals + 2.3 to + 3.8) for Helsinki University Hospital and + 0.2 (confidence intervals -0.1 to 0.4) for English hospitals. These results suggest that the organization of trauma care in Helsinki University Hospital area is more effective in preventing death after trauma in adults than that covering the present sample of English hospitals.

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