Injury
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Laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation provoke a marked sympathetic response, potentially harmful in patients with cerebral or cardiovascular pathology or haemorrhage. Standard pre-hospital rapid sequence induction of anaesthesia (RSI) does not incorporate agents that attenuate this response. It is not known if a clinically significant response occurs following pre-hospital RSI or what proportion of injured patients requiring the intervention are potentially at risk in this setting. ⋯ Laryngoscopy and tracheal intubation, following a standard pre-hospital RSI, commonly induced a clinically significant hypertensive response in the trauma patients studied. We believe that, although this technique is effective in securing the pre-hospital trauma airway, it is poor at attenuating adverse physiological effects that may be detrimental in this patient group.
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Skateboard injuries have been described in the media and scientific journals as a problem prevalent among children and adolescents. Skateboarding popularity has continued to grow since the 1970s with ridership increasing to include all age groups. Recently, surgeons at one trauma centre at an urban hospital noted an increase in the number of older skateboarders with life-threatening injuries. We hypothesise that the clinical and epidemiological features of skateboard-related injuries from one trauma centre (TC) will be different from injured skateboarders identified in the U.S. National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB). We also sought to identify factors related to poor outcomes in the TC and NTDB patient groups. ⋯ From our Trauma Centre we describe an older injured skateboarding population, clinically and epidemiologically different from injured patients identified in the NTDB as well as those described in the literature. The greater severity of injury, including traumatic brain injury, has direct implications for preventive and educational measures and the planning of emergency surgical response.
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Advanced Life Support (ALS) providers may perform more invasive prehospital procedures, while Basic Life Support (BLS) providers offer stabilisation care and often "scoop and run". We hypothesised that prehospital interventions by urban ALS providers prolong prehospital time and decrease survival in penetrating trauma victims. ⋯ Prehospital resuscitative interventions by ALS units performed on penetrating trauma patients may lengthen on-scene time but do not significantly increase total prehospital time. Regardless, these interventions did not appear to benefit our rapidly transported, urban penetrating trauma patients.
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Severe bleeding after trauma frequently leads to a poor outcome. Prehospital fluid replacement therapy is regarded as an important primary treatment option. Our study aimed to assess the influence of prehospital fluid replacement therapy on the post-traumatic course of severely injured patients in a retrospective analysis of matched pairs. ⋯ Excessive prehospital fluid replacement leads to an increased mortality rate. The results of this study support the concept of restrained volume replacement in the prehospital treatment of patients with severe trauma.
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In patients with severe head injuries, transportation to a trauma centre within the "golden hour" are important markers of trauma system effectiveness but evidence regarding impacts on patient outcomes is limited. ⋯ A survival benefit exists in patients arriving earlier to hospital after severe head injury but the benefit may extend beyond the golden hour. There was evidence of improved functional outcomes in patients arriving within 60 min of injury time.