Measuring the emergency surgical care of auto-accident patients

A series of 2,389 Emergency Department surgical admissions was assessed for quantitative indices of actual services rendered and time spent. Auto accident-related patients were compared to other Emergency Department surgical patients. The average diagnostic index for auto accident patients was 48 units compared to 25 units for all patients. Their workload for Emergency Department personnel was twice the average for non-automobile accident patients. Although they made up to 7.9% of all patients, they accounted for 15% of the total diagnostic services, 12% of the total therapeutic services, and 14% of the overall services rendered during the period of study. These data suggest strongly that auto accident-related patients are different from the average Emergency Department surgical patient and are quantitatively treated differently from other surgical patients.