An Interventional Study on Postcrash Emergency Care for Road Traffic Injuries in District Aligarh of Uttar Pradesh

Broad and integrated postcrash emergency care can save millions of lives and mitigate the short and long-term effects of Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs).

This study aims to test an intervention targeting identified barriers and facilitators to improve postcrash emergency care for RTIs.

The present interventional study was a part of an Indian Council of Medical Research sponsored project conducted on two important National Highways, NH-91 and NH-93 passing through the Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh. High-risk zones were identified on both national highways. Two phases of interventions addressing the identified facilitators and barriers were planned for the site of the crash and for the transportation of patients to the health facility. For descriptive analysis, frequency and percentages were used, and for analyzing the association between categorical variables, the Chi-square test was used.

The use of ambulance toll-free numbers, along with the proportion of those reaching the health facility via ambulance, increased. The knowledge of the participants about helpline numbers and do's and don'ts in the case of RTIs, together with the concept of the good Samaritan, also showed a significant increase. However, the proportion of those reaching the health facility within the golden hour could not be increased.

The intervention was successful in increasing the utilization of ambulance toll-free numbers and also led to improvement in the knowledge of the first responders about helpline numbers and do's and don'ts in the case of RTIs.