The American surgeon
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The American surgeon · Jan 2017
Observational StudyUrban Bicyclist Trauma: Characterizing the Injuries, Consequent Surgeries, and Essential Sub-Specialties Providing Care.
In the United States in 2013, nearly 500,000 bicyclists were injured and required emergency department care. The objectives of this study were to describe the types of injuries which urban bicyclists sustain, to analyze the number and type of surgeries required, and to better delineate the services providing care. This is an observational study of injured bicyclists presenting to a Level I trauma center between February 2012 and August 2014. ⋯ Injured bicyclists represent a unique subset of trauma patients. Orthopedic surgeons are most commonly involved in their operative management and rarely are the operative skills of a general traumatologist required. From a resource perspective, it is more efficient to direct the inpatient care of bicyclists with single-system trauma to the appropriate surgical subspecialty service soon after appropriate initial evaluation and treatment by the trauma service.