Trauma by-pass guideline: A data-driven conformance analysis for road trauma cases in Queensland

Study objectives were to (i) develop and test a whole-of-system method for identifying patients who meet a major trauma by-pass guideline definition; (ii) apply this method to assess conformance to the current 2006 guideline for a road trauma cohort; and (iii) leverage relevant findings to propose improvements to the guideline.

Retrospective analysis of existing, routinely collected data relating to Queensland road trauma patients July 2015 to June 2017. Data from ambulance, aero-medical retrievals, ED, hospital and death registers were linked and used for analysis. Processes of care measured included: frequency of pre-hospital triage criteria, distribution of destination (trauma service level), compliance with guideline (recommended vs actual destination), trauma service level by threat to life (injury severity) (all modes of transport and aero-medical in particular), proportion of patients requiring only ED, transport pathway (direct vs inter-hospital transfer).

3847 cases were identified from data as meeting criteria for major trauma by-pass. The top five most frequently used criteria for qualifying patients as meeting the major trauma by-pass guideline were pulse rate, vehicle rollover, possible spinal cord injury, respiration rate and entrapment. The study demonstrates a 65% conformance to the clinical guideline. Overtriaged patients (transported to higher trauma service than recommended) generally reveal International Classification of Disease Injury Severity Score representing a high threat to life.

Overall, the present study found good conformance, with overtriage rate as expected by clinicians. It is recommended to include data values to capture paramedics assessment of trauma level to enable more accurate assessment of conformance to guideline and future revision of the thresholds.